Printer utilizing inkjet recording head

Abstract

A printer in which an inkjet recording head is scanned with relation to a printing medium includes an ink supply member to be connected with a reserving portion arranged within the recording head when the inkjet recording head is positioned at the end portion of a scanning area, and a suction member for providing a suction power in introducing inks from the ink supply member to the reserving portion. Associated with a movement of the inkjet recording head to the end portion, those members are connected to the inkjet recording head at a different time. Herewith, in comparison with the case where those members are connected to the inkjet recording head at the same time, a force for moving the inkjet recording head required for such connection is reduced to achieve a downsizing of a driving source for generating the movement.

Description

This application is based on Patent Application No. 2001-081642 filed Mar. 21, 2001 in Japan, the content of which is incorporated hereinto by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a printer for printing on a printing medium by using an inkjet head for ejecting ink.

2. Description of the Related Art

The recent spread of digital cameras has resulted in increasing needs for printing photographed images without the intervention of a personal computer. Known apparatus formed by integrating a camera and a printer include Polaroid® cameras.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One possible approach to achieve functions similar to those of such Polaroid cameras with a digital camera is to configure a printer-built-in camera by integrating a digital camera for photographing an image with a printer for printing the photographed image. With such a printer-built-in camera, a photographed image can be printed any time without using any other apparatus.

In the case of a printer which must be compact and light-weight, e.g., a printer integrated with a digital camera, a printer consumable container for containing printing media, ink and so on as printer consumable supplies is used. The size of the printer may be increased when the printer consumable container is always attached, and it is therefore desirable to attach the container to the printer as occasions demand. When such a container is used, the container may be removed except during a printing operation to improve the operability of the printer or the camera.

On that account, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of achieving down sizing and enhancing weight saving thereof.

In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer utilizing an inkjet recording head ejecting ink and for performing printing by scanning the inkjet recording head on a printing medium, the printer comprising:

an ink supply member which is provided so as to face an end of a scanning area of the inkjet recording head and which defines the end of an ink supply passage to the inkjet recording head, the ink supply member being connected to a reserving portion provided inside the inkjet recording head when the inkjet recording head is located at the end of the scanning area; and

a suction member which is provided so as to face an end of the scanning area of the inkjet recording head and which defines a leading end of a suction passage exerting a suction force for introducing ink into the reserving portion from the ink supply member, the suction member being connected to the reserving portion when the inkjet recording head is located at the end of the scanning area,

wherein the ink supply member and the suction member are provided such that one of the connection between the reserving portion and the ink supply member and the connection between the reserving portion and the suction member is started prior to the other as a result of a movement of the inkjet recording head toward the end of the scanning area.

Here, the ink supply member may have a joint allowing a hollow needle provided at the reserving portion to be stuck therein and the sticking of the hollow needle into the joint may be started prior to the connection between the reserving portion and the suction member.

The movement of the inkjet recording head toward the end of the scanning area may take place with a period for an approach run in the scanning area provided.

In addition to a driving force of a driving source for performing the scanning, a driving force of another driving source may be transmitted in withdrawing the inkjet recording head from the end toward the scanning area.

Further, a pump for performing ink transport operations associated with the inkjet recording head including the introduction of ink into the reserving portion by the action of the suction force and a driving source for driving the pump may be included, and a driving force of the driving source may be transmitted at the time of the withdrawal.

A container of consumable supplies for a printer containing consumable supplies used in performing printing with the inkjet recording head may be attachable.

The container may have an ink containing portion for containing ink to be replenished in the reserving portion.

The above and other objects, effects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printer-built-in camera to which the invention can be applied;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the camera in FIG. 1 taken diagonally in front of the same;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the camera in FIG. 1 taken diagonally from behind;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a positional relationship between major parts in the camera in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a medium pack in FIG. 1 taken on a front side thereof;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the medium pack in FIG. 5 taken on a backside thereof;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the medium pack in FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a pack main body of the medium pack in FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 9A is a plan view of major parts for explaining an uncoupled state of a holder and a joint of the medium pack in FIG. 5 , while FIG. 9B is a plan view of the major parts for explaining a coupled state of the holder and the joint;

FIG. 10A is a sectional view of major parts for w explaining an unconnected state of the holder and an ink pack of the medium pack in FIG. 5 , while FIG. 10B is a sectional view of the major parts for explaining a connected state of the same;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of major parts for explaining an attached state of the medium pack in FIG. 5 ;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of major parts for explaining states before and after the medium pack in FIG. 5 is attached;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of major parts for explaining states before and after the medium pack in FIG. 5 is attached;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of major parts for explaining a state in which the medium pack in FIG. 5 is attached;

FIG. 15 is a plan view of major parts for explaining a discharge passage for waste ink formed when the medium pack in FIG. 5 is attached;

FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate a forward end section of the medium pack when the medium pack is attached to a printer main body; FIG. 16A being a front view for explaining an example of a configuration of an opening for transporting a printing medium in the medium pack in FIG. 5 , while FIG. 16B being a sectional view taken along the line XVIB—XVIB in FIG. 16A ;

FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrate the forward end section of the medium pack when the medium pack is not attached to the printer main body; FIG. 17A being a front view for explaining an example of another configuration of the opening for transporting a printing medium of the medium pack in FIG. 5 , while FIG. 17B being a sectional view taken along the line XVIIB—XVIIB in FIG. 17A ;

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the printer main body according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the printer main body with a part of a chassis thereof omitted;

FIG. 20 is a sectional view of the printer main body taken from a side thereof;

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of the printer main body and, in particular, a state of a mechanism for feeding paper at a portion to be connected with the medium pack after the pack is attached;

FIG. 22 is a perspective view of a state of the mechanism for feeding paper before the pack is attached;

FIG. 23 is an illustration of the mechanism for feeding paper showing, in particular, an operating position of an ASF trigger;

FIG. 24 is an illustration of the mechanism for feeding paper showing, in particular, another operating position of the ASF trigger;

FIG. 25 is an illustration of the mechanism for feeding paper showing initial positions of a pick-up roller and a press plate;

FIG. 26 is an illustration of the mechanism for feeding paper showing standby positions of the pick-up roller and the press plate;

FIG. 27 is an illustration of the mechanism for feeding paper showing a state in which printing media are sandwiched between the pick-up roller and the press plate;

FIGS. 28A , 28 B and 28 C are illustrations of the mechanism for feeding paper showing an operation of feeding printing media piled up in the pack one by one with the pick-up roller and the press plate;

FIG. 29 is an illustration of the printer main body showing, in particular, a joint member which is connected with a carriage to replenish ink chambers on the carriage with ink;

FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing a state before ink supplying needles of the carriage are inserted into the joint member;

FIG. 31 is a plan view in the sate shown in FIG. 30 ;

FIG. 32 illustrates a state in which the carriage has further moved from the states shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 to insert the ink supplying needles of the carriage;

FIG. 33 illustrates a state in which the carriage has further moved from the state shown in FIG. 32 to put an air suction hole in contact with an air suction cap of the joint member;

FIG. 34 illustrates a construction for disconnecting the carriage after the carriage and the joint member are connected;

FIGS. 35A , 35 B and 35 C are illustrations for explaining the construction for disconnecting the carriage showing, in particular, an operation of a removing lever;

FIG. 36 is a perspective view of the printer main body showing, in particular, a structure associated with an encoder sensor integrally attached to the carriage;

FIG. 37 illustrates a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element of the encoder sensor;

FIG. 38 illustrates a relationship between a flexible substrate connected to the carriage and the encoder and an encoder scale;

FIG. 39 is a vertical sectional view showing a structure of a pump used in the printer main body of the embodiment;

FIGS. 40A and 40B are illustrations for explaining an operation of each of two lead screws used in the printer main body of the embodiment;

FIG. 41 is a perspective view of the printer main body for explaining various operations in accordance with positions of a pump driving arm and a switching slider which are moved by one of the two lead screws that is driven by a pump motor;

FIG. 42 is an illustration of the same state as shown in FIG. 41 with additional elements added;

FIG. 43 is a perspective view of the printer main body for explaining various operations in accordance with other positions of the pump driving arm and the switching slider;

FIGS. 44A , 44 B and 44 C are illustrations for explaining a state of an atmosphere communication valve of the cap in each of the states shown in FIGS. 41 , 42 and 43 ;

FIGS. 45A , 45 B and 45 C are illustrations for explaining a state of a mechanism for operating the atmosphere communication valve of the cap in each of the states shown in FIGS. 41 , 42 and 43 ;

FIG. 46 is a schematic block diagram of a camera section and a printer section of the camera in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 47 is an illustration of signal processing in the camera section in FIG. 46 ;

FIG. 48 is an illustration of signal processing in the printer section in FIG. 46 ;

FIG. 49 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing procedure when a power supply is turned on in the construction in FIG. 46 ; and

FIG. 50 is a flow chart showing an example of a processing procedure in a printing mode in the construction in FIG. 46 .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described by referring to the accompanying drawings.

In the present specification, “printing” (also referred to as “recording” in some occasions) means not only a condition of forming significant information such as characters and drawings, but also a condition of forming images, designs, patterns and the like on printing medium widely or a condition of processing the printing media, regardless of significance or lack thereof, or of being formed in such manner as to be visually perceived by a human.

Further, the “printing medium” means not only a paper used in a conventional printing apparatus but also everything capable of accepting inks, such as fabrics, plastic films, metal plates, glasses, ceramics, wood and leathers, and in the following, will be also represented by a “sheet” or simply by “paper”.

Further, in the present specification, a “camera” indicates an apparatus or device that optically photographs an image and converts the photographed image into electrical signals, and in the following explanation, is also referred to as a “photographing section”.

Still further, an “ink” (also referred to as “liquid” in some occasions) should be interpreted in a broad sense as well as a definition of the above “printing” and thus the ink, by being applied on the printing media, shall mean a liquid to be used for forming images, designs, patterns and the like, processing the printing medium or processing inks (for example, coagulation or encapsulation of coloring materials in the inks to be applied to the printing media).

One embodiment of a head to which the present invention is advantageously employed is the embodiment in which thermal energy generated by an electrothermal transducer is utilized to cause film boiling in the liquid resulting in a formation of bubbles.

[Basic Structure]

Firstly, a basic structure of a device according to the present invention will be explained in view of FIGS. 1 to 4 . The device explained in the present embodiment is constituted as an information processing equipment comprising a photographing section for optically photographing an image and then converting the photographed image into electric signals (hereinafter, also referred to as “camera section”) and an image recording section for recording an image on the basis of the thus obtained electric signals (hereinafter, also referred to as “printer section”). Hereinafter, the information processing equipment in the present embodiment is explained in the name of a “printer-built-in camera”.

In a main body A 001 , there is incorporated a printer section (recording apparatus section) B 100 at the backside of a camera section A 100 in an integral manner. The printer section B 100 records an image by using inks and printing medium which are supplied from a medium pack (a container of consumable supplies for a printer) C 100 . In the present structure, as apparent from FIG. 4 illustrating the main body A 001 viewing from the backside with an outer package removed, the medium pack C 100 is inserted at the right-hand side of the main body A 001 in FIG. 4 and the printer section B 100 is arranged at the left-hand side of the main body A 001 in FIG. 4 . In the case of performing a recording by the printer section B 100 , the main body A 001 can be placed facing a liquid crystal display section A 105 up and a lens A 101 down. In this recording position, a recording head B 305 of the printer section B 100 , which will be described below, is made to be positioned to eject inks in the downward direction. The recording position can be made to be the same position as that of photographing condition by the camera section A 100 and thus is not limited to the recording position as mentioned above. However, in view of a stability of a recording operation, the recording position capable of ejecting the inks in the downward direction is preferred.

There follows the explanations of the basic mechanical structure according to the present embodiment under the headings of 1 as “Camera Section”, 2 as “Medium Pack” and 3 as “Printer Section”, and of the basic structure of the signal processing under the heading of 4 as “Control System”.

1: Camera Section

The camera section A 100 , which basically constitutes a conventional digital camera, constitutes the printer-built-in digital camera having an appearance in FIGS. 1 to 3 by being integrally incorporated into the main body A 001 together with a printer section B 100 described below. In FIGS. 1 to 3 , A 101 denotes a lens; A 102 denotes a viewfinder; A 102 a denotes a window of the viewfinder; A 103 denotes a flash; A 104 denotes a shutter release button; and A 105 denotes a liquid crystal display section (outer display section). The camera section A 100 , as described below, performs a processing of data photographed by a CCD, a recording of the images to a compact flash memory card (CF card) A 107 , a display of the images and a transmission of various kinds of data with the printer section B 100 . A 109 denotes a discharge part for discharging a printing medium C 104 on which the photographed image is recorded. A 108 , as shown in FIG. 5 , is a battery as a power source for the camera section A 100 and the printer section B 100 .

2: Medium Pack

The medium pack C 100 can be attached to and detached from the main body A 001 of the apparatus. In the present embodiment, the medium pack C 100 is attached to the main body A 001 as shown in FIG. 1 by being inserted into an inserting portion A 002 (see FIG. 3 ) of the main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 1 . The inserting portion A 002 is opened when the medium pack C 100 is attached and is closed as shown in FIG. 3 when it is pulled out in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 . The medium pack C 100 is constituted by an ink containing portion, a printing medium containing portion, a waste ink containing portion, and so on provided between a pack main body C 101 and a cover C 102 . FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the medium pack C 100 taken from the side of the cover C 102 (front side); FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the medium pack C 100 taken from the side of the pack main body C 101 (back side); FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the medium pack C 100 ; and FIG. 8 is a plan view of the pack main body C 101 .

The medium pack C 100 will now be described under headings 2-1 “Ink Containing Section”, 2—2 “Waste ink Containing section”, 2-3 “Printing Medium Containing Portion”, 2-4 “Positions and Configurations of Openings”, 2-5 “Other Configurations”, 2-6 “Method of Assembly”, 2-7 “Ease of Recycling” and 2-8 “Others”.

2-1: Ink Containing Section

Ink pack containing section S 1 for containing ink packs C 130 are formed in the pack main body C 101 . In the present embodiment, the ink pack containing section S 1 is formed with three ink pack containing portions S 1 -Y, S 1 -M, and S 1 -C by partitioning it with ribs C 101 A and C 101 B for containing three ink packs C 130 -Y, C 130 -M and C 130 -C in which inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) are separately reserved or stored. The ink packs C 130 -Y, C 130 -M and C 130 -C may be integrally formed, and partitions to be described later are not required in this case. When the ink packs C 130 -Y, C 130 -M and C 130 -C are formed as separate bodies, they are positioned in the ink pack containing portions S 1 -Y, S 1 -M and S 1 -C by the ribs C 101 A and C 101 B such that they are not misaligned with each other.

The ink packs C 130 (ink packs C 130 -Y, C 130 -M and C 130 -C) are held by an ink pack holder C 131 . In the present embodiment, the ink packs C 130 are formed like bags using films having a capability of recovering from pin holes in order to seal inks therein, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B . As shown in these figures, an outer surface of a folded portion C 130 A of the same is bonded or welded to a curved surface C 131 A of the holder 131 . The curved surface C 131 A guides the folded portions C 130 A of the ink packs C 130 such that they are not flattened to maintain them in a curved form. Each of the ink packs C 130 is formed like a bag by folding a sheet material at the portion 130 A and then by sealing it at three sides thereof through bonding or welding, excepting the folded portions 130 A. The holder C 131 is formed with openings C 131 B where the folded portions C 130 A of the ink packs C 130 are exposed on the left side of the holder as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B . Further, the holder C 131 is formed with coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C to allow it to be coupled with an ink pack joint C 132 to be described later. Regarding the positions where the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C are formed, they may be formed in positions in the right and left sides the holder C 131 close to the center of the same as shown in FIGS. 7 , 10 A and 10 B, and they may alternatively be formed in positions in the right and left sides of the holder C 131 close to the ends of the same as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B . Thus, the holder C 131 holding the ink pack C 130 is positioned in a containing section S 2 of the pack main body C 101 (see FIG. 7 ).

Denoted C 132 is an ink pack joint having a substantially T-shaped planar configuration which is contained in the pack main body C 101 such that it can slide in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 . Specifically, one end C 132 - 1 of the joint C 132 and another end C 1322 of the same are contained in containing sections S 3 and S 4 of the pack main body C 101 such that they can slide in the directions indicated by the arrows F 1 and F 2 , respectively. A containing section S 5 for containing a waste ink absorption body to be described later is formed under a central portion C 132 - 3 of the joint C 132 . Three hollow needles C 133 are provided at the end C 132 - 1 in an opposing relationship with the three openings C 131 B of the holder C 131 . The needles C 133 communicate with ink supply ports P 1 , P 2 and P 3 at the end C 132 - 2 through ink passages L 1 , L 2 and L 3 . A waste ink introduction port P 4 formed at the end C 132 - 2 communicates with a waste ink discharge port P 5 formed on a side of the central portion C 132 - 3 through an ink passage L 4 . A rubber plug C 134 is fitted in each of the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 to allow insertion and removal of needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 of the apparatus main body A 001 to be described later. When the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 enter the pack main body C 101 through an opening C 101 H formed on the pack main body C 101 . When the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y, and B 503 are removed, elastic restoring properties of the rubber plugs C 134 automatically close the holes formed by the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 . In the case that the joint C 132 is provided with a structure in which a plurality of members located in upper and lower positions in FIG. 7 are assembled with each other, grooves extending along the ink passages L 1 , L 2 , L 3 and L 4 may be formed on the lower member and the upper member may be assembled on the lower member to form the ink passages L 1 , L 2 , L 3 and L 4 inside the joint C 132 .

As will be described later, the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C of the holder C 131 engage with the joint C 132 when the joint C 132 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 to approach the holder C 131 . When the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C are formed in positions close to the center of the holder C 131 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 11 , the latches engage with edges of openings C 132 A and, when the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C are formed in positions close to the ends of the holder C 131 as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B , the latches engage with both ends of the joint C 132 .

When the medium pack C 100 with the ink containing section having such a construction described above has not been used or when it-has never been attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the joint C 132 is in an uncoupled state in which it is separated from the holder C 131 as shown in FIG. 9A , and the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 are off the ink packs C 130 as shown in FIG. 10 A. When the medium pack C 100 has not been attached yet as thus described, the ends of the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C are in contact with the joint C 132 to prevent the joint C 132 and the holder C 131 from being coupled. Therefore, the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C function as members for interrupting linkage between the joint C 132 and ink packs C 130 before the medium pack C 100 is attached.

When such an unused medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 1 , the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 on the apparatus main body A 001 cause a relative movement of the joint C 132 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 while being stuck into the rubber plugs C 134 in the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 , which causes the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 to be stuck into the folded portions C 130 A of the ink packs C 130 . When the medium pack C 100 is completely attached as shown in FIG. 9B , the joint C 132 is coupled with the holder C 131 by the coupling latches C 131 C; the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 on the apparatus main body A 001 penetrate through the rubber plugs C 134 in the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 to be in communication with the ink passages L 1 , L 2 , L 3 and L 4 ; and the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 are put in communication with the interior of the ink packs C 130 as shown in FIG. 10 B. After the medium pack C 100 is thus attached, the coupling latches C 131 C, C 131 C function as engaging members for engaging the joint C 132 and ink packs C 130 to prevent them from being decoupled.

As a result, the ink packs C 130 -Y, C 130 M and C 130 -C are connected to ink supply passages to be described later in the apparatus main body A 001 through the ink passages L 1 , L 2 and L 3 , which allows inks to be supplied. Since the ink packs are constituted by films having a capability of recovering from pin holes, no ink leaks from the regions pierced by the needles. The waste ink discharge port P 5 is connected to a waste ink discharge passage (to be described later) in the apparatus main body A 001 through the ink passage L 4 to discharge waste ink discharged through the waste ink discharge passage onto waste ink absorption bodies C 141 (to be described later). The waste ink discharged through the waste ink discharge passage is a relatively large amount of waste ink that is discharged into a cap as a result of a suction recovery operation or a preliminary ejecting operation of a recording head as will be described later, the waste ink being discharged using a pump.

When the medium pack C 100 thus attached is removed from the apparatus main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 , the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 on the apparatus main body A 001 come out the rubber plugs C 134 in the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 . At this time, the rubber plugs C 134 automatically close the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 because of their elastic restoring properties. The coupling latches C 131 C keep the holder C 131 and joint C 132 in the coupled state, and the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 remain inserted in the ink packs C 130 . That is, the coupling latches C 131 C keep the holder C 131 and joint C 132 in the coupled state after they are once coupled.

Thus, the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 are inserted into the ink packs C 130 only when the medium pack C 100 is first attached to the apparatus main body A 001 and are thereafter kept in the inserted state. In the case of an unused medium pack C 100 which has never been attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the needles C 133 on the joint C 132 are not inserted in the ink pack C 130 , and the ink packs C 130 completely seal inks only by themselves. This is advantageous in view of the distribution of the medium pack C 100 and the manufacture of the ink packs C 130 .

Specifically, when an unused medium pack C 100 is distributed, since the needles C 133 are not inserted in the ink packs C 130 , inks can be reliably sealed by the ink packs C 130 alone without being adversely affected by the ambient temperature such as the temperature during distribution. Further, since no ink enters the ink passages L 1 , L 2 and L 3 when the medium pack C 100 is thus distributed, it is possible to thoroughly eliminate a problem that can occur when the ink passages L 1 , L 2 and L 3 are formed of a synthetic resin material, i.e., the problem of evaporation of ink components through the synthetic resin material. Further, since inks can be sealed by the ink packs C 130 alone, the ink packs C 130 can be manufactured easily at a low cost by charging inks in the material of the ink packs C 130 while forming it into bags. Since the needles C 133 are stuck in the longitudinal direction of the ink packs C 130 at the folded portions C 130 A of the ink packs C 130 secured to the holder C 131 , the needles C 133 can be sufficiently inserted into the ink packs C 130 . In this connection, when the needles C 133 are stuck into the ink packs C 130 at the top surface or bottom surface thereof in FIGS. 10A and 10B from above and below in the same figures, it is difficult to maintain a sufficient amount of insertion of the needles C 133 because the thickness of the ink packs C 130 is small in the vertical direction.

Referring to the material to form the ink packs C 130 , a material having a multi-layer structure is employed such that it tightly contacts the circumferential surfaces of the needles C 133 when the needles C 133 are inserted as shown in FIG. 10B to achieve a sufficient sealing effect. A specific example of such a material is a structure having four layers constituted by specialty nylon of 27 μm, PVDC (polyvinylidene chloride) of 3 μm, specialty polyethylene of 50 μm and normal polyethylene of 20 μm. Another specific example is a structure having four layers constituted by specialty nylon of 27 μm, aluminum foil of 7 μm, specialty polyethylene of 50 μm and normal polyethylene of 20 μm. Still another example is a material having the same quality as that of a product named “Cartridge Pack” (trade name) sold by Daiwa Gravure K.K. into which a dispenser can be directly inserted. While the aluminum foil layer is used to prevent evaporation of ink that is contained, the invention is not limited to aluminum foil layers, and various types of layers having the effect of preventing ink evaporation including a layer having aluminum deposited thereon and a silica-coated layer may be used as layers having such characteristics.

2-2: Waste Ink Containing Section

Waste ink absorption bodies C 141 are contained in the containing section S 5 . In the present embodiment, two upper and lower waste ink absorption bodies C 141 - 1 and C 141 - 2 are contained in an overlapping relationship. The waste ink absorption bodies C 141 (absorption bodies C 141 - 1 and C 141 - 2 ) are formed with slits C 141 A in which positioning projections C 101 C, C 101 D and C 101 E formed on the pack main body C 101 are fitted. The absorption bodies C 141 are also formed with grooves C 141 B in which a wall C 101 F formed on the pack main body C 101 is fitted. A gap C 101 G is formed as shown in FIG. 11 between a circumferential wall C 101 X of the pack main body C 101 and the wall C 101 F, and the containing section-S 5 is divided into a large containing section S 5 - 1 and a small containing section S 5 - 2 with the gap C 101 G interposed therebetween. Therefore, the absorption bodies C 141 are divided into a first absorbing region C 141 -L which is located on the side of the large containing section S 5 - 1 and which absorbs a relatively great amount of waste ink and a second absorbing region C 141 -S which is located on the side of the small containing section S 5 - 2 and which absorbs a relatively small amount of waste ink, a narrow portion C 141 C associated with the gap C 101 G being interposed between them.

The waste ink discharge port P 5 faces the large containing section S 5 - 1 as shown in FIG. 11 . Therefore, a relatively great amount of waste ink discharged from the waste ink discharge port P 5 is reliably absorbed and held by the first absorbing regions C 141 -L of the absorption bodies C 141 . When the holder C 131 and joint C 132 are coupled by the coupling latches C 131 C, the waste ink discharge port P 5 is positioned substantially in the middle of the large containing section S 5 - 1 or substantially in the middle of the first absorbing regions C 141 -L of the absorption bodies C 141 , as shown in FIG. 11 . As a result, the first absorbing regions C 141 -L efficiently and reliably absorb and hold a relatively great amount of waste ink.

The small containing section S 5 - 2 communicates with the opening C 101 H formed on the pack main body C 101 . When the medium pack C 100 is inserted in the apparatus main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 1 , an ink absorption body B 506 at the apparatus main body A 001 (to be described later) enters the small containing section S 5 - 2 through the opening C 101 H to be inserted into the second absorbing regions C 141 -S of the absorption bodies C 141 . FIGS. 12 to 15 are illustrations for primarily explaining the positional relationship between the ink absorption body B 506 and the absorption bodies C 141 . The joint C 132 in the pack main body C 101 is omitted in those figures, and FIG. 15 further omits the pack main body C 101 . When the medium pack C 100 is inserted in the apparatus main body A 001 , the ink absorption body B 506 is inserted in the second absorbing regions C 141 -S of the absorption bodies C 141 as shown in FIG. 15 .

As will be detailed later, ink ejected from the recording head to positions out of a printing medium C 150 are introduced to the ink absorption body B 506 of the apparatus main body A 001 due to capillarity. The amount of the ink ejected to positions out of the printing medium C 150 is relatively small, and the relatively small amount of ink is introduced to the ink absorption body B 506 as waste ink. The waste ink introduced to the ink absorption body B 506 is absorbed and held by the second absorbing regions C 141 -S due to capillarity when the ink absorption body B 506 is inserted in the second absorbing regions C 141 -S of the absorption bodies C 141 at the medium pack C 100 . Thus, the relatively small amount of waste ink introduced to the ink absorption body B 506 is absorbed and held by the second absorbing regions C 141 -S of the absorption bodies C 141 .

The ink absorption body B 506 is formed of a relatively hard porous material, and the absorption bodies C 141 are formed of a relatively soft porous material. Therefore, when they are put in contact, only the contacting parts of the absorption bodies C 141 at the medium pack C 100 as a consumable supply are greatly deformed, and there is small deterioration of the ink absorption body B 506 at the apparatus main body A 001 . As a result, when the medium pack C 100 as a consumable supply is repeatedly attached to the apparatus main body A 001 many times, a good state of connection can be always maintained between the ink absorption body B 506 and the absorption bodies C 141 . Further, such compression and deformation of the contacting parts of the absorption bodies C 141 results in a proper capillary force which allows ink to come out the ink absorption body B 506 in a favorable manner.

It is advantageous to divide the absorption bodies C 141 into the first absorbing region C 141 -L and the second absorbing region C 141 -S with the wall C 141 B in preventing waste ink from leaking out from an opening C 101 J. Specifically, when waste ink in the entire absorption bodies C 141 starts concentrating and moving toward the opening C 101 J, the waste ink is hindered by the wall C 101 F from moving and is forced to detour around the wall C 101 F. By causing the waste ink to thus detour around the wall C 101 F, it is possible to avoid a concentrative movement of the waste ink in the entire absorption bodies C 141 toward the opening C 101 J, thereby preventing the waste ink from leaking out from the opening C 101 J. In the present embodiment, since a relatively great amount of waste ink is absorbed and held by the first absorbing region C 141 -L, it is possible to effectively prevent the concentrative movement of the relatively great amount of waste ink toward the opening C 101 J. Further, since the second absorbing region C 141 -S absorbs and holds only a small amount of waste ink introduced from the ink absorption body B 506 at the apparatus main body A 001 by a capillary force, the waste ink can be prevented from leaking out in the vicinity of the opening C 101 J to reliably hold the same.

2-3: Printing Medium Containing Portion

As shown in FIG. 7 , a medium slide sheet C 151 for covering the containing sections S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 and S 5 from above is fitted and positioned in the pack main body C 101 . Printing media C 150 are stored on the slide sheet C 151 . Specifically, a plurality of (e.g., 20) printing media C 150 in the form of sheets are placed on the slide sheet C 151 , and a medium press sheet C 152 is further placed on the same. A relatively hard medium press plate C 153 is attached to the press sheet C 152 . A medium positioning spring C 154 is elastically interposed between the press sheet C 152 and the cover C 102 . The spring C 154 is attached to the pack main body C 101 by elastically engaging both ends C 154 A and C 154 B thereof with the circumferential wall C 101 X of the pack main body C 101 in predetermined positions in the plane of the wall. Legs C 154 C, C 154 D, C 154 E and C 154 F of the spring C 154 urge the press sheet C 152 downward as viewed in FIG. 7. A claw C 102 A which can be elastically engaged with a hole C 101 K on the circumferential wall C 101 X of the pack main body C 101 is formed at one end C 102 - 1 of the cover C 102 . Another end C 102 - 2 of the cover C 102 is attached to the pack main body C 101 with a seal C 103 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 .

On the circumferential wall C 101 X of the pack main body C 101 , there is formed an opening C 101 L for transporting the printing media C 150 stored on the slide sheet C 151 one by one in the direction indicated by the arrow A (see FIG. 5 ). The printing medium C 150 is ejected by a pick-up roller B 201 and a press plate 202 at the apparatus main body A 001 as will be described later. When the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the pick-up roller B 201 can enter the pack main body C 101 through an opening C 101 M formed on the pack main body C 101 to be pressed against the lowermost one of the printing media C 150 piled up on the slide sheet C 151 through a cut-out C 151 A on the slide sheet C 151 . As shown in FIGS. 5 , 6 and 7 , a shutter C 155 is mounted at the opening C 101 M such that it can be opened and closed in the directions indicated by the arrows F 1 and F 2 , and the shutter C 155 is always urged by a spring C 156 in the closing direction indicated by the arrow F 1 . The shutter C 155 normally closes the opening C 101 M as shown in FIG. 6 and , when the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , it is opened in the direction indicated by the arrow F 2 to allow the pick-up roller B 201 to enter. When the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the press plate B 202 can enter the pack main body C 101 through cut-outs C 101 N and C 102 B formed on the pack main body C 101 and the cover C 102 to be pressed against the press plate C 153 of the press sheet C 152 .

Thus, by attaching the medium pack C 100 to the apparatus main body A 001 , the printing media C 150 in the medium pack C 100 are set in a standby position in which they can be sandwiched between the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate 202 . When an ASF trigger to be described later is released in this state, the printing media are sandwiched by those members, and the pick-up roller B 201 rotates in a predetermined transport direction to transport the lowermost one of the printing media C 150 on the slide sheet C 151 in the direction indicated by the arrow A through the opening C 101 L. At this time, since the lowermost printing medium C 150 slides on the slide sheet C 151 to be transported, the printing medium C 150 can be smoothly transported by making the top surface of the slide sheet C 151 smoother for the printing medium C 150 . The slide sheet C 151 preferably has properties that allow the printing medium C 150 to be transported favorably as described above. Specifically, this may be achieved by forming the sheet using a material having a low friction coefficient or by processing the sheet such that it has a low friction coefficient on a surface thereof in contact with the printing medium C 150 . Referring to examples of such processing, measures such as a fluorinating process or an embossing process on the sheet may be taken. In order to improve transportability, it is advantageous to take a measure against static electricity that can occur between the slide sheet C 151 and the printing medium C 150 .

Since the opening constituted by the cut-outs C 101 N and C 102 B and the opening C 101 M are formed in positions in an opposing relationship with each other, the printing media C 150 can be sandwiched between the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 . By sandwiching the printing media C 150 between the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate 202 , an optimum transporting force can be imparted from the pick-up roller B 201 to the printing media C 150 to transport the printing media C 150 with reliability. In the present embodiment, since the press plate B 202 is smaller than the pick-up roller B 201 as will be described later, the opening constituted by the cut-outs C 101 N and C 102 B is formed smaller than the opening C 101 M. By forming the opening constituted by the cut-outs C 101 N and C 102 B with such a small size, the rigidity of the medium pack C 100 is improved accordingly. In the present embodiment, since the shutter C 155 is provided at the relatively large opening C 101 M to always close the opening C 101 M when the medium pack C 100 is not attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , it is possible to prevent foreign substances from entering through the relatively large opening C 101 M.

Since the spring C 154 urges the printing media C 150 through the press sheet C 152 , all parts of the lowermost one of the printing media C 150 are properly pressed against the slide sheet C 151 . Since the press plate B 202 is pressed against the relatively hard press plate C 153 , the forward ends of the printing media C 150 located close to the opening C 101 L are pressed relatively stronger to improve the reliability of the operation of transporting the printing medium C 150 . The leg C 154 C of the spring C 154 that is formed in a relatively large size gives a relatively stronger press on a part of the press sheet C 152 opposite to the part pressed by the press plate 202 with its relatively great urging force. As a result, the forward ends of the printing media C 150 located close to the opening C 101 L are more uniformly pressed to perform the operation of transporting the printing media C 150 with higher reliability. Thus, the printing media C 150 are sandwiched between the slide sheet C 151 and the press sheet C 152 and are transported one by one starting with the lowermost one.

Since the slide sheet C 151 covers the containing sections S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 and S 5 from above in the medium pack C 100 , the risk of contact between ink and the printing media C 150 is avoided. In particular, by covering the containing section S 5 , contact between any waste ink in the same and the printing media C 150 is avoided. Since waste ink which has leaked out from the containing section S 5 must flow by way of the outer periphery of the slide sheet C 151 to contact the printing media C 150 , any contact between the waste ink and the printing media C 150 is consequently avoided. Volatile components of waste ink generated at the containing section S 5 exhaust from the outer periphery of the slide sheet C 151 through the mating surface between the pack main body C 101 and the cover C 102 , for example. Thus, the slide sheet C 151 not only serves the function of maintaining slidability of the printing media C 150 but also functions as a cover for the waste ink containing section S 5 .

2-4: Positions and Configurations of Openings

Since the medium pack C 100 is formed with the two openings C 101 H and C 101 J, waste ink from two waste ink passages in the apparatus main body A 001 can be efficiently collected into the medium pack C 100 as described above. Specifically, a relatively large amount of waste ink discharged as a result of a suction recovery process and a preliminary ejecting process of the recording head is discharged by a pump in the apparatus main body A 001 to the first absorbing regions C 141 -L of the absorption bodies C 141 having a relatively large capacity through the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 and the joint C 132 extending into the opening C 101 H, the waste ink being reliably absorbed and held by the first absorbing regions C 141 -L. A relatively small amount of waste ink ejected to positions out of the printing medium C 150 is absorbed and held by the second absorbing regions C 141 -S of the absorption bodies C 141 having a relatively small capacity through the absorption body B 506 extending into the opening C 101 J due to capillarity.

Since the openings C 101 H and C 101 J are formed on the forward end of the medium pack C 100 , the two waste ink passages in the apparatus main body A 001 are connected to the medium pack C 100 only by inserting the medium pack C 100 into the apparatus main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 1 .

The opening C 101 M into which the pick-up roller B 201 enters and the opening C 101 J for collecting waste ink are formed in positions away from each other with the opening C 101 H interposed between them. This makes it possible to prevent waste ink from flowing from the opening C 101 J to the opening C 101 M, thereby preventing the waste ink from smearing the printing media C 150 located in the vicinity of the opening C 101 M.

Since the joint C 132 located inside the opening C 101 H is formed with the ink supply ports P 1 , P 2 and P 3 and the waste ink introduction port P 4 and, in addition, the ink passages L 1 , L 2 , L 3 and L 4 in communication with them, each of the four ink passages L 1 , L 2 , L 3 and L 4 are reliably connected to the apparatus main body 001 with the single joint C 132 . Inside the opening C 101 H, the ports P 1 , P 2 , P 3 and P 4 are arranged in this order in the direction of departing from the opening C 101 M. That is, the waste ink introduction port P 4 is further from the opening C 101 M than the ink supply ports P 1 , P 2 and P 3 are. Therefore, in the event that waste ink should be deposited in the waste ink introduction port P 4 , it is possible to prevent the waste ink from flowing up to the opening C 101 M, thereby preventing the waste ink from smearing the printing media C 150 located in the vicinity of the opening C 101 M.

2-5: Other Configurations

The medium pack C 100 is equipped with an EEPROM to be described later, for storing identification data such as the types and remaining quantities of the ink contained in the medium pack C 100 and the printing media C 150 . In the present embodiment, the EEPROM is provided in the pack main body C 101 that is located at the bottom of the containing section S 5 - 2 . A connector C 161 for the EEPROM is provided on the bottom of the pack main body C 101 in the vicinity of the opening C 101 J for collecting waste ink, as shown in FIG. 6 . When the medium pack C 101 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , the connector C 161 is connected to a connector on the apparatus main body A 001 which is not shown.

The connector C 161 can be used to detect leakage of waste ink because it is located in the vicinity of the opening C 101 J for collecting waste ink. Specifically, in the event that waste ink which has leaked out from the opening C 101 J should flow up to the position of the connector C 161 to cause a connection failure between the connector C 161 and the connector at the apparatus main body A 001 , the leakage of waste ink is detected by detecting the connection failure. For example, it is possible to detect a connection failure because of the presence of waste ink between contacts of the connector C 161 and the connector at the apparatus main body A 001 , an electrical short-circuit caused by waste ink deposited between a plurality of contacts of the connector C 161 or an electrical short-circuit caused by waste ink deposited between a plurality of contacts of the connector at the apparatus main body A 001 , and the leakage of waste ink can be detected based on the result of the detection.

At the opening C 101 L for transporting the printing medium, there may be provided a gate portion C 162 which disallows two or more printing media C 150 to pass simultaneously and allows them to pass one by one. The gate portion C 162 limits the width of the opening C 101 to a size corresponding to the thickness of one printing medium C 150 . Such a gate portion C 162 may be provided such that it covers the entire opening C 101 L in the longitudinal direction thereof or such that it covers part(s) of the opening, e.g., a central part in the longitudinal direction thereof or parts on both sides thereof. In the present embodiment, since the pack main body C 101 having the opening C 101 L is obtained by injection-molding a resin material, it is strongly desired to limit the width of the opening C 101 L accurately while taking into account a strain of the resin material, etc.

FIGS. 16A and 16B and FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrate an example of a configuration for accurately limiting the width of the opening C 101 L of the pack main body C 101 that is obtained by injection-molding a resin material as thus described. Those figures schematically show only the forward end section of the pack main body C 101 . FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate the forward end section when the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 , while FIGS. 17A and 17B illustrate the forward end section when the medium pack C 100 is not attached to the apparatus main body A 001 .

In those figures, denoted C 162 is a gate portion which is formed integrally with an upper edge part of the opening C 101 L in the middle thereof and which limits the width W of the opening C 101 L to a size to allow only one printing medium C 150 to pass. In the present embodiment, the gate portion C 162 is formed with a slight leftward shift from the center of the opening C 101 L such that it is located close to a transporting datum of the printing medium which is formed on the left-hand side of FIG. 16A , taking into account of the use of various sizes of printing media. Guide holes C 163 A and C 163 B and a slit C 164 are formed on the pack main body C 101 . When the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 in the direction indicated by the arrow F 1 , guide pins GP 1 and GP 2 located at the apparatus main body A 001 enter the guide holes C 163 A and C 163 B in a relative manner, as shown in FIG. 16 B. Therefore, the interval between the guide holes C 163 A and C 163 B is forcibly equalized to the interval between the guide pins GP 1 and GP 2 with the pack main body C 100 deformed elastically. Consequently, the gate portion C 162 accurately limits the width W of the opening C 101 L to a size to allow one printing medium C 150 to pass. The slit C 164 facilitates deformation of the pack main body C 100 and absorbs the amount of deformation. At least the part of the pack main body C 100 where the opening C 101 L is formed may be a panel obtained by injection-molding a resin material.

In this example, the gate portion C 162 closes the opening C 101 L as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B to disallow a printing medium C 150 to pass when the medium pack C 100 is not attached to the apparatus main body A 001 .

Thus, the gate portion C 162 in this example not only has a gate function to limit the width of the opening C 101 L to a size to allow one printing medium C 150 to pass but also functions as a stopper for preventing the printing media C 150 from coming out the medium pack C 100 accidentally. The latter stopper function may be provided by a gate portion which is separate from the gate portion C 162 . In this case, the gate portion may close the opening C 101 L when the medium pack C 100 is not attached to the apparatus main body A 001 and may expand the width of the opening C 101 L to at least a size to allow one printing medium C 150 to pass by being displaced by guide pins at the apparatus main body A 001 when the medium pack C 100 is attached to the apparatus main body A 001 .

While projections as guide pins are provided on the apparatus main body and guide holes as recesses are provided on the medium pack in the examples in FIGS. 16A , 16 B, 17 A and 17 B, such engaging members may have any configuration as long as they can expand the gap at the opening C 101 L when engaged. For example, a recess may be provided on the apparatus main body, and a projection that is displaced under the guidance of the recess may be provided on the medium pack.

2-6: Method of Assembly

To assemble the medium pack C 100 , the absorption bodies C 141 and the joint C 132 are sequentially put in the pack main body C 101 from above. The joint C 132 is placed in a position where it is not coupled with the holder C 131 as shown in FIG. 9 A. Almost simultaneously, the combination of the ink packs C 130 and the holder C 131 (see FIG. 7 ) is put in the pack main body C 101 from above. Thereafter, the slide sheet C 151 , a predetermined quantity of printing media C 150 , the press sheet C 152 and the positioning spring C 154 are sequentially put in the pack main body C 101 from above. Then, the cover C 102 is fitted to the opening at the top of the pack main body C 101 , and the claw C 102 A is engaged with the hole C 101 K. The claw C 102 A is temporarily elastically deformed by pressing the cover C 102 downward and is elastically restored in a position where it faces the hole C 101 K to be engaged with the hole C 101 K. Thereafter, the seal C 103 is applied between the cover C 102 and the pack main body C 101 . Thus, elements to be contained in the pack main body C 101 can be sequentially put in the pack main body C 101 from above with favorable operability and, similarly, the cover C 102 can be easily attached from above.

Components such as the shutter C 155 , the spring C 156 , the connector C 161 and the EEPROM are attached to the pack main body C 101 before at least the cover C 102 is attached.

2-7: Ease of Recycling

When a medium pack C 100 is used until the printing media C 150 or ink as consumable supplies therein run out, the used medium pack C 100 can be collected and recycled.

First, the cover C 102 is removed from the used medium pack C 100 thus collected. Since the cover C 102 is not directly welded or bonded to the pack main body C 101 , it can be easily removed upward from the pack main body C 101 by peeling off the seal C 103 and disengaging the claw C 102 A and the hole C 101 K. Thereafter, the elements in the pack main body C 101 can be sequentially removed upward in an order that is the reverse of the order of assembly of the medium pack C 100 described above. In doing so, the holder C 131 and the joint C 132 may be disengaged after taking them out upward in the coupled state as shown in FIG. 9 B.

Then, the medium pack C 100 is assembled in the order described above after replacing the absorption bodies C 141 and the ink pack C 130 with new ones, replenishing the printing media C 150 or replacing components such as the holder C 131 and joint C 132 with new ones, as occasions demand. At this time, sufficient mounting strength of the cover C 102 can be maintained by replacing the seal C 103 with a new one.

The elements in the pack main body C 101 are not welded to the pack main body C 101 , and this is advantageous in improving the operability of assembly of the medium pack and the ease of recycling of the same and in facilitating the evaporation of ink absorbed by the absorption bodies C 141 to maintain the waste ink absorbing function of the absorption bodies C 141 . Since volatile components in waste ink are guided by the slide sheet C 151 to the circumferential wall C 101 X of the pack main body C 101 to be exhausted, it is possible to prevent the printing media C 150 from being adversely affected by the same.

2-8: Others

When a medium pack C 100 is used until the ink therein as a consumable supply runs out or nearly runs out, the ink can be replenished without disassembling the medium pack C 100 . Specifically, there is prepared an ink replenisher in the form of an injector capable of injecting ink reserved therein from the tip of an injection needle. The tip of the injection needle is stuck into the rubber plugs 134 in the ink supply ports P 1 , P 2 or P 3 through the opening C 101 K of the medium pack C 100 to inject the ink into the ink pack C 130 -C, C 130 -M or C 130 -Y through the ink passage L 1 , L 2 or L 3 from the ink replenisher. By preparing ink replenishers containing inks in cyan (C), yellow (Y) and magenta (M) separately, the inks in the ink packs C 130 -C, C 130 -M and C 130 -Y can be selectively replenished.

The ink packs C 130 -C, C 130 -M and C 130 -Y can be directly replenished with inks by sticking the tips of the injection needles of the ink replenishers described above into the ink packs C 130 -C, C 130 -M and C 130 -Y after disassembling the medium pack C 100 . In this case, the holes formed in the ink packs C 130 -C, C 130 -M and C 130 -Y when they are stuck with the injection needles must be closed after the injection needles are pulled out. For example, possible approaches to this problem are to use a material having a property of automatically closing such holes to mold the ink pack C 130 -C, C 130 -M and C 130 -Y and to close such holes using seals, valves and the like.

3: Printer Section

In the present embodiment, a so-called serial type printer section (or printer main body) B 100 is employed in which inkjet type recording heads are used and in which a photographed image or the like is printed on a printing medium by repeatedly scanning the recording heads on the printing medium and then transporting the printing medium in a direction substantially orthogonal to the scanning direction a predetermined distance.

In the printer main body of the present embodiment, ink supply from the ink packs in a medium pack C 100 attached thereto to the recording heads mounted on the carriage is performed using a method in which the ink supply passages and the recording heads are in an unconnected state at least during recording and in which an ink supply enabled state is established to supply inks by connecting the ink supply passages and the recording heads at appropriate timing (hereinafter referred to as the “pit-in” method for convenience). That is, a sub-tank for reserving or storing a very small amount of ink is mounted on the carriage. When the carriage moves to reach an ink supplying position, a supply passage is formed between the sub-tank and an ink pack in the medium pack C 100 through a joint portion provided in the ink supplying position, whereby ink is supplied into the sub-tank. A pump is also provided to introduce the ink from the ink pack by generating a negative pressure in the sub-tank when the ink is supplied to the sub-tank.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the printer main body B 100 taken from the side of a medium pack C 100 attaching section of the same, and FIG. 19 is a perspective view of the main body taken from the side opposite to the attaching section. FIG. 19 omits a top surface of a chassis serving as a structural member, the carriage and a mechanism for moving the same, a roller for transporting the printing medium, and so on. FIG. 20 is a lateral sectional view of the main body B 100 with the medium pack attaching section located on the left side.

As shown in those figures, the printer main body B 100 has a thin configuration which is substantially rectangular and which is shorter in height than its lengthwise and breadthwise dimensions. A chassis B 101 constitutes a structural member of the printer main body B 100 and defines the outline of the rectangle. Specifically, the chassis B 101 is assembled such that it covers substantially all of the six sides forming the rectangle except for the two sides shown in FIG. 18 . The opening surrounded by sides of the rectangle in the directions of the breadth and height thereof shown in FIG. 18 is an opening for attaching the medium pack C 100 . The relatively large plane surrounded by lengthwise and breadthwise sides similarly shown in FIG. 18 is covered by the chassis B 101 in a part thereof, and the uncovered part has a width substantially equal to the width of a carriage B 301 mounted with the recording head and extends over a moving range of the carriage B 301 .

Elements that make up the printer main body B 100 are fixed or rotatably supported by the chassis B 101 to form mechanisms in the printer main body. Specifically, the printer main body B 100 of the present embodiment generally has a paper-feed and transport mechanism, a carriage moving mechanism, an ink supply and recovery mechanism and a pack connection mechanism located in the rectangle formed by the chassis B 101 .

Referring to the paper-feed and transport mechanism, as apparent from a schematic general construction shown in FIG. 20 , a pick-up roller B 201 and a press plate B 202 for pressing a printing medium against the roller with an adequate pressure are disposed at the left end in the figure where the medium pack C 100 is attached. The pickup roller B 201 is configured to be able to rotate in a predetermined angular range by being rotatably supported by roller arms B 203 which are in turn rotatably supported by an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) connecting shaft B 204 . Similarly, the press plate B 202 is also rotatably configured, which allows the roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 to enter the attached medium pack C 100 to thereby sandwich the printing media directly (strictly speaking, the press sheet C 152 intervenes between the press plate and the media). As will be described later, the pick-up roller B 201 is rotated by a driving force of a line-feed (LF) motor (not shown) transmitted through a paper feed (PF) roller B 205 to be described later, the roller arms B 203 and a gear train provided on the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , while the printing media are pressed by the press plate B 202 against the roller with an adequate pressing force to pick up the printing media one by one and feed the printing medium into the printer main body B 100 .

As shown in FIG. 18 , the pick-up roller B 201 has a longitudinal length that is smaller than the width of the printing media in the medium pack C 100 (see FIG. 7 ), and it is provided in the vicinity of an end of the opening for attaching the medium pack C 100 . The width of the press plate B 202 is smaller than the width of the pick-up roller B 201 although not shown in FIG. 18 , and it therefore presses the printing media against only a part of the pick-up roller B 201 . Thus, the paper feed mechanism of this printer engages with only a part of a printing medium to be fed to feed the same.

As further paper-feed and transport mechanisms, as shown in FIG. 20 , a combination of a PF roller B 205 and a pinch roller B 206 and a combination of a PF roller B 207 and a pinch roller B 208 are provided in respective positions sandwiching a moving range of the carriage B 301 (the moving direction of which is in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the figure) downstream of the pick-up roller B 201 and so on (on the right of the same in the figure) in the paper feed direction. The PF rollers B 205 and B 207 are driven for rotation by an LF motor which is provided in a position that is in a substantially diagonal relationship with the part of the printer main body where the paper feed mechanism including the pick-up roller is provided and a gear train which is provided on a lateral surface of the chassis at the end of the chassis that is opposite to the end where the paper feed mechanism is provided with respect to the opening, for transmitting the driving force of the LF motor. Thus, in association with a scan of the recording head mounted on the carriage B 301 , a printing medium is transported a predetermined amount by the combination of the PF roller B 205 and the pinch roller B 206 and the combination of the PF roller B 207 and the pinch roller B 208 respectively provided at upstream and downstream sides of the moving range of the carriage B 301 in the transporting direction of the printing medium. When this operation is repeated to complete printing, the paper is ejected out of the printer main body B 100 or out of the apparatus main body A 001 of the camera. In the printing medium transport passage, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 20 , a platen B 306 is disposed under the moving range of the carriage B 301 . As a result, a printing medium under transportation is slidingly supported by the platen B 306 on its surface opposite to a surface to be printed, and this ensures the flatness of the printing medium.

While the PF roller B 205 on the upstream side and the above-mentioned press plate B 202 are supported by the same shaft, the press plate B 202 is rotated using a frictional force of an arm spring as will be described later in order to adjust the pressing force adequately. The roller arm B 203 supporting the pick-up roller B 201 is similarly rotated using a frictional force of a roller spring (not shown) according to the rotation of an ASF connecting shaft (not shown) supporting the same, which makes it possible to apply an adequate pressing force to the printing medium or paper similarly to the press plate while the paper is fed.

The carriage moving mechanism is a mechanism for driving a lead screw B 302 and the like shown in FIG. 18 to move the carriage B 301 .

The lead screw B 302 is provided such that it extends along the entire breadthwise sides of the rectangle constituting the printer main body or in the longitudinal direction of the main body, while a guide shaft B 303 for the carriage B 301 (see FIG. 20 ) is similarly provided in parallel with the lead screw B 302 . A carriage motor (or CR motor which is not shown) for generating a driving force for rotating the lead screw B 302 is provided on the downstream side of the apparatus with respect to the printing medium transportation direction, that is, the right side of FIG. 20 .

The carriage B 301 can be moved along the guide shaft B 303 when a screw pin (not shown) provided thereon engages with a spiral groove formed on the circumference of the lead screw B 302 and the lead screw B 302 is rotated by the driving force of the carriage motor.

The carriage B 301 is provided with ink chambers B 304 Y, B 304 M and B 304 C as the sub-tanks for respective types of ink, i.e., yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) used for printing. As described above, each of the ink chambers has a capacity with which a very small amount of ink only sufficient to print one printing medium can be contained. It is therefore necessary to replenish the inks from the ink packs of the medium pack C 100 at predetermined intervals. Recording heads B 305 Y, B 305 M and B 305 C associated with the respective types of ink are provided under those ink chambers. The recording heads are arranged in a scanning direction thereof, that is, the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 20 , and a plurality of ink ejecting ports (hereinafter also called nozzles) are disposed on each of the recording heads in a direction substantially orthogonal to the scanning direction. In each of the recording heads, a liquid passage is formed in communication with each of the nozzles, and an electrothermal transducer and electrode wiring and the like for supplying an electrical signal to the same are provided corresponding to the liquid passage. As a result, the recording head can generate bubbles in ink in the liquid passages utilizing thermal energy generated by the electrothermal transducer and to eject the ink from the respective nozzles using the pressure of the bubbles. As the ink is thus ejected, a capillary force primarily causes ink to be supplied to each liquid passage from the ink chamber through a common liquid chamber with which the liquid passages are communicated commonly in the respective recording heads.

The carriage B 301 having the above-described construction is moved in accordance with various modes of the present printer. Specifically, an operation in each mode is performed when the lead screw B 302 rotates clockwise or counterclockwise or in both directions by a predetermined amount on a basis of the home position of the carriage. For example, during a printing operation, when the lead screw B 302 rotates clockwise and counterclockwise, the carriage B 301 reciprocates in a printing area having a predetermined range, which makes it possible to scan the recording heads B 305 Y, B 305 M and B 305 C mounted on the carriage B 301 across the printing medium. During a wiping movement that is a movement of a recording head accompanied by the action of wiping the surface of the recording head where the nozzles are disposed with a predetermined member, a wiper (not shown) is engaged with the surface of the recording head where the nozzles are disposed to perform wiping while the carriage B 301 reciprocates within a predetermined range in the vicinity of its home position. Further, during the above pit-in operation for replenishing each ink chamber of a recording head with ink, the carriage B 301 moves to a joint member B 401 disposed in the vicinity of the home position as shown in FIG. 19 as a result of a predetermined rotation of the lead screw B 302 . Consequently, ink replenishing needles (not shown) for respective inks provided on the carriage are inserted into joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C for the respective inks at the joint member B 401 and, similarly, an air suction hole (not shown) provided on the carriage B 301 is connected to an air suction cap B 403 provided on the joint member B 401 as a result of the series of carriage movements. Thus, ink is supplied to each of the ink chambers B 304 Y, B 304 M and B 304 C in the carriage B 301 by an operation of a pump (not shown). In the position where the joint member B 401 is connected, the surface of each recording head where the nozzles are disposed is in a position in a face-to-face relationship with the cap B 405 shown in FIG. 19 , and the cap B 405 can be elevated to cover the surface. Such capping makes it possible to suppress evaporation of an ink solvent and the like through the nozzles when the printer does not perform the printing operation. In the capping state, a suction recovery process can be performed using the pump to discharge ink whose viscosity may have increased from a liquid passage through the respective nozzles. Further, by moving the carriage B 301 to the position of the cap B 405 at predetermined timing as a result of a predetermined rotation of the lead screw B 302 , the preliminary ejection operation by ejecting ink from each of the recording heads into the cap in this position can be performed.

As shown in FIG. 18 , one end of a flexible substrate B 307 is secured to a part of the carriage B 301 . This makes it possible to exchange print signals and so on between a control portion configured in the form of a substrate in the present printer and the respective recording heads. In the present embodiment, the flexible substrate B 307 is formed with a hole in the form of a partial cut-out in the middle of a part of the substrate that is attached to the carriage B 301 , and an encoder sensor constituted by a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element is provided on the back side of the fixing part of the carriage. A scale having detection marks at equal intervals, which is to be used for the encoder, extends on the backside of a panel which constitutes the top of the chassis B 101 when the printer main body B 100 is in the attitude shown in FIG. 18 . As a result, the encoder sensor can optically detect the detection marks on the scale through the hole as the carriage B 301 moves. Ink is ejected from each of the recording heads at timing that is based on encoder signals obtained through the detection as the recording heads are scanned, which makes it possible to form ink dots in predetermined positions on a printing medium sequentially.

The ink supply and recovery mechanism is a mechanism for performing ink replenishment of each of the ink chambers of the carriage B 301 through the joint member B 401 and for suction recovery, the mechanism primarily relating to a pump for generating a negative pressure for conveying ink for such purposes.

As shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 , a pump B 408 is provided substantially in the middle of the end section of the printer main body B 100 opposite to the medium pack C 100 attaching section. As shown in FIG. 20 , a piston sliding in the pump B 408 has an elliptical cross-sectional shape. Accordingly, a cylinder to serve as a case member for the same also has an elliptical cross-sectional shape.

A lead screw B 410 separate from the lead screw B 302 for the carriage is provided such that it extends in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the pump B 408 and in a range substantially covering the entire printer main body B 100 in the longitudinal direction thereof. The lead screw B 410 is formed with two spiral grooves B 410 a which cross each other for causing the cylinder of the pump B 408 and the wiper to operate and for causing an ASF trigger to operate to feed the printing medium in the medium pack and one spiral groove B 410 b for causing the cap B 405 and the joint member B 401 to operate.

As a member making up the pump B 408 , there is provided a pump driving arm B 409 connected with the piston through a piston shaft. The pump driving arm B 409 has a portion extending in parallel with the lead screw B 410 , and a part of this portion is engaged with the spiral grooves B 410 a on the lead screw B 410 to allow the pump driving arm and hence the piston to move to cause a pumping operation. This movement is guided by a guide shaft B 413 engaged with a part of the pump driving arm B 409 .

The pumping operation of the pump B 408 causes the operation of replenishing each ink chamber of the carriage B 301 with ink by sucking air from each ink chamber to generate a negative pressure therein and the operation of sucking air from the cap B 405 capping a recording head to generate a negative pressure therein and sucking waste ink consequently. The waste ink discharged as a result of the suction flows through pipes in the piston shaft and the pump driving arm B 409 to a waste ink communication tube B 411 and a needle B 503 held by an ink needle holder B 501 , and it is finally introduced to the ink absorption bodies provided in the attached medium pack C 100 . The movement of the pump driving arm B 409 in engagement with the spiral grooves B 410 a also enables the operation of the wiper and the operation of the ASF trigger for feeding the printing medium from the medium pack C 100 .

A part of a switching slider B 412 is engaged with the other spiral groove B 410 b on the lead screw B 410 , which allows the cap B 405 to be moved up and down through a cap lever arm B 414 .

A pack connecting mechanism is a mechanism other than the mechanism relating to paper feed, and it relates to the connection of the medium pack. Specifically, it primarily relates to supply of ink from the medium pack C 100 and introduction of ink discharged from the printer main body into the medium pack C 100 .

As shown in FIG. 18 , at the opening of the printer main body B 100 for attaching the medium pack C 100 , there is provided elements to be engaged with elements of the medium pack C 100 when it is attached.

In addition to the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 (not shown in FIG. 18 ) for feeding printing medium as described above, there is provided the ink supply needles B 502 C, B 502 M and B 502 Y for introducing inks from the ink packs for the respective ink colors in the medium pack C 100 to the respective ink chambers on the carriage B 301 . Adjacent to the supply needles, there is provided the needle B 503 for waste ink for introducing waste ink discharged into the cap as a result of the suction recovery process and the preliminary ejection process of the recording heads to the ink absorption bodies in the medium pack C 100 . As previously described, those needles penetrate and engage with the respective rubber plugs 134 in the ports P 1 through P 4 of the joint C 132 in the medium pack C 100 when the medium pack is attached.

As shown in FIG. 19 , the ink supply needles B 502 C, B 502 M and B 502 Y communicate with the respective joints B 402 C, B 402 M and B 402 Y of the joint member B 401 through passages constituted by grooves formed in the needle holder B 501 for holding the needles and in a member integral with the same. Similarly, the needle B 503 for waste ink communicates with a predetermined passage in the pump driving arm B 409 of the pump B 408 through a passage constituted by a groove formed in the holder B 501 and the waste ink communication tube B 411 .

Each of the needles is covered by a needle cap B 504 when the medium pack is not attached. Specifically, the cap B 504 is urged ahead each needle by a compression spring B 505 provided at the needle when the pack is not attached, and the tip of each needle is thus covered by the cap B 505 when the pack is not attached. When the pack is attached, as a result of the pack attaching operation, the cap B 504 is moved toward this side of each needle against the urging force of the compression spring B 505 , which causes the tip of the needle to be exposed and inserted into the joint in the pack.

Further, a connector B 507 is disposed in the above opening. The connector B 507 is connected with the connector C 161 of the EEPROM provided in the medium pack C 100 to allow the control portion of the printer main body to write and read the EEPROM.

As shown in FIG. 19 , the ink absorption body B 506 is provided between the needles and the connector ( FIG. 18 shows a state in which the absorption body is removed). The ink absorption body B 506 is connected to a part of an ink absorption body B 508 which is spread over the substantially entire bottom surface of the platen B 306 (see FIG. 20 ). When the medium pack C 100 is attached, the ink absorption body B 506 enters the opening C 101 L of the medium pack to contact the ink absorption bodies therein. This makes it possible to absorb a part of ink ejected from the recording heads during printing with the absorption body B 508 and to introduce the absorbed ink to the ink absorption bodies in the medium pack C 100 through the absorption body B 506 . In the present embodiment, ink discharged as a result of the suction recovery process or preliminary ejection process in the printer main body B 100 is received by the cap B 405 and introduced to the ink absorption bodies in the medium pack through the needles B 503 for waste ink as described above. Further, in the present embodiment, an image or the like is printed without leaving any margin on each side of the rectangular printing medium during printing. Therefore, ink is substantially ejected also to the outside of the printing medium beyond those sides, and the ink is received by the ink absorption body B 508 . As the contained amount increases, the absorbed ink moves to the ink absorption body B 506 to be finally introduced to the ink absorption bodies in the medium pack.

The ink absorption body B 506 provided at the section connected with the medium pack is constituted by a sintered porous body made of a material harder than the other ink absorption bodies. It is therefore possible to suppress wear of the ink absorption body B 506 as a result of the operation of attaching the medium pack C 100 and/or resultant contact between the ink absorption bodies.

A description will now be made on detailed constructions of the paper-feed and transport mechanism, the carriage movement mechanism, the ink supply and recovery mechanism, and the pack connection mechanism of the printer main body B 100 which have been schematically described above.

3.1: Paper-Feed and Transport Mechanism

The paper-feed and transport mechanism in the present embodiment will now be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 18 to 28 A- 28 C.

The paper-feed and transport mechanism in the present embodiment has a paper-feed system mechanism for introducing printing media from the medium pack C 100 into the printer main body B 100 one by one and a transport system mechanism for transporting the printing medium introduced by the paper-feed system mechanism to a paper ejecting port defined by the printer main body B 100 and outer casing materials through a recording area.

Transport System Mechanism

The transport system mechanism will be described. The transport system mechanism includes a driving force transmission mechanism for the combination of the PF roller B 205 and the pinch roller B 206 provided on the upstream side in the transporting direction of the printing medium as described above and the combination of the PF roller B 207 and the pinch roller B 208 provided downstream of the same.

The PF rollers B 205 and B 207 are rotatably supported by bearing portions protruding from the chassis B 101 at rotating shaft portions B 211 and B 212 provided on end sides thereof. The pinch rollers B 206 and B 208 are rotatably supported by predetermined bearing members and are normally urged by springs which are not shown such that they can be pressed against the PF rollers B 205 and B 207 . A construction is employed in which the bearing portions of the rotating shaft portions B 211 and B 212 are provided inwardly of both of the left and right lateral surfaces of the chassis B 101 to minimize outward protrusion of the rotating shaft portions B 211 and B 212 from the chassis. A structure is employed here in which protrusion of the rotating shaft portions B 211 and B 212 from a right side plate B 101 a of the chassis B 101 is avoided, and the structure makes it possible to avoid any interference with the rotating shaft portions even when a plate-like outer casing material is fixed on the outer surface of the right side plate B 101 a , which contributes to reduction of the size of the apparatus as a whole.

The PF rollers B 205 and B 207 are constituted by high friction members. The PF rollers are formed in a cylindrical configuration, and the pinch rollers B 206 and B 208 are formed with disc-shaped abutting portions on both ends thereof. A driving force from a single driving source (LF motor) is transmitted to the PF rollers B 205 and B 207 by a driving force transmission mechanism as shown in FIGS. 25 to 27 .

As shown in FIG. 25 , the driving force transmission mechanism is constituted by a gear train which sequentially transmits a rotary driving force from the LF motor B 210 provided on the left side plate B 101 b of the chassis B 101 in the vicinity of the backside (paper ejecting side) of the chassis to the paper introducing side of the chassis B 101 . The gear train constituting the driving force transmission mechanism is comprised of a transport system gear train and a paper feed system gear train to be described later. The transport system gear train is constituted by a gear train comprising six gears in total including a motor gear B 213 provided on the rotating shaft of the motor and a PF roller gear B 218 secured to the rotating shaft B 211 of the upstream PF roller B 205 .

The gears B 213 through B 218 constituting the transport system gear train are attached to the outer surface of the left side plate B 101 b through rotating shafts. The rotating shafts supporting the gears B 214 through B 218 are provided substantially in a row along a straight line in parallel with the transporting direction of the printing medium. This minimizes the space for attaching the gears in the vertical direction and contributes to reduction of the thickness of the chassis B 101 (the height of the same in the vertical direction in FIG. 22 ). Referring to the figure, the gears B 214 and B 215 are intermediate gears secured to the same shaft; denoted B 216 is a carry-out gear secured to the rotating shaft B 212 of the downstream PF roller B 207 disposed at the downstream side in the transporting direction of the printing medium; denoted B 217 is an intermediate gear; and denoted B 218 is a paper feed gear secured to the rotating shaft B 211 of the upstream PF roller B 205 .

With the transport system mechanism having the above-described construction, when the LF motor B 210 rotates clockwise, the driving force is sequentially transmitted from the motor gear B 213 to the gears B 214 , B 215 , B 216 , B 217 and B 218 provided substantially in a row, and the downstream PF roller B 207 and the upstream PF roller B 205 rotate in a forward rotating direction x 1 according to the rotation of the carry-out gear B 216 and the paper feed gear B 218 , respectively. The rotating operation of the PF rollers B 205 and B 207 takes place intermittently corresponding to the movement of the carriage to intermittently transport one printing medium fed by the paper feed system to be described later in the normal transporting direction x 1 .

Paper Feed System Mechanism

As shown in FIGS. 21 to 28 A- 28 C, the paper feed system mechanism is provided in the vicinity of the opening located on the upstream side of the chassis B 101 in the transporting direction. As previously described, each of the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 swings to sandwich the medium pack C 100 attached to the printer main body B 100 . The printing media are pulled out one by one as a result of the rotation of the pick-up roller B 201 . That is, the paper feed system mechanism is comprised of the press plate B 202 , a swinging mechanism for the same, the pick-up roller B 201 and a swinging mechanism and a rotating mechanism for the same.

The pick-up roller B 201 is secured to the ASF connecting shaft B 204 that is rotatably supported by a bearing arranged on the chassis B 101 . As shown in FIG. 23 , the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is supported in a position that is upstream of the rotating shaft B 211 of the upstream PF roller B 205 and that is diagonally below the same.

The rotating mechanism for the pick-up roller B 201 has the following construction. Ends of a pair of left and right roller arms B 203 facing each other at a predetermined interval are rotatably inserted in and supported by the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , and the pick-up roller B 201 constituted by a high friction member in a cylindrical shape is supported at the other ends of the roller arms B 203 such that it can be rotated by a rotating shaft B 224 .

The torque of the paper feed gear B 218 or the torque of the LF motor B 210 is transmitted to the pick-up roller B 201 through the paper feed system gear train interlocked with the paper feed gear B 218 of the transport system gear train. The paper feed system gear train is comprised of five gears in total including a PF roller gear B 219 secured to the rotating shaft B 211 in FIG. 25 and a pick-up roller gear B 223 secured to the rotating shaft B 215 of the pick-up roller B 201 , i.e., gears B 219 , B 220 , B 221 , B 222 and B 223 . Denoted B 220 is an ASF large-diameter gear secured to the ASF connecting shaft B 204 and engaged with the PF roller gear B 219 . Denoted B 221 is an ASF small-diameter gear secured to the ASF connecting shaft B 204 . Denoted B 222 is an intermediate gear engaged with the ASF small-diameter gear B 221 and the pick-up roller gear B 223 .

The rotating mechanism having the above-described construction operates in accordance with the rotation of the LF motor B 210 . Specifically, when the rotating shaft B 211 is rotated by the transport system gear train as a result of the rotation of the LF motor B 210 , the PF roller gear B 219 rotates integrally therewith. The rotation in turn causes the pick-up roller gear B 223 to rotate through the ASF large-diameter gear B 220 , the ASF small-diameter gear B 221 and the intermediate gear B 222 . The resultant rotation causes the rotating shaft B 224 to rotate, and the pick-up roller B 201 rotates with the rotating shaft B 224 .

The swinging mechanism for the pick-up roller B 201 has the following construction.

The swinging mechanism for the pick-up roller B 201 in the present embodiment is configured with a small size at a low cost by making combined use of the above rotating mechanism. Therefore, the following description will omit the construction of the rotating mechanism itself and will refer to another mechanism added thereto and a construction for associating the additional mechanism with the rotating mechanism.

First, a member constituting the additional mechanism is a coupling spring B 225 for rotatably coupling the ASF connecting shaft B 204 and the roller arms B 203 . The coupling spring B 225 is constituted by a coiled spring wound around the circumference of the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , and one end of the same is held by one of the roller arms B 203 (the arm on the right side of FIG. 22 ). A portion B 225 a of the coupling spring B 225 wound around the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is comprised of a plurality of coils in a spiral configuration having a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the ASF connecting shaft B 204 in a state in which the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is not inserted. Therefore, the wound portion B 225 a normally contacts the ASF connecting shaft B 204 with a pressure, and the winding direction is the direction of increasing the diameter of each of the coils of the wound portion B 225 a when the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is rotated in the forward rotating direction (the direction x 1 ) with the roller arms B 203 fixed, i.e., the direction of relaxing the ASF connecting shaft B 204 .

With the coupling spring B 204 , the roller arms B 203 and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 rotatably inserted therein can be coupled with respect to the rotating direction with predetermined torque acting thereon. Specifically, since a frictional force is generated between the ASF connecting shaft B 204 and the wound portion B 225 a of the coupling spring B 225 in contact therewith with a pressure, when no load is applied to the roller arms B 203 , the frictional force causes the coupling spring B 225 to rotate with the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , which causes the roller arm B 203 to which one end of the spring is held to rotate in the same direction.

When a force (load) is applied to the roller arms B 203 in the direction of preventing the rotation of the same, that is, the direction of increasing the diameter of the wound portion B 225 a of the coupling spring B 225 as described above, the frictional force between the wound portion B 225 a and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 decreases. When the load applied to the roller arms B 203 exceeds the frictional force, the ASF connecting shaft B 204 slidingly rotates relative to the wound portion B 225 a of the coupling spring B 225 . Therefore, in a state in which the swinging of the roller arms B 203 is stopped while the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is rotating, a rotational force (torque) in accordance with a slide frictional force generated between the wound portion 225 a and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is always applied, the force having a substantially constant value.

Thus, the pick-up roller B 201 in the present embodiment rotates about the rotating shaft B 224 , and the roller arms B 203 make a swinging motion about the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , the LF motor B 210 acting as a driving source for both of those operations. The range of the swinging operation is set between an initial position (see FIG. 25 ) in which the roller is spaced from the lowermost printing medium contained in the medium pack C 100 attached to the printer main body B 100 and a position for the paper feed operation in which the roller is pressed against the lowermost printing medium.

The swinging mechanism for driving the press plate B 202 has the following construction.

The press plate B 202 is comprised of a press plate supporting arm B 266 rotatably supported by the rotating shaft B 211 of the upstream PF roller B 205 and a coupling spring B 227 which allows rotatable coupling of the press plate supporting arm B 226 and the rotating shaft B 211 .

The press plate supporting arm B 226 is in the form of a frame that is bent and formed in the U-shape, and shaft-mount sections formed on both ends thereof are rotatably inserted in and supported by the rotating shaft B 211 on both sides of the PF roller B 205 . The press plate supporting arm B 226 is integrally formed with the press plate protruding upstream in the paper transporting direction, and the plate faces a central part of the pick-up roller B 201 . The coupling spring B 227 is constituted by a coiled spring wound around the circumference of the rotating shaft B 211 , and one end of the same is held by one of the shaft-mount sections (the section on the right side of FIG. 23 ) of the press plate supporting arm B 266 . The coupling spring B 227 is formed with a wound portion B 227 a which is wound around the rotating shaft B 211 . The wound portion B 227 a is comprised of a plurality of coils in a spiral configuration having a diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the rotating shaft B 211 in a state in which the rotating shaft B 211 is not inserted. Therefore, the wound portion B 227 a wound around the rotating shaft B 211 normally contacts the rotating shaft B 211 with a pressure, and the winding direction is set at the direction of increasing the diameter of each of the coils of the wound portion B 227 a when the rotating shaft B 211 is rotated in the forward direction (the direction x 1 ) with the press plate supporting arm B 226 fixed, i.e., the direction of relaxing the rotating shaft B 211 .

With the swinging mechanism having the above-described construction, the rotating shaft B 211 rotatably inserted in the press plate supporting arm B 226 and the press plate B 202 can be coupled with respect to the rotating direction with predetermined torque acting thereon. Specifically, since a frictional force is generated between the rotating shaft B 211 and the wound portion B 227 a of the coupling spring B 227 in contact therewith with a pressure, when no load is applied to the press plate supporting arm B 226 , the frictional force causes the coupling spring B 227 to rotate with the rotating shaft B 211 , which causes the press plate supporting arm B 226 to which one end of the spring is held to rotate in the same direction.

When a force (load) is applied to the press plate B 202 in the direction of preventing the rotation of the same, that is, the direction of increasing the diameter of the wound portion B 227 a of the coupling spring B 227 as described above, the frictional force between the wound portion B 227 a and the rotating shaft B 211 decreases. When the load applied to the press plate supporting arm B 226 exceeds the frictional force, the rotating shaft B 211 slidingly rotates relative to the rotating shaft B 211 of the coupling spring B 227 . Therefore, in this state of sliding rotation, the rotational force (torque) applied to the load by the press plate supporting arm B 226 is a rotational force (torque) in accordance with a slide frictional force generated between the wound portion B 227 a of the coupling spring B 227 and the rotating shaft B 211 , and the force has a substantially constant value regardless of the position of the press plate supporting arm B 226 .

Thus, the press plate supporting arm B 226 in the present embodiment swings about the rotating shaft B 211 , and the LF motor B 210 acts as a driving source for this swinging operation as for the swinging operation of the pick-up roller B 201 . When a holding operation performed by a stopper mechanism to be described later is not considered, the range of the swinging motion of the press plate B 202 is set between an initial position (see FIG. 25 ) in which the press plate is spaced from the press sheet C 152 contained in the medium pack C 100 attached to the printer main body B 100 and the position for the paper feed operation in which the press plate is pressed against the lowermost printing medium (see FIG. 27 ).

In the present embodiment, in order to improve the response of the paper feed operation performed by the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 , i.e., to make it possible to start the paper feed operation quickly when it is to be started, a construction is employed in which the pick-up roller B 201 is kept rotating even when paper feed is not performed and in which the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 stand by in standby positions closer to the medium pack C 100 than the initial position. The pick-up roller B 201 and the medium pack C 100 are held at the standby positions by the following holding mechanism.

The holding mechanism has a roller holding portion for holding the pick-up roller B 201 and a press plate holding portion for holding the swinging of the press plate B 202 . The roller holding portion is comprised of a second holding claw B 229 integrally protruding from the roller arm B 203 and a first holding claw B 228 provided on an ASF trigger B 209 to be described later which can be engaged with the second holding claw B 229 . The press plate holding portion is comprised of a third holding claw B 230 integrally protruding from the press plate supporting arm B 226 and a fourth holding claw B 231 formed on the ASF trigger B 209 which can be engaged with the third holding claw B 230 . The first and fourth holding claws integrally protrude from the ASF trigger B 209 slidably provided on the bottom of the chassis B 101 . The ASF trigger B 209 is formed with two slots B 209 a into which guide pins B 101 P protruding from the chassis B 101 are inserted, and the ASF trigger B 209 can move in both of directions a and b within the range of the slots B 209 a (see FIG. 21 ). The ASF trigger B 209 is normally urged in the direction b by an urging force of an urging spring B 103 b and, in its initial position reached by the maximum movement in the direction b (see FIG. 22 ), the first holding claw B 228 and the third holding claw B 230 protruding from the ASF trigger B 209 are in positions in which they can be engaged with the second holding claw B 229 and the fourth holding claw B 231 , respectively.

When the first holding claw B 228 and the second holding claw B 229 are in the held state, the roller arms B 203 are held in a holding position (see FIG. 26 ) between the initial position and the paper feed position and are prevented from moving further toward the paper feed position. When the third holding claw B 230 and the fourth holding claw B 231 are in the held state, the press plate B 202 is held in a holding position between the initial position and the paper feed position and is prevented from moving further toward the paper feed position.

Operations of the paper-feed and transport mechanism in the present embodiment having the above-described construction will now be described.

When the medium pack C 100 is attached to the printer main body B 100 , the shutter portion is engaged with the printer main body B 100 to be put in an open state, and the lowermost printing medium among the printing media contained in the medium pack C 100 is thus exposed. In the initial phase when no recording operation is performed with the medium pack C 100 thus attached, the ASF trigger B 209 has been urged by the urging force of the urging spring B 209 b in the direction b and is held in the rightmost position. In the initial phase, the press plate B 202 is kept furthest from the uppermost printing medium or the press sheet C 102 in the medium pack (see FIG. 25 ), and the pick-up roller B 201 is kept furthest from the lowermost printing medium in the medium pack (see FIG. 25 ). Then, the switching lead screw B 410 provided in the supply and recovering system mechanism rotates, and a pump slider B 441 to be described later moves a predetermined distance in the direction a according to the rotation, the pump slider B 441 contacting the ASF trigger B 209 consequently. When the pump slider B 441 thereafter continues moving in the direction a, the ASF trigger B 209 is pushed by the pump slider B 441 to move in the direction a against the urging force of the urging spring B 209 b as shown in FIG. 21 .

Since the LF motor B 210 is concurrently driven counterclockwise, the rotating shaft B 211 rotates in the direction x 1 (the direction in which the printing medium is carried in) with the upstream PF roller B 205 , and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 is also rotated through the PF roller gear B 219 and the ASF large-diameter gear B 220 . As a result, the press plate B 202 swings along with the rotating shaft B 211 due to the intervention of the coupling spring B 227 , and the roller arms B 203 also swing along with the ASF connecting shaft B 204 due to the intervention of the coupling spring B 225 . However, since the ASF trigger B 209 is in the initial position immediately after the driving of the LF motor B 210 is started, the first holding claw B 228 and the third holding claw B 230 are respectively held by the second holding claw B 229 and the fourth holding claw B 231 in this state, and the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 are held in the standby position and the initial position, respectively (see FIGS. 26 and 28 A). In such a state in which the holding claws are held by each other, a reduction occurs in both of the frictional force between the wound portion B 227 a of the coupling spring B 227 and the rotating shaft B 211 and the frictional force between the wound portion B 225 a of the coupling spring B 225 and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 , which causes each of the rotating shaft B 211 and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 to slidingly rotate. Therefore, the pick-up roller B 201 is rotated along with the rotating shaft B 224 by the paper feed system gear train.

When the ASF trigger B 209 moves in the direction a as a result of the movement of the pump slider B 441 , the third holding claw B 230 and the fourth holding claw B 231 are disengaged, and the press plate supporting arm B 226 swingingly moves around the rotating shaft B 211 because of the slide frictional force between the coupling spring B 227 and the rotating shaft B 211 . Thus, the press plate B 202 is inserted into the opening for the pressing portion formed on the medium pack C 100 to press the uppermost printing medium contained therein via the press sheet C 102 . As a result, the lowermost printing medium is pressed against the inner bottom of the medium pack C 100 with an adequate pressing force and is thus prevented from rising (see FIG. 28 B).

When the ASF trigger B 209 moves further in the direction a, the first holding claw B 228 and the second holding claw B 229 are also disengaged, and the roller arms B 203 swingingly move around the ASF connecting shaft B 204 . As a result, the pick-up roller B 201 contacts the bottom surface of the lowermost printing medium in the medium pack C 100 through the opening of the medium pack C 100 . At this time, a pressing force F 1 applied to the printing media by the press plate B 202 is set greater than a pressing force F 2 applied by the pick-up roller B 201 (see FIG. 28 B), and this eliminates the problem in that the printing media are pushed up when the pick-up roller B 201 contacts the printing media. In the present embodiment, the force applied to the printing media by the press plate B 202 or pick-up roller B 201 is generated by the frictional force generated between the coupling spring B 225 and the ASF connecting shaft B 204 and the frictional force generated between the coupling spring B 227 and the rotating shaft B 211 . Therefore, a stable pressure can be always applied to the printing medium regardless of the quantity or thickness of the printing media contained in the medium pack C 100 , which makes it possible to feed the printing media reliably, one by one.

The position of the leading end of a printing medium fed from the medium pack C 100 can be detected with a paper end detection sensor (PE sensor) which is not shown, and the rotation of the LF motor B 210 is stopped when the leading end protrudes downstream in the transporting direction X 1 ′ (see FIG. 27 ) from the position of the pick-up roller B 201 by a predetermined amount. When the LF motor B 210 is thereafter rotated clockwise and, in conjunction with this, both of the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 return to the initial positions in which they are spaced from the medium pack C 100 . The returning to the initial positions can be performed by causing a reverse rotation of the LF motor B 210 as indicated by the arrow x 2 until the press plate supporting arm B 226 and the roller arms B 203 are held by predetermined stoppers for setting the initial positions, and the rotation of the LF motor B 210 is stopped when they return to the initial positions.

As a result of the reverse rotation of the LF motor B 210 , the printing medium fed from the medium pack C 100 is transported in reverse (transported in the direction x 2 ′). The feeding amount of the printing media during paper feeding is preset such that a printing medium exists between the PF roller B 205 and the pinch roller B 206 even when reverse transportation occurs.

The reason is that when the feeding amount is small, the printing medium comes out from the gap between the PF roller B 205 and the pinch roller B 206 as a result of the reverse operation to disable a subsequent transport operation.

When the pump motor B 104 further rotates to move the pump slider B 441 up to the edge of the switching lead screw B 410 , since the switching lead screw B 410 has cross-type lead grooves, the pump slider B 441 changes the moving direction to move to its initial position. As a result, the ASF trigger B 209 is moved by the urging force of the urging spring B 209 b in the direction b shown in FIG. 21 to return to the initial position where the engagement can be established between the holding claws B 228 and B 229 and between the holding claws B 230 and B 231 . Thereafter, a recording operation is performed in accordance with the scanning of the carriage B 301 . At this time, since the roller arms B 203 and the press plate supporting arm B 226 are both prevented from swinging by the engagement between the first holding claw B 228 and the second holding claw B 229 and the engagement between the third holding claw B 230 and the fourth holding claw B 231 , the paper feed operation is not performed by the pick-up roller B 201 .

In the above description, the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 are held in the standby positions with the holding mechanism, and the press plate B 202 and the pick-up roller B 201 are pressed against the medium pack C 100 in that order when the ASF trigger B 209 is driven. However, it is also possible to press the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 against the recording media simultaneously or to set the order of pressing in reverse. Instead of holding the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 in intermediate positions such as the standby positions described above, the pick-up roller B 201 may be moved from a predetermined initial position to the pressing position without stopping it at the standby position in accordance with a feed start command or the like, and the invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

3.2: Carriage Movement Mechanism

Since the carriage B 301 in the present embodiment carries the ink chambers capable of containing only a small amount of ink sufficient for about one sheet of paper, there is a need for replenishing ink from the medium pack C 100 frequently, and the capability of performing the replenishing operation adequately is an important factor in performing a recording operation.

A coupling mechanism as shown in FIGS. 29 to 35 A- 35 C is used as a structure to allow ink to be reliably supplied and received without leakage during an ink replenishing operation.

The illustrated coupling mechanism includes the joint member B 401 provided in the vicinity of a home position of the carriage B 301 , the hollow ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C (see FIGS. 30 , 31 and 36 ) protruding from sides of the respective ink chambers B 304 Y, B 304 M and B 304 C, and an air suction hole B 301 H (see FIGS. 36 and 38 ). On a side of the joint member B 401 , the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C into which the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C of the carriage B 301 can be inserted while maintaining a sealed state are formed in association with the respective ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C. The joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C form one end of the communication passages in communication with the ink packs C 130 in the medium pack C 100 attached to the printer main body B 100 . A replenishing operation can be performed by inserting the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C into the joints, operating a recovery system mechanism to be described later to elevate the cap B 405 to cover the ejecting surfaces of the recording heads 305 Y, 305 M and 305 C with the air suction hole B 301 H kept in the sealed state, and thereafter driving the pump motor B 104 in the absorbing direction to generate a negative pressure in the air suction hole B 301 H, thereby putting the interior of the ink chambers of the carriage B 301 under the negative pressure through the porous film.

A description will now be made with reference to FIGS. 29 to 35 A- 35 C on the operation of connecting the ink replenishing needles B 301 with the joint member B 401 and the operation of sealing the air suction cap B 403 and the air suction hole 301 H.

FIG. 29 shows a state before the carriage B 301 returns to the home position. In this state, the switching slider B 412 is located furthest from the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C, and a removing lever B 404 is in a rotatable state at this time. When the carriage B 301 moves toward the home position in this state, as shown in FIGS. 30 and 31 , the three ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C first reach the respective joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C, and the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C are thereafter inserted into the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C (see FIG. 32 ) by moving in the same direction further (leftward in the figure). In such a phase when the insertion of the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C has just been started, the surface formed with the air suction hole B 301 H has not contacted the air suction cap B 403 yet, and a gap therefore exists. When the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C are thereafter inserted into the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C further, the surface formed with the air suction hole B 301 H comes into contact with the air suction cap B 403 , and a further movement of the carriage B 301 causes the air suction cap B 403 to tightly contact with the region surrounding the air suction hole B 301 H while being flexed, whereby the air suction hole B 402 H and the air suction cap B 403 are connected in an air-tight state.

Thus, in the present embodiment, the three ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C and the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C are connected first, and the air suction hole B 402 H and the air suction cap B 403 are thereafter connected. Since there is a time difference between the connecting operations, the load required for the connection can be distributed between the operations unlike that for connecting operations performed simultaneously, which makes it possible to perform both connecting operations sufficiently without providing the CR motor B 310 with great driving torque. In addition, in the present embodiment, since a greater load is required to connect the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C and the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C, the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C and the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C are first connected in a state in which a sufficient force of inertia of the carriage B 301 can be obtained, and the connection between the air suction hole B 402 H and the air suction cap B 403 that can be completed with relatively small torque is thereafter performed. However, load distribution can be advantageously achieved unlike simultaneous connecting operations also by connecting the air suction cap B 403 and the air suction hole B 402 H first and by connecting the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C and the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C thereafter.

In the present embodiment, the air suction cap B 403 is constituted by a member having elasticity such as rubber, and it also functions as a cushioning member for receiving the force of inertia of the carriage B 301 during a movement by taking advantage of the elastic force, which makes it possible to prevent damage on the carriage B 301 .

When the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C are removed from the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C after the ink chambers carried by the carriage B 301 are completely replenished with inks, there is resistance which applies a great load to the CR motor B 310 . In order to reduce the load associated with the starting of the CR motor B 310 , the present embodiment is configured so as to utilize the driving force of the pump motor B 104 .

Specifically, when the carriage B 301 is started, the pump motor B 104 for driving a recovery system to be described later drives the switching slider B 412 for a movement toward the home position of the carriage B 301 (rightward in FIGS. 35A to 35 C). A lower end of the removing lever B 404 which is mounted through a shaft substantially in the middle thereof (see FIGS. 34 and 35A to 35 C) is located in the moving path of the switching slider B 412 . When a contact portion B 412 a of the switching slider B 412 contacts the lower end, the removing lever B 404 rotates counterclockwise in the figures about the shaft-mount portion in the middle thereof, and an upper end of the lever moves leftward in FIGS. 35A to 35 C. As a result, the upper end of the removing lever B 404 contacts an end face of the carriage B 301 (see FIG. 35 B). When the removing lever B 404 further rotates counterclockwise as a result of a further movement of the switching slider B 412 to the right side of the figure, the upper end of the lever B 404 presses the carriage B 301 such that it causes the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C to move in the direction of removing them from the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C (to the left side). The pressing force is added to the driving force applied from the CR motor B 310 to the carriage B 301 . This allows the carriage B 301 to be started smoothly and allows the ink replenishing needles B 301 Y, B 301 M and B 301 C to be reliably removed from the joints B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C. Therefore, the present embodiment eliminates the need for increasing the size of the CR motor B 310 and therefore makes it possible to avoid any increase in the cost and installation space of the same.

In the present embodiment, a combination of an encoder sensor connected to a flexible substrate and a scale is used as a detection unit for detecting the moving position of the carriage B 301 .

FIG. 36 specifically shows the unit for detecting the position of the carriage B 301 .

An encoder sensor B 309 has a light-emitting portion B 312 and a light-receiving portion B 311 provided side by side with respective light-emitting surface and light-receiving surface facing upward, and it is secured to a side of the carriage B 301 . One end of a flexible substrate B 307 is secured to a top surface of the encoder sensor B 309 and is electrically connected to the light-emitting portion B 312 and the light-receiving portion B 311 . The substrate is formed with a hole B 307 a in a position thereon facing the light-emitting surface and light-receiving surface of the encoder sensor B 309 . Light emitted by the light-emitting portion B 312 of the encoder sensor B 309 is directed to a scale B 308 provided above the same through the hole B 307 a , and light reflected by the scale B 308 is received by the light-receiving portion B 311 through the hole B 307 a . Since light-reflecting portions and nonreflecting portions are intermittently formed on the scale B 308 , signals in the form of pulses are intermittently transmitted from the encoder sensor B 309 moving with the carriage B 301 . Therefore, the moving position of the carriage B 301 can be detected by counting the signals in the form of pulses at a control system. A count starting position for the carriage B 301 may be set in various ways. In this case, a CR sensor B 313 is provided as shown in FIGS. 36 and 38 ; the home position of the carriage B 301 is detected by the CR sensor B 313 ; and the home position is used as a count starting position for one scan of the carriage B 301 .

The flexible substrate B 307 is formed such that it is flexed in a U-shaped configuration as shown in FIG. 38 as the carriage B 301 moves, and the present embodiment is similar to a normal printer in this point. In a normal printer, however, a space S between an upper portion B 307 A and a lower portion B 307 B of a flexible substrate B 307 flexed in a U-shaped configuration has been regarded as a space in which no member can be provided because a bent portion 307 C of the flexible substrate B 307 moves in the space S along with the carriage B 301 . That is, the space between the upper portion B 307 A and the lower portion B 307 B of the flexible substrate B 307 has not been used at all for a member other than the flexible substrate B 307 . On the contrary, in the present embodiment, since there is provided the encoder sensor B 309 which moves with the carriage B 301 and the bent portion B 307 C of the flexible substrate B 307 , there is no interference with the bent portion B 307 C of the flexible substrate B 307 . Since the present embodiment thus makes it possible to utilize a space that has been regarded unusable effectively to install the encoder sensor B 309 which is relatively large, the installation space can be significantly smaller than that of a normal recording apparatus.

In addition, in the present embodiment, in order to configure the printer main body B 100 with a low profile, the top surface of the carriage B 301 is set slightly lower than the top surface of the chassis B 101 , which provides a configuration in which even when a plate-like outer casing material is secured on the top surface of the chassis B 101 , it forms substantially no gap with the carriage B 301 . Thus, it is very much advantageous in achieving such a low profile to employ a configuration and structure in which the encoder sensor B 309 does not protrude above the carriage B 301 .

3.3: Ink Supply and Recovery Mechanism

In the cylinder pump B 408 , which is a main component of such a pump unit, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 20 , a piston B 421 slidably moving in the cylinder B 431 of the pump has an elliptical cross-section. Accordingly, the cross-section of the cylinder B 431 , which is also used as an external case of the cylinder pump B 408 , is also nearly elliptical.

Because the cross-section of the piston of the pump is elliptical, when the pump is disposed in the printer, its height can be suppressed, which contributes to a reduced height of the entire printer. For example, as compared with the case of using a piston with a circular cross-section of the same height in the disposed state, the elliptical cross-section can provide a greater cross-sectional area of the cylinder, which provides a shorter stroke, thereby providing a smaller size in the pump height and longitudinal direction. As described above, when the installation space of the pump in the printer has room to some extent in the longitudinal direction of the ellipse, or when suppression of the printer height is preferential from the design, as in the present embodiment, it is effective that the cross-sectional shape of the piston is made elliptical, and accordingly the cross-sectional shape of the cylinder is made elliptical.

In particular, as in the present embodiment, in the case of the printer integral with a camera, it is effective because the printer height is limited. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 20 , the printer section B 100 , from the requirement of integrally assembling with a camera, has a substantially rectangular cross-section; on the other hand, the cylinder pump B 408 and its drive mechanism and the like are substantially required to be disposed in the lower half of the printer section B 100 , that is, in the lower side of the transportation path of the printing medium. Therefore, the elliptical cross-sectional shape in the present embodiment is preferable because the height of the cylinder pump B 408 is at a level below the transportation path and the cross-sectional area inside the cylinder is ensured to obtain an effective suction force with a limited stroke.

Further, when considering gas-tightness of the piston to the cylinder, the elliptical shape is advantageous for applying a uniform pressure to the inner surface of the cylinder as compared to, for example, one which includes a straight part in the cross-sectional shape.

As can be seen from the above description, the cross-sectional shape of the piston is not necessarily required to be elliptical. A flattened shape with a suppressed height of one side can provide the above desired function. Preferably it is one which does not include a straight part in the shape in view of sealing with the cylinder.

The cylinder pump B 408 , as will be described later, according to a, predetermined rotation of the lead screw B 410 , is a generation source of pressure for ink supply to respective ink chambers B 304 Y, B 304 M and B 304 C on the carriage B 301 and ink suction through the suction cap B 405 . FIG. 39 is a diagram showing internal structure of the cylinder pump B 408 for this purpose.

As shown in FIG. 39 , the cylinder pump B 408 , as main elements, comprises a cylinder main body B 431 , a piston B 421 and a piston shaft B 422 . The cylinder main body B 431 , as described above, also comprises a case as an outer shape of the cylinder pump B 408 , which is fixed to the printer. On the other hand, the piston shaft B 422 is connected with a pump driving arm B 409 whereby the piston B 421 can move in the cylinder B 431 according to the rotation of the lead screw B 410 .

The piston B 421 is engaged with the inner wall of the cylinder main body B 431 through an O-ring provided at its end. This makes the parts (air suction chamber and ink suction chamber) partitioned by the piston B 421 of the cylinder inside B 431 a non-communicational with each other and slidable with the inner wall.

The piston shaft B 422 has a valve B 422 A formed at its one end, and has a hollow part B 422 B extending in the axial direction. The valve B 422 A, according to the movement of the piston shaft B 422 , can move freely in the inner space formed inside the piston B 421 . According to this movement, when the sealing part formed of a flexible material such as rubber closely contacts with the inner upper surface B 421 a of the inner space so as to surround the opening of the hollow part B 422 B above the valve B 422 A, the hollow part B 422 B of the piston shaft B 422 and the cylinder inside B 431 a (ink suction chamber) can be made non-communicational with each other and air-tight. On the other hand, when the valve B 422 A contacts against the inner lower surface B 421 b of the inner space, the hollow part B 422 B of the piston shaft B 422 and the cylinder inside (ink suction chamber) 531 a are communicational through a groove (not shown) formed on the lower surface of the valve B 422 A.

At the upper end (left side in the figure) of the cylinder B 431 , an air introduction opening B 432 is formed. The air introduction opening B 432 communicates with the air suction cap B 403 of the joint member B 401 shown in FIG. 19 , whereby at the time when ink is supplied from the medium pack C 100 to respective ink chamber of the carriage B 301 , air suction can be performed. Further, at the upper end of the cylinder main body B 431 , a pressure adjusting valve mechanism B 425 is provided. The pressure adjusting valve is possible to adjust a pressing force by its spring. When the negative pressure of the cylinder inside (air suction chamber) B 431 a between the cylinder main body B 431 and the piston B 421 becomes a magnitude corresponding to the adjusted pressing force (when the pressure decreases to the corresponding value), the valve opens and, as a result, the negative pressure is adjusted to a constant value. By this operation, the above air suction can be performed at a consistent negative pressure.

On the other hand, at the lower end (right side in figure) of the cylinder B 431 , a sealing member B 424 is provided. The sealing member B 424 enables making the cylinder inside B 431 a into an air-tight state to the outside and is slidable with the piston shaft B 422 B while keeping the same air-tightness. The sealing member B 424 is provided with an ink introduction opening B 423 , which communicates with the cap B 405 shown in FIG. 19 . This makes it possible to introduce waste ink sucked through the cap B 405 to the inside the cylinder (ink suction chamber) B 431 a . In this communication passage, a check valve (not shown) is provided, whereby ink from the suction cap B 405 is passed and, to the contrary, ink flow discharged from the cylinder inside (ink suction chamber) B 431 a can be blocked.

With the above construction, when ink is supplied from the respective ink pack in the medium pack C 100 to respective ink reserving section of the sub-tank B 400 on the carriage B 301 , by predetermined rotation of the lead screw B 410 , the piston B 421 moves downward (in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 39 ), so that it generates a negative pressure in the cylinder inside B 431 a (air suction chamber). By this negative pressure, air is sucked from the respective ink reserving section of the sub-tank B 400 on the carriage B 301 communicating with the cylinder inside (air suction chamber) B 431 a through the suction joint B 302 and the like, thereby making the pressure inside of the respective ink reserving sections negative and introducing ink from the respective ink pack to the respective ink reserving sections. At this time, only air passes through the above porous film B 402 , and ink passage is blocked. When the introduced ink reaches the porous film, further suction is not performed due to a pressure balance or the like.

During the downward movement of the piston B 421 in the cylinder main body B 431 , waste ink sucked through the suction cap B 405 in the previous process to the cylinder inside (ink suction chamber) B 431 a once flows to the upper side of the valve B 422 A through a groove formed on the lower surface of the valve B 422 A, and is then discharged through the hollow part B 422 B of the piston shaft B 422 . The discharged waste ink is passed through the inside passage and the like of the pump driving arm B 409 , and finally to the waste ink absorption body C 107 in the medium pack C 100 .

On the other hand, in the suction recovery operation, by predetermined rotation of the lead screw B 410 , the piston B 421 moves up in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 39 in the cylinder. By this operation, a negative pressure is generated in the cylinder inside (ink suction chamber) B 431 a , so that the pressure inside of the suction cap B 405 connecting with it and covering the face on which the nozzles or ink ejection openings are arranged of the recording head can be made negative. By this negative pressure, ink discharged through the nozzles can be conducted to the cylinder inside (ink suction chamber) B 431 a . At this time, as described above, the valve B 422 A of the piston shaft B 422 closely contacts with the upper surface of the inner space of the piston, and the cylinder inside B 431 a and the hollow part B 422 B of the piston shaft B 422 are in an air-tight state with each other, thus maintaining air-tightness.

During the upward movement of the piston B 421 , simultaneously, air above the piston (air in the air suction chamber) is discharged towards the suction joint B 302 through the air introduction opening. At this time, since the suction joint B 302 is released from connection with the carriage B 301 , a case that the discharged air reaches the respective ink reserving section of the sub-tank B 400 on the carriage and pressures the recording head from the inside can be prevented.

With the above described construction of the cylinder pump B 408 , unlike the conventional pump, since the hollow part B 422 B of the piston shaft B 422 is used as an ink discharge passage, it is not necessary to provide a switching valve in the cylinder as seen in the conventional pump used in suction recovery processing. Therefore, a piston stroke for position adjustment of the valve with the piston is needless to be considered, and as a result thereof, the piston stroke can be reduced. Further, since the pressure adjusting mechanism is provided outside the cylinder, in the production of the pump, the assembly or incorporation process can be made easily performed.

The lead screw B 410 , as described above, has a role of function of power transmission of various operations and setting of timing, including ink supply operation from the medium pack C 100 to the ink reserving section on the carriage B 301 or suction recovery operation through the suction cap B 405 . The lead screw B 410 , as shown in FIG. 19 , has two spiral grooves B 410 a and a single spiral groove B 410 b formed with a predetermined distance from the former grooves. The spiral grooves B 410 a are engaged with part of the pump slider B 441 to move the pump driving arm B 409 . On the other hand, the spiral groove B 410 b is engaged with part of the switching slider B 412 , thereby moving the switching slider B 412 .

Operations performed by the movement of the pump slider B 441 , as described above, are ink supply to the ink reserving section, suction recovery and wiping. On the other hand, operations performed by the movement of the switching slider B 412 are capping operation of the suction cap B 405 to the recording head and releasing operation of the joint member B 401 and the carriage B 301 .

FIG. 40A is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the lead screw B 410 and a driving force transmission mechanism of pump motor B 104 for generating a driving force for rotating the same and the above various operations by the lead screw B 410 . In this figure, the conveying motor B 210 for supply of printing medium and transmission mechanism thereof are also shown. FIG. 40B is a diagram for explaining the movement of the carriage B 301 driven by the carriage motor (CR motor) B 310 through the lead screw B 410 . On the present printer main body, the CR motor B 310 shown in FIG. 40B is arranged on the left side of the pump B 408 in FIG. 40A , and the structure shown in FIG. 40B is arranged above the structure shown in FIG. 40A (see FIG. 20 ).

In the following, with reference to the operation positions of the driving arm B 409 and operation position of the switching slider B 412 shown in FIG. 40 A and FIGS. 41 to 43 , 44 A to 44 C and 45 A to 45 C, power transmission and setting of timing of various operations by the lead screw B 410 will-be described.

FIG. 41 shows the positions of the pump slider B 441 and the switching slider B 412 when the wiper and the suction cap B 405 are at the ascended positions. At this time, the pump slider B 441 is positioned at the left end relative to the spiral groove B 410 a of the lead screw B 410 , by movement to this left end, a wiper pressure part B 441 a of the pump slider B 441 is moved. The wiper pressure part B 441 a , by its movement, as shown in FIG. 42 , pushes up part of a plate spring-formed receiving part B 442 b of a wiper base B 442 which supports its end part B 442 a by a predetermined member. By this operation, the wiper B 443 becomes a rising state. At the same time, a releasing valve arm B 441 b connecting at the tip of a wiper pressure part 441 a pushes a releasing lever B 444 a , as shown in FIG. 45C , to drive the releasing lever B 444 a and a releasing valve plate B 444 b cooperating with this lever, and to move atmosphere communication valves B 445 ( FIGS. 44B and 44C ) to atmosphere communication positions. Further, by the movement to the left end, the above-described suction recovery processing can also be performed.

At this moment, the other switching slider B 412 is at the right end relative to the spiral groove B 410 b of the lead screw B 410 , whereby the cap lever arm B 414 is at the position where the suction cap B 405 (not shown) is moved up (cap close; capping state). That is, the switching slider B 412 is partly connected to the cap lever arm B 414 , by the movement to the right of the switching slider B 412 , the cap lever arm B 414 is rotated, and the part B 414 a thereof can be moved up the position where the suction cap B 405 is moved up.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing the state of other positions relative to the respective spiral grooves of the pump slider B 441 and the switching slider B 412 shown in FIGS. 41 and 42 . The figures show the state when the pump slider B 441 is at the right end relative to the spiral groove B 410 a and the switching slider B 412 is in the middle of the spiral groove B 410 b.

At this time, the wiper pressure part B 441 a is at the retreated position from the pushed-up position of the wiper base B 442 , whereby the wiper B 443 is at the retreated position from the movement range of the carriage B 301 . Further, when the joint member B 401 is in the state connected with respective needles on the carriage, by the movement to the right end, ink supply to the ink reserving sections by the above pit-in can be performed. Further, at this time, the releasing valve arm B 441 b of the pump slider B 441 is in the state shown in FIG. 45A , and the atmosphere communication valve B 445 of the suction cap B 405 is in valve-close state as shown in FIG. 44 C.

On the other hand, by moving the switching slider B 412 to the left, the cap lever arm B 414 is rotated, whereby its part B 414 a is pressed down and the suction cap B 405 can be placed in an open state.

As described above, the state described with reference to FIGS. 41 to 43 , 44 A to 44 C and 45 A to 45 C is a basic example of the positions of the pump driving arm and the switching slider according to the rotation of the lead screw B 410 . That is, by the clockwise rotation or counterclockwise rotation of the lead screw B 410 , the spiral grooves B 410 a and the spiral groove B 410 b , by appropriately determining the formation ranges or lengths thereof and the densities of spiral grooves, various processings using the pump motor B 104 are made possible. For example, in the above description, though upward movement of the suction cap B 405 and rising of the wiper C 106 are performed simultaneously, only the wiper rising can be performed.

3.4: Pack Connection Mechanism

The ink supply needles B 502 C, B 502 M and B 502 Y and the needle B 503 for waste ink of the pack connection mechanism are integrally held by the ink needle holder B 501 . As a result, the needles are integrally connected to the ink pack joint C 132 when the medium pack is attached. In this configuration, in particular, a force that acts when the joint C 132 is slid to establish connection can be concentrated on the sliding operation. On the contrary, if the needle in each color is held separately, the force is dispersed, and this may result in a situation in which the sliding operation cannot be adequately performed.

4: Control System

4-1: Construction of Control System

FIG. 46 is a block diagram generally showing the camera section A 100 and the printer section B 100 .

In the camera section A 100 , reference numeral 101 denotes a CCD as an image element; reference numeral 102 denotes a microphone for inputting voice; reference numeral 103 denotes an ASIC (Application Specific IC) for performing various processings; reference numeral 104 denotes a first memory for temporarily storing image data and the like; reference numeral 105 denotes a CF (compact flash) card (corresponding to the CF card A 107 ) for recording the photographed image; reference numeral 106 denotes an LCD (corresponding to the liquid crystal display section A 105 ) which displays the photographed image or a replayed image; and reference numeral 120 denotes a first CPU for controlling the camera section A 100 .

In the printer section B 100 , reference numeral 210 denotes an interface between the camera section A 100 and the printer section B 100 ; reference numeral 201 denotes an image processing section (including a binary processing section for binarizing an image); reference numeral 202 denotes a second memory to be used in performing the image processing; reference numeral 203 denotes a band memory controlling section; reference numeral 204 denotes a band memory; reference numeral 205 denotes a mask memory; reference numeral 206 denotes a head controlling section; reference numeral 207 denotes a recording head (corresponding to the recording head B 305 ); reference numeral 208 denotes an encoder (corresponding to the encoder detecting element B 309 ); reference numeral 209 denotes an encoder counter; reference numeral 220 denotes a second CPU for controlling the printer section B 100 ; reference numeral 221 denotes motor drivers; reference numeral 222 denotes motors (corresponding to the pump motor, LF motor and carriage motor); reference numeral 223 denotes sensors (including the CR sensor B 313 ); reference numeral 224 denotes the EEPROM contained in the medium pack C 100 ; reference numeral 230 denotes a voice encoder section and reference numeral 250 denotes a power source section for supplying electric power to the entire device (corresponding to the battery A 108 ).

FIG. 47 is a schematic diagram showing a signal processing in the camera section A 100 . In a photographing mode, an image photographed by the CCD 101 through a lens 107 is signal-processed (CCD signal processing) by ASIC 103 and then is converted to YUV intensity with two-color-different signal. Further, the photographed image is resized to a predetermined resolution and recorded on a CF card 105 using a compression method by JPEG, for example. Also, a voice is inputted through a microphone 102 and stored in the CF card 105 through the ASIC 103 . A recording of the voice can be performed in such a manner as recording at the same time of photographing, or after photographing so called after-recording. In a replay mode, the JPEG image is read out from the CF card 105 , extended by the JPEG through the ASIC 103 and further resized to be a resolution for displaying, thereby being displayed on the LCD 106 .

FIG. 48 is a schematic diagram showing a signal processing performed in the printer section B 100 .

An image replayed on the camera section A 100 , that is the image being read out from the CF card 105 , is extended by the JPEG through ASIC 103 as shown in FIG. 47 to resize a resolution to a suitable size for printing. Then, the resized image data (YUV signal), through an interface section 210 , is transferred to the printer section B 100 . As shown in FIG. 48 , the printer section B 100 performs an image processing of an image data transferred from the camera section A 100 by an image processing section 201 , thereby performing a conversion of the image data to an RGB signal, an input y correction in accordance with the features of a camera, a color correction and a color conversion using a look up table (LUT), and a conversion to a binarized signal for printing. When performing the binarizing processing, in order to perform an error diffusion (ED), a second memory 202 is utilized as an error memory. In the case of the present embodiment, though a binarizing processing section in the image processing section 201 performs the error diffusion processing, another processing may be performed, such as a binarizing processing using a dither pattern. The binarized printing data is stored temporarily in the band memory 204 by a band memory controlling section 203 . An encoder pulse from the encoder 208 enters into the encoder counter 209 of the printer section B 100 every time the carriage B 301 carrying the recording head 207 and the encoder 208 moves a certain distance. Then, in sync with this encoder pulse, printing data is read out from the band memory 204 and the mask memory 205 , and, based on the thus obtained printing data, the head controlling section 206 controls the recording head 207 to perform a recording.

A band memory shown in FIG. 48 is explained as below.

A plurality of nozzles in the recording head 207 , for example, is formed in array so as to achieve a density of 1200 dpi (dots/inch). For recording the image by using such recording head 207 , upon performing one scanning by the carriage, it is preferred to previously prepare a recording data (a recording data corresponding to one scanning) corresponding to the number of nozzles in the sub-scanning direction (hereinafter, also referred to as a “column (Y direction)”) and a recording data corresponding to the recording area in the scanning direction (hereinafter, also referred to as a “row (X direction)”, respectively. The recording data is created in the image processing section 201 and then is temporarily stored in the band memory 204 by the band memory controlling section 203 . After the recording data corresponding to one scan is stored in the band memory 204 , the carriage is scanned in the main scanning direction. In so doing, an encoder pulse inputted by the encoder 208 is counted by the encoder counter 209 and, in accordance with this encoder pulse, a recording data is read out from the band memory 204 . Then, on the basis of the image data, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 207 . In the case that a bidirectional recording system wherein an image is recorded upon outward scanning and homeward scanning (outward recording and homeward recording) of the recording head 207 is employed, the image data is read out from the band memory 204 depending on the scanning direction of the recording head 207 . For example, an address of the image data read out from the band memory 204 is increased sequentially when the outward recording is performed, while an address read out from the band memory 204 is decreased sequentially when the homeward scanning is performed.

In a practical sense, a writing of an image data (C, M and Y) created by the image processing section 201 into the band memory 204 and a subsequent preparation of the image data corresponding to one band enable a scanning of the recording head 207 . Then, the image data is read out from the band memory 204 subsequent to a scan of the recording head 207 , so that the recording head 207 records the image on the basis of the image data. While the recording operation is performed, image data to be recorded next is created at the image processing section 201 and thus created image data is written into an area of the band memory 204 corresponding to a recording position.

As has been stated above, the band memory controlling is carried out in such manner that a writing operation in which recording data (C, M, Y) created by the image processing section 201 is written into the band memory 204 and a reading operation for transferring the recording data (C, M, Y) to the head controlling section 206 in accordance with a scanning movement of the carriage are changed over.

A mask memory controlling in FIG. 48 is explained as below.

This mask memory controlling is required when a multi-pass recording system is employed. In using the multi-pass recording system, the recording image corresponding to one line which has a width corresponding to a length of the nozzle array of the recording head 207 is divided to a plurality of scannings of the recording head 207 to record. That is, a conveying amount of the printing medium to be intermittently carried to the sub-scanning direction is made to be 1/N of a length of the nozzle array. For example, when N=2, a recording image corresponding to one line is divided into two scans to record (two-pass recording), and when N=4, a recording image corresponding to one line is divided into four scans to record (four-pass recording). In similar fashion, when N=8, it becomes eight-pass recording, and when N=16, it becomes sixteen-pass recording. Therefore, the recording image corresponding to one line will be completed by a plurality of scans of the recording head 207 .

Practically, a mask data for assigning the image data to a plurality of scans of the recording head 207 is stored in the mask memory 205 , and then based on a conjunction (AND) data between the mask data and the image data, the recording head 207 ejects inks to record the image.

Also, in FIG. 48 , a voice data stored in the CF card 105 , alike the image data, is transferred to the printer section B 100 through an interface 210 by the ASIC 102 . The voice data transferred to the printer section B 100 is encoded at the voice encoder 230 and then recorded with the image to be printed as a code data. When there is no necessity to input a voice data into a printing image, or when printing an image without a voice data, of course, the encoded voice data is not printed but only the image is printed.

In the present embodiment, the present invention has been explained as a printer-built-in camera integral with a camera section A 100 and printer section B 100 . However, it would be possible to make each of the camera section A 100 and the printer section B 100 a separate device and to form in a similar manner a structure in which those devices are connected to each other by the interface 210 to realize a similar function.

4-2: Summary of Operations

Operations of the above embodiment performed by the control system shown in FIGS. 46 to 48 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 49 and 50 .

FIG. 49 shows an example of a processing procedure performed when the power supply is turned on. At step S 2 , it is judges whether the power supply of the apparatus has been turned on by an operation of the operator on the power supply switch. If yes, the process proceeds to step S 3 and, if not, the standby state continues.

At step S 3 , it is judges whether the medium pack C 100 has been loaded in the inserting portion A 002 by the operator. If yes, the process proceeds to step S 4 and, if not, the standby state continues until it is loaded. At this time, a display process may be performed to prompt the loading of the medium pack.

When the medium pack C 100 is attached, the needles B 502 C, B 502 M, B 502 Y and B 503 of the apparatus main body enter the rubber plugs C 134 of the pack as a result of the attaching operation, thereby forming ink passages to the apparatus main body and a waste ink passage to the pack. The ink absorption body B 506 made of a relatively hard porous material at the apparatus main body contacts the absorption bodies C 141 made of a relatively soft porous material at the pack while compressing and deforming the same. When unused pack is attached, the joint C 132 moves as a result of the attaching operation to cause the needles 133 to be stuck into the ink packs C 130 , which allows ink supply for the first time.

As a result of the attaching operation, the guide pins GP 1 and GP 2 of the apparatus main body enter the guide holes C 163 A and C 163 B on the pack, which expands the width of the opening C 101 L to allow one printing medium to pass. Further, this makes it possible to sandwich the printing media contained in the pack with the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate B 202 .

Electrical connections associated with the EEPROM 224 and so on are established as a result of the attaching operation. For example, when ink leaks from the opening C 101 J for collecting waste ink, the electrical connections enable a process of detecting or reporting the ink leakage by detecting electrical abnormality at the apparatus main body. Such detection may be performed at appropriate timing through a process of interrupting a program of the control system, and the occurrence of ink leakage may be displayed on the LCD 106 . Alternatively, an electrical circuit may be separately configured to turn on a lamp when shorting occurs regardless of the program of the control system.

At step S 4 , mode judgment is performed to judge which of the photographing mode and the printing mode is set. If the photographing mode is set, operations as a digital camera are performed. Specifically, setting operations of various conditions required for the exposing operation such as determination of an exposure control value, determination of range finding information, and determination whether to turn on a flash or stroboscopic tube, and a series of exposing operations including driving of the lens for focusing, shutter speed control, control of the numerical aperture of the lens stop, and if necessary, turning on of the flash tube. While the procedure can branch to the photographing mode and the printing mode after the insertion of the medium pack is detected, a process may be added to proceed to the photographing mode forcibly in consideration to cases in which the apparatus of the embodiment is used as a camera only on the assumption that printing will not be performed.

When the printing mode is set, a process as described below is performed. One can assume here that the printing mode is set when a user selects an image photographed in the photographing mode or an image stored in the CF card 105 and operates the print button to print the same.

FIG. 50 shows an example of a processing procedure in the printing mode.

When the procedure is activated, an ink replenishing process is performed at step S 10 . The ink replenishing process includes an operation of setting the piston in a predetermined position in the cylinder of the pump B 408 to exert a suction force to the ink chambers B 304 (pump initializing; step S 11 ), an operation of retracting the cap lever arm B 414 and the removing lever B 404 before coupling the needles and air suction ports of the recording heads and the joints (B 402 Y, B 402 M and B 402 C) and the air suction cap B 403 of the apparatus, respectively (retraction of the cap arm lever; step S 12 ), an operation of setting the carriage B 301 in a predetermined position spaced from the coupling position (carriage position initialization; step S 13 ), an operation of coupling the needles and air suction ports of the recording heads and the joints and air suction cap of the apparatus with the carriage B 301 kept at a sufficient and stable speed (joint coupling; step S 14 ), and an operation of introducing ink sufficient for one printing medium by operating the pump B 408 to exert a suction force in the ink chambers B 304 (ink replenishing operation; step S 15 ). Referring to the coupling of the joints, the needles of the recording heads are first coupled with the joints.

When the ink replenishing operation is completed, a process is performed to withdraw the carriage B 301 from the position for coupling the joints (joint removal; step S 20 ). This process is performed by driving the carriage motor to move the carriage B 301 from the coupling position to the home position and, at this time, the withdrawal is made smooth by the driving force of the pump B 408 that is transmitted through the cap arm lever to cause the removing lever B 404 to urge the carriage B 408 toward the home position.

Next, a recovery process is performed at step S 30 . The recovery process includes an operation of connecting the cap B 405 with the surfaces of the heads formed with the ejecting ports (cap closing) and forcibly discharging ink by operating the pump to suction the interior of the cap (suction recovery; step S 31 ), an operation of moving the cap B 405 away from the surfaces formed with the ejecting ports (cap opening; step S 32 ) and an operation of projecting the wiper and moving the carriage to wipe the surfaces formed with the ejecting holes with the wiper (wiping; step S 33 ).

A paper feed process is performed at step S 40 . The paper feed process includes an operation of releasing the ASF trigger B 209 to sandwich the printing media contained in the pack with the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate 202 (step S 41 ), an operation of feeding a printing medium to the apparatus main body by the rotation of the paper feed roller (step S 42 ), an operation of causing the pick-up roller B 201 and the press plate 202 to move again to the positions to standby for sandwiching with the ASF trigger B 209 as the paper feeding is started (step S 43 ) and a setting operation for setting the leading end of the printing medium in the printing position (step S 44 ).

After the above-described processes are completed, a printing process is performed based on image data (step S 50 ). Specifically, an operation of forming a specified image is performed while performing the scanning of the recording heads and the transportation of the printing medium alternately, and the printing medium is thereafter ejected out of the apparatus.

After the printing process, a finishing operation is performed at step S 60 . The finishing process includes an operation of projecting the wiper and moving the carriage B 301 to wipe the surfaces formed with the ejecting holes with the wiper (wiping; step S 61 ), an operation of retracting the wiper thereafter (step S 62 ) and an operation of connecting the cap B 405 with the surfaces of the heads formed with the ejecting holes (cap closing; step S 63 ).

As has been explained above, a printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable is provided with a plurality of outlet portions for discharging inks to the container, and thus achieving a precise discharge of an ink discharged from each of various portions of the printer in compliance with a discharge amount, a discharge mode and the like.

A printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable includes means for electrically reading the information stored in a storage means on the side of the consumable material container. Herewith, an abnormality of the electrical reading caused by an ink leakage from the container enables to detect the ink leakage.

Furthermore, a printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable is arranged with a printing medium feeding means for feeding a printing medium supplied from the container and a outlet portion for discharging an ink to the container in an isolated manner. As a result thereof, smearing of the printing medium caused by the ink leakage from the outlet portion can be prevented.

Moreover, a printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable is provided with a member for expanding a gap of a printing medium supply port of the container, thereby being capable of controlling a size of the gap of the printing medium supply port to be a suitable size upon mounting of the container.

Also, a printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable is provided with a pump with a cylinder inner wall having a shape whose cross-sectional surface does not include a non-circular or straight portion therein. Therefore, the printer secures a required pump function and at the same time achieves a thin structure.

Furthermore, in order to perform a transmission operation of an ink relating to an ink jet recording head, a printer is provided with a reciprocating pump to which a hollow axis is attached, thereby being able to utilize a hollow portion of the hollow axis as a communication pass.

Furthermore, a printer is provided with ink supply and suction members each capable of being connected with the inkjet recording head, and, associating with a movement of the inkjet recording head, those members are connected to the inkjet printing head by delaying the time. Such structure, compared to the case where those members are connected to the ink jet recording head at the same time, can reduce a force for moving the inkjet recording head required to such connection resulting in achieving a down sizing of a driving source for generating the movement.

In addition, a flexible cable to be connected to a scanning type inkjet recording head is provided with a light transmission portion, and through the light transmission portion, a light sensor is arranged in such a manner opposing to a scale member. Herewith, a space between the light sensor and the scale member is used as a placing space of the flexible cable to achieve the down sizing of the printer.

Also, a printer on which a container of consumable supplies is mountable is provided with means for sandwiching a printing medium within the container simultaneously from the front and back directions, resulting in a secure feeding of the printing medium from the container.

Furthermore, means for feeding the printing medium to a printing position where a printing is performed by a recording head and means for ejecting the printing medium on which printing has been completed are provided with a gear train for transmitting a driving power of a motor in this order. As a result thereof, even when trouble in the gear train or clogging of the printing medium occurs, the ejecting means to which the driving power of the motor is transmitted with priority functions with a high reliability to secure the ejection of the printing medium.

Still further, a cap capable of capping an inkjet recording head and the pump for sucking inks from the ejection ports of the inkjet recording head are activated by means of a single lead screw, and thus, with a simple structure, the cap and the pump can be activated synchronously.

The present invention has been described in detail with respect to preferred embodiments, and it will now be apparent from the foregoing to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, and it is the intention, therefore, in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A printer utilizing an inkjet recording head ejecting ink and for performing printing by scanning said inkjet recording head on a printing medium, said printer comprising:an ink supply member which is provided so as to face an end of a scanning area of said inkjet recording head and which defines the end of an ink supply passage to said inkjet recording head, said ink supply member being connected to a reserving portion provided inside said inkjet recording head when said inkjet recording head is located at the end of the scanning area; and a suction member which is provided so as to face the end of the scanning area of said inkjet recording head and which defines a leading end of a suction passage exerting a suction force for introducing ink into said reserving portion from said ink supply member, said suction member being connected to said reserving portion when said inkjet recording head is located at the end of the scanning area, wherein said ink supply member and said suction member are provided such that one of the connection between said reserving portion and said ink supply member and the connection between said reserving portion and said suction member is started prior to the other as a result of a movement of said inkjet recording head toward the end of the scanning area, and wherein the movement of said inkjet recording head toward the end of the scanning area takes place with a period for an approach run in the scanning area provided.

2. A printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said ink supply member has a joint allowing a hollow needle provided at said reserving portion to be stuck therein and wherein the sticking of said hollow needle into said joint is started prior to the connection between said reserving portion and said suction member.

3. A printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein in addition to a driving force of a driving source for performing the scanning, a driving force of another driving source is transmitted in withdrawing said inkjet recording head from the end toward the scanning area.

4. A printer as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a pump for performing ink transport operations associated with said inkjet recording head including the introduction of ink into said reserving portion by the action of the suction force and a driving source for driving said pump, and wherein a driving force of said driving source for driving said pump is transmitted at the time of the withdrawal.

5. A printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein a container of consumable supplies for a printer containing consumable supplies used in performing printing with said inkjet recording head is attachable.

6. A printer as claimed in claim 5, wherein said container has an ink containing portion for containing ink to be replenished in said reserving portion.

7. A printer utilizing an inkjet recording head ejecting ink stored in a reserving portion and performing printing by scanning the inkjet recording head on a printing medium, said printer comprising:a carriage for holding the inkjet recording head and the reserving portion in a scannable manner; an ink replenishing portion which is provided on said carriage side so as to be oriented toward a predetermined scanning direction of said carriage and to which ink is supplied in order to replenish the ink into the reserving portion; an air suction hole provided on said carriage side so as to be oriented toward the predetermined scanning direction for suctioning air from the reserving portion; a joint portion which is provided on a printer main body side so as to face said ink replenishing portion to replenish the ink to the reserving portion by being connected to said ink replenishing portion; and an air suction cap which is provided on the printer main body side so as to face said air suction hole to suction air from the reserving portion by being connected to said air suction hole, wherein said carriage moves in the predetermined scanning direction to reach a predetermined position, by which said air suction hole is connected to said air suction cap and said ink replenishing portion is connected to said joint portion.

8. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said ink replenishing portion communicates with the reserving portion and has a hollow needle with an end oriented toward the predetermined scanning direction.

9. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein one of the connection between said air suction hole and said air suction cap and the connection between said ink replenishing portion and said joint portion is started prior to the other when said carriage moves to the predetermined position.

10. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein the predetermined position is an end portion of a scanning area of said carriage.

11. A printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein the predetermined position is a position at which an ejecting surface in which nozzles of the inkjet recording head are disposed opposes to a cap for covering the ejecting surface.

12. A printer as claimed in claim 11, wherein when said air suction hole and said air suction cap are connected to each other to suction air from said suction hole, the ejecting surface is covered by the cap.

13. A printer as claimed in claim 7, further comprising a first driving source for scanning the inkjet recording head in order to perform printing onto the printing medium, and to create the connection between said air suction hole and said air suction cap and the connection between said ink replenishing portion and said joint portion, and a second driving source which cooperates with said first driving source for scanning the inkjet recording head in order to separate said air suction hole from said air suction cap and to separate said ink replenishing portion from said joint portion.