Patent Application
20110211030
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for performing printing on a sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Duplex printing is a printing apparatus feature that allows the automatic printing of a sheet on both sides. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-126530 describes a printing apparatus that performs duplex printing on both sides of a long continuous roll sheet using an inkjet printing method.
When performing duplex printing, the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-126530 performs printing on the front surface of a sheet and winds the sheet onto a winding roller, reverses the front and back surfaces of the sheet, and performs printing on the back surface of the sheet. If the ink is not sufficiently dried when the sheet is rolled, the ink undesirably is transferred to another portion of the rolled sheet. In addition, in the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-126530, the printed sheet is cut page by page after the duplex printing is performed, and the cut sheet is output onto a tray. If the next cut sheet is output onto the sheet before the printed sheet is sufficiently dried, the ink undesirably is transferred to the sheet when the next sheet is topped on the sheet, or the drying of the sheet is further delayed. Accordingly, for the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-126530, a sufficient period of time for naturally drying the ink is needed during a printing operation.
In a high volume printing market, such as print labs, it is required to increase the print throughput (the number of prints per unit time). One of the factors that prevents the print throughput from increasing is a long ink drying time after a print operation is performed. For the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-126530, a sufficient period of time for naturally drying the ink is needed. This period of time prevents the print throughput from increasing. In particular, in a duplex printing operation, a large amount of ink is supplied to the front and back surfaces of the sheet. Therefore, if a natural drying process is used, it is difficult to increase the print throughput.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a duplex printing apparatus having a high total print throughput by reducing an ink drying time. More specifically, the present invention provides a duplex printing apparatus including a plurality of units including a drying unit needed for high-speed duplex printing that are arranged in a rational manner. The present invention further provides a printing method and a sheet processing method for high-speed duplex printing.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for performing duplex printing includes a sheet feeding unit, a printing unit, a cutter unit, a drying unit, and a reverse unit. In the duplex printing, the printing unit prints a plurality of images on a first surface of a sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit. The sheet is a continuous sheet. The sheet printed on the first surface passes through the drying unit and is led to the reverse unit. The reverse unit feeds the reversed sheet to the printing unit and the printing unit prints a plurality of images on a second surface that is a back of the first surface of the sheet fed from the reverse unit. The cutter unit cuts the sheet printed on the second surface into a plurality of cut sheets each having the image printed thereon. The cut sheets pass through the drying unit and are ejected.
According to the present invention, in a duplex print mode, the ink drying time can be reduced and, therefore, a high-throughput printing apparatus and a high-throughput printing method can be realized.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
A printing apparatus using an inkjet printing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below. A unit of printing is referred to as a “page” or a “unit image” and a long continuous sheet is longer than repeated units of printing in the conveying direction of the sheet. According to the present embodiment, a printing apparatus employs a long continuous sheet. The printing apparatus is a high-speed line printer that is operable in either one of a simplex print mode and a duplex print mode. The printing apparatus is suitable for a high-volume printing market, such as print labs. As used herein, even when a plurality of small images, characters, and blanks are present in an area of a unit of printing (a page), the small images, characters, and blanks are collectively referred to as a “unit image”. That is, the term “unit image” refers to a unit of printing (a page) when a plurality of pages are sequentially printed on continuous sheet. Note that a unit image is also simply referred to as an “image”. The length of a unit image varies in accordance with the image size to be printed. For example, the length of an L size photo in the conveying direction is 135 mm, and the length of an A4 size photo in the conveying direction is 297 mm.
The present invention is widely applicable to a printing apparatus that uses ink and requires an ink drying process, such as a printer, a multi function peripheral, a copier, a facsimile, or equipment used for manufacturing a variety of devices. In addition, the present invention is applicable to a printing apparatus that renders a latent image using, for example, a laser beam and performs printing using a liquid development method. Furthermore, in addition to print processing, the present invention is applicable to a sheet processing apparatus that performs a variety of processes (e.g., recording, processing, application, irradiation, reading, or inspection) on a continuous sheet that requires a drying process.
The sheet feeding unit 1 holds a rolled continuous sheet and feeds the continuous sheet. The sheet feeding unit 1 can contain two rolls R1 and R2. The sheet feeding unit 1 selects one of the rolls R1 and R2 and draws a sheet from the selected roll and feeds the sheet. Note that the number of rolls contained in the sheet feeding unit 1 is not limited to two. For example, the number of contained rolls may be one or three or more. Alternatively, a continuous sheet that is not rolled can be used. For example, a continuous sheet having perforations at predetermined intervals may be folded at the perforations and stacked in the sheet feeding unit 1.
The decurl unit 2 reduces the curl of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit 1. The decurl unit 2 allows the sheet to pass therethrough using two pinch rollers corresponding to one driving rollers in order to curve the sheet so that an inverse curl is supplied to the sheet. In this way, a decurling force is applied to the sheet and, therefore, the curl is reduced.
The skew correction unit 3 corrects the skew of the sheet that has passed through the decurl unit 2 (the inclination of the sheet with respect to the designed feed direction). By urging the end of the sheet on the reference side against a guide member, a skew can be corrected.
The printing unit 4 performs a printing operation on the sheet and forms an image on the sheet using a print head assembly 14 disposed above the conveyed sheet. That is, the printing unit 4 serves as a processing unit that performs a predetermined processing on the sheet. The printing unit 4 includes a plurality of conveying rollers that convey the sheet. The print head assembly 14 includes a line print head having an inkjet nozzle row that covers the maximum width of the sheet to be used. In the print head assembly 14, a plurality of print heads are arranged in parallel along the conveying direction. In this example, the print head assembly 14 includes seven print heads corresponding to the following seven colors: cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), light cyan (LC), light magenta (LM), grey (G), and black (K). However, it should be noted that the number of colors and the number of print heads are not limited to seven. Examples of the inkjet method include a method using a heater element, a method using a piezoelectric element, a method using an electrostatic element, and a method using a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) element. The ink of each color is supplied from an ink tank to the print head assembly 14 via an ink tube.
The inspection unit 5 optically scans, using a scanner, an inspection pattern or an image printed on a sheet by the printing unit 4 and inspects the state of a nozzle of the print head, the conveying state of a sheet, and the position of an image. In this way, the inspection unit 5 determines whether an image has been correctly printed. The scanner includes a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
The cutter unit 6 includes a mechanical cutter that cuts the printed sheet into predetermined lengths. The cutter unit 6 further includes a plurality of conveying rollers that convey the sheet to the next processing stage.
The information recording unit 7 records print information (unique information), such as the serial number of the printout and the date and time, in the non-print area of the cut sheet. The information is recorded by printing characters and code on the sheet using, for example, an inkjet method or a thermal transfer method. A sensor 23 that detects the leading edge of the cut sheet is disposed upstream of the information recording unit 7 and downstream of the cutter unit 6. That is, the sensor 23 detects the edge of the sheet at a recording position located between the cutter unit 6 and the information recording unit 7. The information recording unit 7 controls a point in time at which the information is recorded on the basis of a point in time at which the sensor 23 detects the edge of the sheet.
The drying unit 8 heats the sheet printed by the printing unit 4 to dry the applied ink in a short time. The drying unit 8 includes conveyer belts and conveying rollers for advancing the sheet to the next processing stage.
As used herein, the above-described sheet conveying path from the sheet feeding unit 1 to the drying unit 8 is referred to as a “first path”. The first path has a shape to perform a U-turn between the printing unit 4 and the drying unit 8. The cutter unit 6 is located in the U-turn.
The reverse unit 9 temporarily winds the printed continuous sheet and turns over the sheet when duplex printing is performed. In order to feed the sheet that has passed through the drying unit 8 to the printing unit 4 again, the reverse unit 9 is disposed in a path from the drying unit 8 to the printing unit 4 via the decurl unit 2 (a loop path, hereinafter referred to as a “second path”). The reverse unit 9 includes a winding rotary member (a drum) that rotates to reel in the sheet. The printed continuous sheet before being cut is temporarily wound around the winding rotary member. After the continuous sheet is wound, the winding rotary member rotates in the opposite direction and, therefore, the continuous sheet is fed in a direction opposite that when the continuous sheet is wound. The continuous sheet is fed to the decurl unit 2 and is delivered to the printing unit 4. Since the sheet is turned over, the printing unit 4 can perform a printing operation on the back surface of the sheet. Such duplex printing is described in more detail below.
The ejection conveying unit 10 conveys the sheet cut by the cutter unit 6 and dried by the drying unit 8 and delivers the sheet to the sorter unit 11. The ejection conveying unit 10 is disposed in a path that is different from the second path having the reverse unit 9 thereon (hereinafter, referred to as a “third path”). In order to selectively deliver the sheet that has been conveyed along the first path to the second path or the third path, a path switching mechanism including a movable flapper is disposed at a branch position in the path.
The sorter unit 11 and the ejection unit 12 are disposed at the end of the third path to be adjacent to the sheet feeding unit 1. The sorter unit 11 sorts the printed sheets into groups as needed. The sorted sheets are ejected to the ejection unit 12 including a plurality of trays. In this way, the third path is designed to allow a sheet to pass beneath the sheet feeding unit 1 and allow the sheet to be ejected to the opposite side of the sheet feeding unit 1 from the printing unit 4 and the drying unit 8.
As described above, the units from the sheet feeding unit 1 to the drying unit 8 are sequentially arranged along the first path. Downstream of the drying unit 8, the first path branches into the second path and the third path. The reverse unit 9 is disposed in the middle of the second path. Downstream of the reverse unit 9, the second path merges with the first path. The ejection unit 12 is disposed at the end of the third path.
The humidifying unit 20 generates humidifying gas (the humidifying air) and supplies the generated humidifying gas to a space between the print head assembly 14 of the printing unit 4 and the sheet. Thus, drying of the ink in nozzles of the print head assembly 14 can be prevented. Examples of the humidifying method employed by the humidifying unit 20 include a vaporization method, a water spray method, and a steam air method. In addition to a rotary method according to the present embodiment, the vaporization method has a water permeable membrane type, a water droplet infiltration type, and a capillary type. The water spray method has an ultrasonic type, a centrifugal impeller type, a high-pressure spray type, and a two-liquid spray type. The steam air method has a steam piping type, an electrical heating type, and an electrode type. The humidifying unit 20 is connected to the printing unit 4 using a first duct 21. Furthermore, the humidifying unit 20 is connected to the drying unit 8 using a second duct 22. In the drying unit 8, humid and high-temperature gas is generated when the sheet is dried. The gas is led to the humidifying unit 20 via the second duct 22 and is used as auxiliary energy for generating humidifying gas in the humidifying unit 20. The humidifying gas generated in the humidifying unit 20 is led to the printing unit 4 via the first duct 21.
The control unit 13 performs overall control of the printing apparatus. The control unit 13 includes a controller having a central processing unit (CPU), a storage unit, and a variety of control sub-units, an external interface, and an operation unit 15 used by the user when the user inputs data and receives output data. The operation performed by the printing apparatus is controlled using instructions received from the controller or a host apparatus 16, such as a host computer, connected to the controller via the external interface.
Each of the units that are required to perform a high-speed operation includes a dedicated processing unit. The image processing unit 207 performs image processing on print data manipulated by the printing apparatus. The image processing unit 207 converts the color space of the input image data (e.g., YCbCr) into a standard RGB color space (e.g., sRGB). In addition, the image processing unit 207 performs a variety of image processing, such as resolution conversion, image analysis, and image correction, on the image data as needed. Print data obtained through such image processing is stored in the RAM 203 or the HDD 204. In response to a control command received from the CPU 201, the engine control unit 208 controls driving of the print head assembly 14 of the printing unit 4 using the print data. The engine control unit 208 further controls a conveying mechanism of each of the units in the printing apparatus. The individual unit controller 209 is a sub-controller that individually controls the sheet feeding unit 1, the decurl unit 2, the skew correction unit 3, the inspection unit 5, the cutter unit 6, the information recording unit 7, the drying unit 8, the reverse unit 9, the ejection conveying unit 10, the sorter unit 11, the ejection unit 12, and the humidifying unit 20. In response to an instruction received from the CPU 201, the individual unit controller 209 controls the operation of each of the units. An external interface 205 is an interface (I/F) used for connecting the controller to the host apparatus 16. The external interface 205 is a local I/F or a network I/F. The above-described components of the printing apparatus are connected to one another via a system bus 210.
The host apparatus 16 serves as a supply source of image data to be printed by the printing apparatus. The host apparatus 16 may be a general-purpose computer or a dedicated computer. Alternatively, the host apparatus 16 may be a dedicated imaging device, such as an image capturing device including an image reader unit, a digital camera, or a photo storage device. When the host apparatus 16 is a computer, a storage unit of the computer stores an operating system (OS), application software that generates image data, and a printer driver for the printing apparatus installed therein. However, it should be noted that all of the above-described processes are not necessarily realized by software. Some or all of the processes may be realized by hardware.
The basic operation performed during a printing operation is described next. The operation in a simplex print mode differs from that in a duplex print mode. Accordingly, both the operations are described below.
In this way, in a simplex print mode, the sheet passes through the first path and the third path. The sheet does not pass through the second path. In summary, in a simplex print mode, the following six sequences (1) to (6) are applied under the control of the control unit 13:
(1) feeding a sheet from the sheet feeding unit 1 and feeding the sheet to the printing unit 4,
(2) repeating printing of a unit image on the first surface of the fed sheet in the printing unit 4,
(3) repeating a cutting operation of the sheet for each of the unit images printed on the first surface of the sheet,
(4) allowing the cut sheets each having a unit image thereon to pass through the drying unit 8 one by one and facilitating drying of the ink,
(5) ejecting the sheets that have passed through the drying unit 8 one by one onto the ejection unit 12 via the third path, and
(6) cutting the sheet for the last unit image and delivering back the sheet remaining on the side of the printing unit 4 to the sheet feeding unit 1.
After the above-described front surface printing sequences are completed, the processing is switched to the back surface printing sequences. The winding rotary member of the reverse unit 9 rotates in a direction (a clockwise direction in
In this way, in the duplex print mode, the sheet passes through the first path, the second path, the first path, and the third path and is processed. In summary, in the duplex print mode, the following sequences (1) to (11) are applied under the control of the control unit 13:
(1) feeding a sheet from the sheet feeding unit 1 and feeding the sheet to the printing unit 4,
(2) repeating printing of a unit image on the first surface of the fed sheet using the printing unit 4,
(3) allowing the sheet having the printed first surface to pass through the drying unit 8 to facilitate drying,
(4) leading the sheet that has passed through the drying unit 8 to the second path and winding the sheet around the winding rotary member of the reverse unit 9,
(5) cutting the sheet at the tail end of the last printed unit image using the cutter unit 6 after repeated printing on the first surface is completed,
(6) winding the cut sheet around the winding rotary member until the trailing edge of the cut sheet passes through the drying unit 8 and reaches the winding rotary member and, concurrently, conveying the sheet remaining on the side of the printing unit 4 after cutting back to the sheet feeding unit 1,
(7) rotating the winding rotary member in the opposite direction after the winding is completed and feeding the sheet to the printing unit 4 via the second path again,
(8) repeatedly printing a unit image on the second surface of the sheet fed from the second path using the printing unit 4,
(9) cutting the sheet for each of the unit images printed on the second surface using the cutter unit 6,
(10) allowing the cut sheets each having a unit image thereon to pass through the drying unit 8 one by one in order to facilitate drying the ink, and
(11) ejecting each of the cut sheets that has passed through the drying unit 8 onto the ejection unit 12 via the third path.
The rationality of the above-described layout of the units of the printing apparatus in the vicinity of the drying unit 8 is described in more detail below.
[1] In the layout shown in
[2] In the layout shown in
[3] In the layout shown in
[4] In the layout shown in
[5] In the layout shown in
[6] The printing unit 4 and the drying unit 8 are arranged in the vertical direction. The path between the printing unit 4 and the drying unit 8 has a substantially U-turn shape. In addition, an ejection path extending from the drying unit 8 is located beneath the sheet feeding unit 1. Since the units having a large size are arranged in the vertical direction, the footprint of the printing apparatus can be reduced.
[7] In the layout shown in
[8] According to the present embodiment, the gas having high temperature and humidity is not directly discharged from the drying unit 8 to the outside of the printing apparatus. The gas or heat is used for generating humidifying gas in the humidifying unit 20. Accordingly, the total energy efficiency of the printing apparatus can be increased.
[9] According to the present embodiment, the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit 1 to the printing unit 4 and the sheet fed from the reverse unit 9 to the printing unit 4 are decurled towards the appropriate direction by the shared decurl unit 2. That is, in the duplex print mode, two decurl operations can be performed before the front surface of the sheet is printed and before the back surface of the sheet is printed. In addition, since the decurl unit 2 has a simplified and compact configuration, the overall size of the printing apparatus can be reduced.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-042349 filed Feb. 26, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-042349 | Feb 2010 | JP | national |
