1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as an ink jet-type printer.
2. Related Art
In the related art, as a type of a printing apparatus, an ink jet-type printer has been known, in which ink as an example of a liquid is ejected from a print head that moves in a direction orthogonal to a transport direction of a medium, onto the medium such as a long continuous paper transported in a predetermined direction and which performs printing. In addition, as the printer, a printer is proposed in which, in order to shorten a total printing time, a plurality of media are arranged and transported in parallel and the same or different printing is performed on the plurality of media through one reciprocating movement of the print head (for example, see JP-A-2001-270177).
However, in the printer described above, a single host computer is connected to an interface unit. In a case where a plurality of print jobs are received from the computer, the print jobs are analyzed into print commands containing print data in the order of receiving and the plurality of print commands obtained from the analyzing are sequentially stored in a band memory based on control of a control unit.
That is, in the printer described above, in a case where a plurality of print jobs are received, analysis work of the print jobs into the print commands is not configured to be performed concurrently in parallel from the plurality of print jobs. Therefore, in a case where a plurality of print jobs are received, time consumed for analysis of the print jobs into the print commands is not shortened and thus, there is a problem in that it is not possible to shorten a total printing time.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a printing apparatus in which, in a case where printing based on a plurality of print jobs separately received is performed on a plurality of media concurrently in parallel, it is possible to shorten a total printing time.
Hereinafter, means of the invention and operation effects thereof will be described.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing apparatus including: a transport unit that is able to arrange and to transport a plurality of media in parallel; a printing unit that is configured to be able to reciprocate in a direction intersecting with a transport direction of the plurality of media and to perform printing on the plurality of media separately; a reception unit that is able to receive a plurality of print jobs; and a control unit that integrates and analyzes the plurality of print jobs received by the reception unit such that a print command is produced corresponding to scanning over the plurality of media at least once by the printing unit and controls operations of the transport unit and the printing unit based on the print command.
According to the configuration, for example, in a case where the plurality of print jobs are concurrently received by the reception unit, the plurality of print jobs are integrated and analyzed by the control unit. As an analysis result, the print command is produced corresponding to scanning at least once over the plurality of media by the printing unit. Therefore, time for analyzing the plurality of print jobs received by the reception unit into the print command is different from time for sequentially analyzing print jobs one by one in the related art and thus, it is possible to shorten time because the plurality of print jobs are integrated and analyzed. Hence, it is possible to shorten a total printing time taken for a case where printing is concurrently performed on the plurality of media in parallel based on the plurality of separately received print jobs.
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the reception unit has a plurality of ports that are able to independently receive the print job and the control unit has analysis units that are able to analyze the print job into the print command, corresponding to the plurality of ports, and a job management unit that is able to integrate analysis results by a plurality of the analysis units corresponding to the ports, respectively, and to produce a print command corresponding to scanning at least once.
According to the configuration, for example, in a state in which a plurality of computers are independently connected to the plurality of ports of the reception unit and in a case where the plurality of print jobs are received via corresponding ports from the computers, the print jobs are concurrently analyzed in parallel in the analysis units corresponding to the ports, respectively. The analysis results from the analysis units is integrated by the job management unit and configures the print command corresponding to scanning at least once which is possible to perform concurrently the printing on the plurality of media in parallel. Hence, since the plurality of print jobs are concurrently received in parallel via the plurality of ports and are concurrently analyzed in parallel by the plurality of analysis unit, it is possible to simply shorten the total printing time by increasing the number of ports and analysis units.
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the print command includes print data representing print content for each of the plurality of media and line-break data associated with the print data and the control unit controls operations of the transport unit and the printing unit such that printing is performed on a medium positioned on a side closer to a print standby position, of the plurality of media, in a movement direction of the printing unit, based on print data which has more line breaks by the line-break data associated with the print data of the plurality of items of print data.
At the time of printing, in a case where the printing unit is caused to move to a position facing a medium on a side far from the print standby position passing a medium on a side close to the print standby position, then is caused to repeatedly perform printing operations on the medium on the far side a plurality of times by line breaks, and then, is caused to return to the print standby position, the time taken for passing the medium on the side close to the print standby position is not used for printing and thus, is a wasted time.
According to the configuration, since the printing is performed on the medium on the side close to the print standby position based on the print data which includes more line breaks without passing the medium on the side close to the print standby position by moving a relatively short distance, there is no wasted passing time so that the printing is completed within a shorter time by an equivalent time. Hence, the configuration contributes to shortening the total printing time taken for a case where the printing is concurrently performed on the plurality of media in parallel based on the plurality of print jobs.
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that a flushing reception unit that is able to contain a liquid discharged for emitting from the printing unit is provided at a position between two adjacent transport paths of the media on the movement path of the printing unit.
According to the configuration, in a case where, in order to maintain good liquid ejection characteristics in the printing unit, a so-called flushing which causes the liquid to be discharged not for printing but for emitting is performed during the printing operation, it is possible for the printing unit to rapidly move to a position facing the flushing reception unit without moving a useless distance.
In the printing apparatus, it is preferable that the print job includes a plurality of items of information including identification information of the medium, and the control unit controls operations of the transport unit and the printing unit such that printing is performed on a medium which is identified by the identification information of the medium of the plurality of media based on a print job including the identification information of the medium.
According to the configuration, in a case where, glossy paper and common paper are transported in parallel when, according to the identification information of the medium, a print job which performs printing of a picture, for example, on glossy paper is received, the control unit controls the transport unit and the printing unit such that the printing is performed on the glossy paper based on the print job. Thus, according to the identification information of the medium, since it is possible to perform the printing as desired, it is possible to prevent re-printing due to failure of the printing and it is possible to contribute to shortening the total printing time.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a printing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. The printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured of, for example, an ink jet-type printer which ejects ink as an example of a liquid onto a medium and performs printing. In addition, the printer has a printing method in which the print head is caused to move in a direction intersecting with a transport direction of the medium and performs the printing.
As illustrated in
The printing unit 13 has a moving body 15 that can reciprocate in an upper region of the support 14 along the width direction of the continuous paper piece S, and has a print head 16 that can eject ink towards a region of the continuous paper piece S which is supported by the support 14, on the undersurface side of the moving body 15. The print head 16 ejects the ink from a nozzle 16a that opens on the undersurface thereof. Incidentally, in
As illustrated in
In addition, between the roll shaft 18 and the support 14 in the transport path 12, a relay roller 20 that loops and guides the continuous paper piece S unwound from the roll shaft 18 to the support 14 is rotatably provided with an axial line extending in the width direction of the continuous paper piece S as the rotating center. In addition, between the support 14 and the winding shaft 19 in the transport path 12, a relay roller 21 that loops and guides the continuous paper piece S which has passed over the support 14 to the downstream side in the transport direction to the winding shaft 19 is rotatably provided with an axial line extending in the width direction of the continuous paper piece S as the rotating center.
As illustrated in
Here, as illustrated in
Of the roll shafts 18a and 18b and the winding shafts 19a an 19b, the first roll shaft 18a and the first winding shaft 19a are disposed on a side close to a print standby position WP (left end position in
A first continuous paper piece Sa is looped over between the first roll shaft 18a and the first winding shaft 19a on the side close to the print standby position WP and a second continuous paper piece Sb is looped over between the second roll shaft 18b and the second winding shaft 19b on the side far from the print standby position WP. Incidentally, in a case of the present embodiment, the first continuous paper piece Sa and the second continuous paper piece Sb have the same width size along the movement direction of the print head 16; however, the first continuous paper piece Sa is common paper in types of paper and the second continuous paper piece Sb is glossy paper. That is, the second continuous paper piece Sb on the side far from the print standby position WP is configured of glossy paper preferably used in a case where photo printing, highly-accurate printing, or the like is performed.
In addition, illustrated in
Next, the control unit 30 in the printer 11 will be described.
As illustrated in
In addition, the control unit 30 has a plurality of analysis units which can analyze the plurality of print jobs received by the reception unit 32 from the computers 31a and 31b into print commands including predetermined data, corresponding to the plurality of ports 32a and 32b. That is, the control unit 30 has a first analysis unit 33a that analyzes the print job (hereinafter, referred to as a “first print job”) received by the reception unit 32 via the first port 32a and a second analysis unit 33b that analyzes the print job (hereinafter, referred to as a “second print job”) received via the second port 32b.
In addition, the control unit 30 includes a job management unit 34 in which the plurality of print commands output from the analysis units 33a and 33b are input. The job management unit 34 integrates a print command (hereinafter, referred to as a “first print command”) input from the first analysis unit 33a and a print command (hereinafter, referred to as a “second print command”) input from the second analysis unit 33b, and produces a print command corresponding to scanning, at least once by the print head 16, on the continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb which are transported in parallel. Hereinafter, the print command corresponding to scanning at least once which is produced by integrating a plurality of print commands by the job management unit 34 is referred to as an integrated print command.
The integrated print command produced by the job management unit 34 is also sent to a print instruction unit 35 which is included in the control unit 30. In addition, a detection signal from the sensor 17, along with the print head 16, provided in the moving body 15 is input to the print instruction unit 35. The print instruction unit 35 controls rotating states of the PF motors 22a and 22b or CR motor 23 and a voltage applied to the piezoelectric element 24 which is driven when ink is ejected by the print head 16 in accordance with the detection signal from the sensor 17 and the integrated print command from the job management unit 34. In the printing control of the printer 11, the control content is defined by the integrated print command produced by the job management unit 34.
Next, the print command in the printer 11 will be described.
First, the print command which is analyzed for printing from a print job in the analysis units 33a and 33b is configured to include a print setting command, a print control command, and a print ending command. Of the commands, the print setting command includes various items of information such as a type, a width size of the medium (continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb) which becomes a target of printing in a case where ink is ejected from the print head 16 and printing is performed, a print start position in the scanning direction by the print head 16, the number of print pages, the number of print copies, or a cut setting.
Among the various items of information included in the print setting command, information representing, for example, a type or a width size of the medium is used as identification information which makes it possible to identify which medium of the plurality of media transported in parallel is a target on which printing is performed based on the print job. For example, in a case of a print job of performing photo printing, the print setting command image information the print command analyzed from the print job includes, as the identification information, information indicating that the medium which is glossy paper suitable for the photo printing is the medium of the printing target.
In addition, the print control command represents the print content by the print job and includes print data representing a print image formed on the medium by ejection of ink from the print head 16 and line-break data which defines a line-break position in the movement direction of the print head 16 at the time of the printing. Further, the print ending command is a command of ending the printing operation on the medium by the print head 16. Hereinafter, contents of the print command output from the analysis units 33a and 33b and the integrated print command produced in the job management unit 34 will be described.
First, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In addition, an integrated print control command Bab in the integrated print command 41c is configured to combine, first, the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a in the first print command 41a and to continue combining, next, the second print data B1b and the second line-break data B2b in the second print command 41b. In the configuration, the second print data B1b and the second line-break data B2b are combined, then, the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a are combined repeatedly twice, and then, finally, the second print data B1b and the second line-break data B2b are combined.
The print setting commands Aa and Ab are not included in the integrated print command 41c. However, as described above, the first print setting command Aa corresponding to the first print control command Ba in the first print command 41a and the second print setting command Ab corresponding to the second print control command Bb in the second print command 41b as the print setting parameter are sent to the print instruction unit 35 with the integrated print command 41c. Therefore, the first printing operation based on the combination of the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a in the integrated print command 41c is performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa defined by the first print setting command Aa. The second printing operation based on the combination of the second print data B1b and the second line-break data B2b is performed on the second continuous paper piece Sb defined by the second print setting command Ab.
Next, description is provided focusing on effects of a case where the reception unit 32 receives a plurality of print jobs of the effects of the printer 11 of the present embodiment.
In the printer 11, when the first print job is transmitted to the reception unit 32 from the first computer 31a, the first print job is received via the first port 32a. In addition, when the second print job is transmitted to the reception unit 32 from the second computer 31b, the second print job is received via the second port 32b. That is, the first port 32a and the second port 32b receive the print jobs independently.
The first print job received via the first port 32a is analyzed in the first analysis unit 33a into the first print command 41a. In addition, the second print job received via the second port 32b is analyzed in the second analysis unit 33b into the second print command 41b. That is, the first print job and the second print job are subjected to analysis concurrently in parallel from the print jobs into the print commands via the independently receiving ports 32a and 32b in individually corresponding analysis units 33a and 33b. That is, there is no waiting time between the analysis of one print job and the analysis of the next print job, and a plurality of print jobs are concurrently analyzed in parallel into the print commands.
Next, the first print command 41a and the second print command 41b are integrated and then, the integrated print command 41c is produced by the job management unit 34. In this case, the job management unit 34 determines the first continuous paper piece Sa on the side close to the print standby position WP to be the printing medium of the first print job, based on the first print setting command Aa included in the first print command 41a and the second print setting command Ab included in the second print command 41b and then, determines the second continuous paper piece Sb on the side far from the print standby position WP to be the printing medium of the second print job.
In this case, the first print setting command Aa corresponding to the first print command 41a includes, as identification information, information indicating that the medium of the printing target is the common paper. That is, the first printing operation based on the first print job analyzed into the first print command 41a needs to be performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa which is the common paper. Therefore, the job management unit 34 produces the integrated print command 41c or sets the order of data items of the command information such that the combination of the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a in the first print command 41a is first read.
Next, as print setting parameters, the first print setting command Aa and the second print setting command Ab and the integrated print command 41c for printing are sent to the print instruction unit 35 from the job management unit 34. Then, the print instruction unit 35 controls the drive state of the motors 22a, 22b, and 23 and the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element 24 based on the command information and then, the printing operations on the continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb are started. In this case, the print instruction unit 35 determines whether or not the position of the moving body 15, on which the print head 16 is mounted, on the movement path is over the transport path of the continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb, based on the detection signal from the sensor 17.
When the first-time second printing operation on the second continuous paper piece Sb is completed, the print head 16 performs a homeward movement which is a movement in a direction opposite to the forward movement and returns to a position on the movement path of the moving body 15 at which the previous forward movement is started. That is, the printing operations on the continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb are completed by the first one reciprocating movement. Next, the print instruction unit 35 controls drive of the PF motors 22a and 22b based on information such as the number of printing pages included in the print setting commands Aa and Ab and then, the continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb are transported downstream by a predetermined feed amounts Fa and Fb.
Next, the print head 16 starts a second reciprocating movement and the second-time first printing operation is performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa based on the combination of the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a which is read in the third in the integrated print command 41c. When the second-time first printing operation on the first continuous paper piece Sa is completed, the print head 16 performs homeward movement without any further forward movement, and returns to a position at which the previous forward movement is started. That is, the printing operation on the first continuous paper piece Sa ends by movement corresponding to the one second-time reciprocating movement. Next, the print instruction unit 35 controls drive of the first PF motor 22a based on the information such as the number of printing pages included in the first print setting command Aa and thus, the first continuous paper piece Sa is transported downstream by the predetermined feed amount Fa.
Next, the print head 16 starts the third-time reciprocating movement and the third-time first printing operation is performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa based on the combination of the first print data B1a and the first line-break data B2a which is read in the fourth in the integrated print command 41c. Next, the print head 16 continues the forward movement and the second-time second printing operation is performed on the second continuous paper piece Sb based on the combination of the second print data B1b and the second line-break data B2b which is read in the fifth in the integrated print command 41c.
When the second-time second printing operation on the second continuous paper piece Sb is completed, the print head 16 performs the homeward movement which is the movement in a direction opposite to the forward movement and returns to a position (position in
In the configuration of the present embodiment, which of the first continuous paper piece Sa or the second continuous paper piece Sb is the printing medium is determined by the print setting commands Aa and Ab including information related to a type (glossy paper, common paper, or the like) or a width size of the medium which is the printing target; however, in a case where the type and the width size of the media are the same, the printing medium may be determined based on the number of line breaks. That is, in the case of the present embodiment, the first print command 41a and the second print command 41b, which are integrated, are compared to each other and the integrated print command 41c is produced such that the printing operation of one command which has greater number of line-break data items B2a and B2b which define the number of line breaks is performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa on the side closer to the print standby position WP.
According to the present embodiment described above, it is possible to achieve the following effects.
(1) For example, in a case where reception of the first print job at the first port 32a of the reception unit 32 is concurrently performed with reception of the second print job at the second port 32b, the plurality of print jobs are concurrently analyzed in parallel at the plurality of analysis units 33a and 33b of the control unit 30. As the analysis result, the print command corresponding to scanning on the plurality of media at least once of the print head 16 is produced as the integrated print command 41c by the job management unit 34. Therefore, time taken for the analysis of the plurality of print jobs received by the reception unit 32 into the print command varies from the time in the related art in which the print jobs are sequentially analyzed one by one, and it is possible to shorten the time because the plurality of print jobs are integrated and then analyzed. Thus, it is possible to shorten the total printing time in a case where the printing is concurrently performed in parallel on the plurality of continuous paper pieces (medium) Sa and Sb based on the plurality of print jobs received separately.
(2) In a case where the plurality of print jobs are received from the computers 31a and 31b via the corresponding ports 32a and 32b in a state in which the plurality of computers 31a and 31b are independently connected to the plurality of ports 32a and 32b of the reception unit 32, the print jobs are concurrently analyzed in parallel in the analysis units 33a and 33b corresponding to the ports 32a and 32b. The analysis results from the analysis units 33a and 33b is integrated by the job management unit 34 and the print command is produced corresponding to scanning at least once by which the printing on the plurality of continuous paper pieces Sa and Sb is concurrently performed in parallel. Thus, the plurality of print jobs are concurrently received in parallel via the plurality of ports 32a and 32b and are concurrently analyzed in parallel in the plurality of analysis unit 33a and 33b. Therefore, it is possible to easily shorten the total printing time by increasing the number of ports 32a and 32b and the analysis units 33a and 33b.
(3) At the time of printing, when the print head 16 is caused to move to position facing the second continuous paper piece Sb on the side far from the print standby position WP passing the first continuous paper piece Sa on the side close to the print standby position WP, then is caused to repeatedly perform printing operations on the second continuous paper piece Sb a plurality of times by line breaks, and then, is caused to return to the print standby position WP, the time is wasted. That is, the time taken for passing the first continuous paper piece Sa on the side close to the print standby position WP is not used for printing but just passing through and thus, is a wasted time. In the present embodiment, since the printing is performed on the first continuous paper piece Sa based on the first print data B1a which includes more line breaks without passing the first continuous paper piece Sa on the side close to the print standby position WP by moving a relatively short distance, there is no wasted passing time so that the printing is completed within a shorter time. Hence, the configuration contributes to shortening the total printing time taken for a case where the printing is concurrently performed on the plurality of continuous paper pieces (media) Sa and Sb in parallel based on the plurality of print jobs.
(4) In a case where, glossy paper and common paper are transported in parallel when, according to the identification information included in the print setting commands Aa and Ab, a print job which performs printing of a picture, for example, on glossy paper is received, the control unit 30 controls the drive state of the motors 22a, 22b, and 23 and the voltage applied to the piezoelectric element 24 such that the printing is performed on the glossy paper based on the print job. Thus, according to the identification information included in the print setting commands Aa and Ab, since it is possible to perform the printing as desired, it is possible to prevent re-printing due to failure of the printing and it is possible to contribute to shortening the total printing time.
The embodiment described above may be modified as follows.
According to the configuration, in a case where, in order to maintain good ink ejection characteristics in the print head 16, a so-called flushing which causes the ink to be discharged for emitting is performed during the printing operation based on a control signal independent from the printing from the print head 16, it is possible to suppress an occurrence of the wasted time. That is, during the printing, it is possible for the print head 16 to rapidly move without causing to move a wasteful distance to a position facing the flushing reception unit 51. Thus, in this point, it is possible to contribute to shortening a total printing time in a case where the printing is concurrently performed in parallel on the plurality of continuous paper pieces (media) Sa and Sb based on the plurality of printing jobs.
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-061386, filed Mar. 25, 2014 is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2014-061386 | Mar 2014 | JP | national |