Patent Grant
11198309
The present disclosure relates to a recording apparatus having an ink absorber that absorbs ink discharged to the outside of a recording medium, and a method in the recording apparatus.
Among inkjet recording apparatuses, there has been known a recording apparatus that performs marginless recording for recording an image up to an end portion of a recording medium so that no margin is formed. In a case of performing the marginless recording, an image is recorded by discharging the ink up to an outer region of an end portion of a recording medium. At this time, to protect the inside of the apparatus from being soiled by the ink discharged to the outer region of the recording medium, an absorber for absorbing the ink is disposed at a position facing a pathway on which the recording head moves.
On the other hand, preliminary discharge is known, which controls discharging of the ink to the outside of the recording medium. The preliminary discharge is performed to maintain or improve discharge performance of a discharge port on a recording head by discharging the ink that does not affect recording.
When the ink is discharged to the absorber as described above, the ink may gradually accumulates on the front surface of the absorber, because the ink dries out or is poorly absorbed into the absorber depending on the type of the ink. If the accumulation advances, the rear surface of the recording medium is soiled or a discharge port surface of the recording head is damaged due to contact between the discharge port surface and the accumulated ink.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-167945 discusses a technique of a recording apparatus provided with a detection unit including a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit. The detection unit detects a height of the ink accumulated on a scanning track of the recording head in a recording apparatus main body. The light emitting unit emits light and the light receiving unit detect the light, so that the detection unit detects the height of the accumulated ink.
Nevertheless, the following issues are raised because the wavelength of light to be absorbed varies depending on a color of the ink. For example, a black ink has absorbability of light in all the wavelength regions as long as the light has a wavelength in a visible light region. Nevertheless, for example, while a cyan ink tends to absorb light in a wavelength band of red (i.e., a complementary color of cyan), a red and yellow inks do not tend to absorb light in a wavelength band of red.
For example, in a case where the ink accumulated on the absorber is the black ink, the absorption of the black ink decreases a received light amount as compared with an amount of light received in a case of another color of ink. Thus, an accumulation state may fail to be accurately detected. On the other hand, in a case where the absorber is soiled by an ink in a color that does not tend to absorb the light emitted by the light emitting unit, the received light amount is large, and thus an accumulation state may be erroneously detected even though the accumulation state has not been reached to a predetermined accumulation state.
The present disclosure is directed to preventing erroneous detection of an ink accumulation state.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a recording apparatus includes a recording head configured to discharge a plurality of inks in different colors, an ink absorber configured to absorb the plurality of inks discharged from the recording head, a detection unit including a light emitting unit configured to emit light onto a predetermined position of the ink absorber, and a light receiving unit configured to receive reflected light from the predetermined position on the ink absorber, a control unit configured to control the detection unit to perform a detection operation in which the light emitting unit emits light onto the predetermined position, and the light receiving unit receives reflected light from the predetermined position of the ink absorber; and a determination unit configured to determine whether to perform a predetermined operation related to ink accumulation on the absorber, based on an amount of light received from the predetermined position on the ink absorber, wherein, the control unit controls the recording head to discharge an ink in a chromatic first color among the plurality of inks to the predetermined position in response to decision to execute the detection operation by the detection unit, and controls the detection unit to perform the detection operation of the predetermined position.
Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings).
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The feeding unit includes a feeding tray for stacking a plurality of recording media, and a feeding roller that feeds, one by one, recording media stacked on the feeding tray to the inside of the recording apparatus 1.
The conveyance unit includes a conveyance roller 8 that conveys a recording medium fed from the feeding unit, and a pinching roller 9 that is disposed at a position facing the conveyance roller 8 and pinches the recording medium together with the conveyance roller 8.
The recording unit includes a recording head 3 and a carriage 2. A discharge port surface formed on the recording head 3 is provided with a discharge port for discharging ink. The recording head 3 is detachably attached to the carriage 2. The carriage 2 is configured to reciprocate in an X direction (e.g., a moving direction of the carriage) along a guide shaft 7 via a timing belt 5 attached to a chassis 4, driven by a carriage motor 6. A recording medium P is conveyed in a Y direction intersecting with the X direction. While the carriage 2 is reciprocating, the recording head 3 records an image by discharging the ink to the recording medium P that stays still at a position facing the recording head 3. At the position facing the recording head 3, a platen 15 (refer to
The discharging unit includes a discharge roller 10 (refer to
The recovery unit includes a cap 30 (refer to
Next, the configuration of a peripheral portion of recording unit will be described in detail.
On the conveyed recording medium P, an image corresponding to one band (one line break) is recorded by discharging ink droplets from the discharge port of the recording head 3 attached to the carriage 2 moving in the X direction, while the conveyance is stopped. When an image corresponding to one band is recorded, the recording medium P is conveyed in the Y direction by a predetermined amount by the conveyance roller 8 being driven by a conveyance motor (not illustrated). The reciprocating movement of the carriage 2 and the ink droplet discharge from the recording head 3, and the predetermined-mount conveyance (intermittent conveyance) of the recording medium P by the conveyance roller 8 are alternately repeated. An image is thereby recorded on the entire recording medium P.
(Recording Head)
In the present exemplary embodiment, while an accumulation ink is a pigment ink, a dye ink is also regarded as an accumulation ink, in a case, for example, where the dye ink accumulates on an absorber in a recording apparatus that uses the dye ink. The number of types of inks is not limited to nine. Each type of the inks may be classified into the accumulation ink or the accumulation reduction ink in a different way. For example, each ink may be classified into an accumulation ink or an accumulation reduction ink depending on an amount of solvent or moisturizing agent contained in each ink. This is because a large content of solvent in an accumulation reduction ink can suppress a viscosity of the ink and make the ink easily-absorbed into the absorber. Therefore, a pigment ink that has a large content of solvent or moisturizing agent is easily absorbed into the ink absorber and thus can be classified as the accumulation reduction ink. In addition, while some pigments easily accumulate, the other pigments are less likely to accumulate depending on the property of pigment. If an ink has a property of being less likely to accumulate even if the ink has a large content of pigment, the ink may be classified as the accumulation reduction ink.
On the discharge port surface 20 of the recording head 3, an array of discharge ports for discharging ink of the respective colors are arranged in the Y direction. A recording element is disposed immediately above each discharge port (e.g., +Z direction). The recording element is a thermoelectric conversion element. By applying voltage, thermal energy is generated and the ink is discharged from a discharge port by the thermal energy. Instead of the thermoelectric conversion element, a piezoelectric element, an electrostatic element, or a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) element can also be used as the recording element.
The carriage 2 is provided with a detection sensor 3 as a detection unit including a light emitting unit 201 that emits light and a light receiving unit 203 that receives light that has been emitted by the light emitting unit 201 and specularly reflected. The detection sensor 13 emits light from the light emitting unit 201 at a predetermined angle onto an inspection target at a predetermined position in the moving direction of the carriage 2. The light receiving unit 203 receives specularly-reflected light from the inspection target. The details of the detection sensor 13 will be described below.
(Platen Portion)
The platen 15 extends in a main scanning direction over a pathway in which the recording head 3 scans so that the platen 15 supports the recording medium that passes above the platen 15, The platen 15 includes the ink absorber 21 for absorbing ink discharged to the outside of the recording medium in a protruding manner in executing the marginless recording. The ink absorber 21 also absorbs the ink discharged by preliminary discharge that does not affect recording to maintain or improve a discharge state of the ink. In the present exemplary embodiment, an opening is provided in the ink absorber 21 for easily absorbing the ink, A surface of the ink absorber 21 is uneven. The ink absorbed into the ink absorber 21 is later collected into a waste ink storage (not illustrated) provided in a lower part of the recording apparatus 1. The waste ink storage also collects the ink discharged to the cap 30. When the marginless recording is performed in the present exemplary embodiment, the ink is applied from the recording head 3 up to a region protruding outward by about 3 mm from the recording medium. In the case of performing the marginless recording on the recording medium P illustrated in
(Block Diagram)
A nonvolatile memory 318 stores an amount of ink stored in the waste ink storage, an amount of ink discharged to the ink absorber 21, a discharge time of the ink, and information of the ink. The nonvolatile memory 318 can hold the information even if the power of the inkjet recording apparatus is turned OFF. The ink discharged to the ink absorber 21 is measured by counting ink discharged to the outside of the recording medium, based on image data. An amount of ink stored in the waste ink storage is calculated by counting ink discharged to the ink absorber 21 and the cap 30, and multiplying the counted ink amount by a vaporization coefficient. An ink tank remaining amount management unit 313 manages information regarding a remaining amount in each of the ink tanks 12, based on the ink information stored in the nonvolatile memory 318. If the remaining amount in the ink tank 12 that is stored in the ink tank remaining amount management unit 313 reaches a predetermined amount or less, the CPU 300 causes a yarning for prompting exchange to be displayed on a display connected to the host apparatus.
A recovery control circuit 308 performs drive control of a recovery system motor 309, and controls recovery operations such as upward and downward operations of the cap 30, an operation of the wiper 32, and an operation of the suction pump 31.
An image input unit 303 temporarily holds image data input from the host apparatus via the interface 304. The image data input to the image input unit 303 is subjected to predetermined image processing executed in an image signal processing unit 314, and then recording data available for a recording operation is generated. The recording head 3 and the carriage 2 are controlled based on the recording data.
A head drive control circuit 315 drives the recording element of the recording head 3. By driving the recording element, the recording head 3 is caused to perform ink discharge and the preliminary discharge. A carriage drive control circuit 307 controls a reciprocating movement in the main scanning direction (e.g., the X direction) of the carriage 2. The carriage drive control circuit 307 controls the movement of the carriage 2 to move the recording head 3 above a maintenance unit for performing a suction operation. A sheet feed control circuit 316 controls the driving of the conveyance motor based on a program stored in the RAM 302.
A sensor control unit 306 controls the detection sensor 13. The detection sensor 13 emits light from the light emitting unit 201 onto the ink absorber 21, and outputs a reflected light amount of specularly-reflected light received by the light receiving unit 203 in a voltage value.
(Details of Detection Sensor)
(Accumulation of Ink)
When ink accumulates on the ink absorber 21, first of all, moisture in the ink evaporates in the ink absorber 21 and the viscosity of the ink increases. Accordingly, the ink stays inside the ink absorber 21 is solidified without reaching the waste ink storage. At this time, solid components in the ink are solidified, and the solid components are mainly pigments. In addition, moisture that has not been evaporated is also contained.
The ink accumulated on the solidified ink is also solidified in the ink absorber 21 by moisture evaporating. Accordingly, the ink accumulates up to the surface of the ink absorber 21, and fills the uneven surface of the absorber by being solidified on the surface, and thus the surface becomes smoother than the surface of the absorber 21 with no ink adhesion. After that, when the ink absorber 21 becomes unable to absorb the ink, the ink further accumulates. In the present exemplary embodiment, a state which the ink absorber 21 has a smoother surface by the ink accumulating up to the surface of the ink absorber 21 and being solidified is regarded as an ink accumulated state.
In the present exemplary embodiment, it is determined that an ink has accumulated, in a case where an output value becomes greater than or equal to the threshold X(v). However, another method may be used. For example, an output value may be compared with a value detected in a state in which the ink absorber 21 is not soiled. It may be determined that an ink accumulates, when a difference between two output values becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined value. The detected value detected in a state in which the ink absorber 21 is not soiled may be preset. As another method, the detected value may be detected when the use of the recording apparatus is started.
In the present exemplary embodiment, an example of detecting accumulation using specularly-reflected light has been described. Alternatively, the presence or absence of accumulation may be detected by using diffusely-reflected light. Reflection intensity caused by the accumulation height may also be used for the detection.
In the present exemplary embodiment, 500 droplets of yellow ink having a color that poorly absorbs light of the light emitting unit 201 are discharged to the position E as a position to be detected, before a detection operation is performed. A state in which 500 droplets of yellow ink are discharged onto the black ink accumulation is illustrated in (a-4) of
(Accumulation Detection Processing)
A position at which an ink is to be discharged onto the ink absorber 21 by the marginless recording or the preliminary discharge is predefined. The accumulation detection processing is performed with respect to the defined position. For example, in a case of performing the marginless recording on a recording medium having an A4 size, the preliminary discharge is performed after the marginless recording ends. And then, the accumulation detection processing is performed for both a position at which an ink is discharged onto the ink absorber 21 by A4-size marginless recording (near both ends of a pass region of an A4-size sheet), and an outer position at which the ink is discharged onto the ink absorber 21 by the preliminary discharge. The accumulation detection processing is to be executed at a plurality of points. However, the accumulation detection processing and the accumulation reduction processing cannot be concurrently performed at a plurality of points. The processing is therefore performed by setting an accumulation detection position which is a range that can be targeted in one accumulation reduction processing, as the position E, among a the plurality of positions. In a case where a range in which the accumulation detection processing is performed is larger than the range that can be targeted in one processing, a target position subsequently moves to a position at which another range can be processed. The accumulation detection processing and the accumulation reduction processing that have been described using
In step S11, the carriage drive control circuit 307 moves the carriage 2 to the position E at which an ink is discharged onto the ink absorber 21.
In step S12, 500 droplets of a yellow ink are discharged to the position E from the recording head 3. The yellow ink has a color that poorly absorbs red, which is a color of sensor light of the light emitting unit 201. By discharging the yellow ink to the position E, the color of the surface of an accumulated substance produced in a case where an ink is accumulated at the position E becomes yellow. By yellowing the surface of an accumulated substance having an output value of the detection sensor 13 lower than an output value obtained by yellow ink adhesion, the output value of the accumulated substance becomes higher than that obtained by the yellow ink adhesion. Thus, it is possible to correctly distinguish between an accumulated state and an adhesion state.
In step S13, the sensor control unit 306 controls the detection sensor 13 to perform a detection operation. More specifically, light is emitted from the light emitting unit 201 at a predetermined angle θ0 onto the ink absorber 21, and reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 203. In step S14, the sensor control unit 306 converts an amount of light received by the light receiving unit 203 acquired in step S13 into voltage, and outputs the voltage. The CPU 300 determines whether an output value of the sensor control unit 306 is greater than or equal to the threshold X(v). The threshold X(v) is stored in the ROM 301. As illustrated in
In step S15, because the ink is accumulated, it is determined to perform the accumulation reduction processing, and the processing ends.
In a case where it is determined in step S15 to perform the accumulation reduction processing, the accumulation reduction processing in step S20 of
As another embodiment of the accumulation reduction processing, a notification may be made by displaying a message indicating that, for example, “please clean the absorber on the platen” on the display connected to the host apparatus, to prompt a user to clean the ink absorber 21. Issuing a warning indicating that the marginless recording is to be restricted, or displaying an error may also be made.
In the configuration of repeating a discharge operation until an output value obtained by performing accumulation detection at the position E falls below the threshold X(v), after a certain amount of ink is discharged in an accumulation reduction operation, an output value does not decrease in some cases even if the accumulation reduction operation is repeated. In this case, for example, a sensor may be faulty. In a case where the sensor is faulty, a reliable output value cannot be obtained. Thus, there is a possibility that an output value does not decrease even if the accumulation reduction ink is discharged. If the accumulated ink strongly adheres to the ink absorber 21 by being left for a long term, or the ink absorber 21 is soiled by another external factor, in some cases, it is considered that an output value does not recover even if the accumulation reduction ink is discharged by an amount normally considered to be necessary. In this case, even if the accumulation reduction ink is discharged, an output value does not fall below the threshold, and the accumulation reduction ink is wasted.
In view of the above-described case, restrictions may be imposed on the number of times the accumulation reduction ink is discharged after the accumulation detection processing. In a case where the number is restricted to, for example, three, the subsequent accumulation detection processing is not executed, if the accumulation detection processing and the accumulation reduction processing are repeated three times.
The accumulation detection processing and the accumulation reduction processing illustrated in
In the present exemplary embodiment, the detection is executed after the recording operation ends. Alternatively, expecting a situation in which ink accumulation is likely to occur, the detection may be executed at a predetermined timing. The accumulation detection processing may be performed, for example, only after the marginless recording is performed.
In step S21, it is determined whether the number of recorded sheets recorded after the previous accumulation detection processing has been performed is greater than or equal to a predetermined number A. In a case where the number of recorded sheets is less than A (NO in step S21), the processing ends without performing the accumulation detection processing. In a case where the number of recorded sheets is greater than or equal to A (YES in step S21), the processing proceeds to step S22, in which it is determined whether the humidity is less than B %. In a case where the humidity is greater than or equal to B % (NO in step S22), the processing ends without performing the accumulation detection processing. In a case where the humidity is less than B % (YES in step S22), the accumulation detection processing is performed, and the processing illustrated in
A time elapsed from when the previous accumulation reduction processing has been performed may be included in conditions for starting the accumulation detection processing, because moisture of the ink discharged to the absorber evaporates and the ink becomes an easily-accumulating state over time. For example, a timer for measuring a time elapsed from when the accumulation reduction ink is discharged the last time may be provided. The accumulation detection processing may be performed in a case where the lapse time measured by the timer when it is determined whether to perform the accumulation detection processing exceeds 100 hours. Specifically, the following processing can be performed. In a case where humidity is less than B % in step S22 under the condition illustrated in
Since the accumulation detection processing takes time, the accumulation detection processing may be executed before a sleep operation or before a cap close operation of moving the recording head 3 to a position at which the discharge port surface 20 of the recording head 3 is covered by the cap 30, after the end of recording. In this manner, it is possible to further enhance convenience of the user by performing the accumulation detection processing when the user is unlikely to issue a recording instruction.
In a case of performing the accumulation detection processing for the first time, counting is started in a state in which the ink absorber 21 is new. Even if accumulation suppression processing is performed in the first accumulation detection processing, an ink is not completely removed from the ink absorber 21. Thus, when the accumulation detection processing is performed for the second time or later, the ink accumulates more easily on the ink absorber 21 than the time when the first accumulation detection processing has been performed. Thus, a condition of performing the detection for the second time or later may be varied from the condition for performing the first accumulation detection processing. For example, in the configuration of setting humidity, a lapse time, and the number of durable sheets as conditions for starting the accumulation detection processing. The first accumulation detection processing may be performed in a case where humidity is less than or equal to 10% in step S22 of
The detection sensor 13 is installed on one side in the X direction of the recording head 3 illustrated in
For example, the detection sensor 13 in
(Shape and Color of Absorber)
In a case where light emission and light reception are in a relationship of specular reflection as illustrated in
For example, in a case where the color of the ink absorber 21 is yellow and an ink to be discharged before the detection operation is magenta, detected values of the ink absorber 21 and ink accumulation might be close, because yellow absorbs red light more poorly than magenta. Thus, the detection becomes easier if the color of the ink absorber 21 is a color that absorbs light of a sensor more easily than an ink to be discharged before the detection operation.
(Colors of Sensor Light and Ink)
In the present exemplary embodiment, an LED emitting red sensor light is used, and a yellow ink is discharged before the detection operation. If sensor light with another color and a colored ink that poorly absorbs the sensor light are used, the present exemplary embodiment can be applied. The color that poorly absorbs the sensor light is a color having a hue closer to a hue of the color of the sensor light than to an intermediate hue between the color of the sensor light and a complementary color of the color of the sensor light.
In a case where the color of sensor light is red, the ink color may be a color having a hue from purple to yellow including red as a hue closer to the color of sensor light. Among the nine types of inks in the present exemplary embodiment, the yellow ink, the red ink, the magenta ink, and the light magenta ink can be applied.
For example, in a case where the color of sensor light is blue, the ink color may be a color having a hue from purple to green through blue as a hue closer to the color of sensor light. Among the inks in the present exemplary embodiment, the cyan ink and the light cyan ink can be applied.
By using the accumulation reduction ink such as the light magenta ink or the light cyan ink as the ink to be discharged before the detection operation, it is possible to liquefy the accumulated ink again, and to cause the liquefied ink to be absorbed into the ink absorber 21. It is therefore possible to reduce an amount of ink to be discharged in accumulation reduction control.
In the above-described exemplary embodiment, ink accumulation reduction of the ink absorber 21 has been described. However, the present disclosure may also be applied to accumulation reduction for an absorber provided in the cap capping the recording head 3.
In the first exemplary embodiment, the yellow ink is discharged to the position E to increase an output value of the black ink accumulation. In a second exemplary embodiment, accumulation is detected by decreasing an output value of adhesion of an ink in a color that poorly absorbs sensor light, such as yellow ink adhesion. The description of parts similar to those in the first exemplary embodiment, such as the configuration of a recording apparatus, will be omitted.
In step S31, the carriage drive control circuit 307 moves the carriage 2 to the position E at which an ink is discharged onto the absorber 21. In step S32, the recording head 3 discharges 500 droplets of a black ink to the position E. The black ink has a color that easily absorbs red light from the light emitting unit 201. By blacking the surface of adhesion having an output value of the detection sensor 13 larger than an output value of the black ink accumulation, the output value of the adhesion becomes lower than that of the black ink accumulation. And thus it is possible to correctly distinguish between an accumulated state and an adhesion state.
In step S33, the sensor control unit 306 controls the detection sensor 13 to perform the detection operation. More specifically, the light emitting unit 201 emits light at a predetermined angle θ0 onto the ink absorber 21, and the light receiving unit 203 receives reflected light.
In step S34, the sensor control unit 306 converts an amount of light received by the light receiving unit 203 in step S33, into voltage, and outputs the voltage. The CPU 300 determines whether an output value is greater than or equal to the threshold Y(v). In a case where the output value is greater than or equal to the threshold Y(v) (YES in step S34), it is determined that the ink accumulates, and the processing proceeds to step S35. In a case where the output value is smaller than the threshold Y(v) (NO in step S34), it is determined that the ink does not accumulate, and the processing ends.
In step S35, it is determined to perform the accumulation reduction processing at a position at which the output value greater than or equal to the threshold Y(v) is detected, and the processing ends.
In the accumulation reduction processing, the clear ink is discharged to the position E by a predetermined amount similarly to the first exemplary embodiment.
(Colors of Sensor Light and Ink)
In the present exemplary embodiment, an LED emitting red sensor light is used, and the black ink is discharged before the detection operation. If sensor light with another color and an ink in a color that easily absorbs the sensor light are used, the present exemplary embodiment can be applied. The color that easily absorbs the sensor light is a color having a hue closer to a hue of a complementary color of the color of the sensor light than to an intermediate hue between the color of the sensor light and the complementary color, or an achromatic color having lightness lower than half.
For example, in a case where the color of sensor light is red, the ink color may be a color having a hue from purple blue to green yellow including cyan as a hue closer to a color of a complementary color of a color of sensor light, or an achromatic color having lightness with a value of an L-axis being less than or equal to 50 in the Commission Internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) Lab space. Among the nine types of inks in the present exemplary embodiment, the cyan ink, the light cyan ink, the black ink, and the gray ink can be applied.
With the configuration described above, an output value of a color that poorly absorbs sensor light can be decreased by discharging a black ink to a detection position before detection. It is therefore possible to prevent an ink adhesion state from being erroneously detected as an ink accumulated state.
As described in the first exemplary embodiment, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection, in a case where yellow ink adhesion might occur, by discharging a yellow ink to the position E before the detection. For example, in a case where an output value of only yellow ink adhesion out of ink adhesions is higher than an output value of ink accumulation, it is possible to correctly detect the ink accumulation and the ink adhesion without discharging the yellow ink before detection, if the yellow ink adhesion does not occur. Thus, in a third exemplary embodiment, erroneous detection is prevented by discharging the yellow ink before detection in a case where yellow ink adhesion might occur. Similarly to the second exemplary embodiment, the description of parts similar to those in the first exemplary embodiment, such as the configuration of a recording apparatus, will be omitted.
(Ink Count in Protruding Region)
In step S41, the carriage 2 is moved to the position E similarly to step S11 in the first exemplary embodiment.
In step S42, the number of dots of the yellow ink at the position E as a protruding region, which has been counted as described above, is read from the ROM 301, and it is determined whether the read number of dots is greater than or equal to Z. In a case where the number of clots of the yellow ink is greater than or equal to Z (YES in step S42), the processing proceeds to step S43. In this example, Z is a value indicating the number of dots of the yellow ink to be discharged to the ink absorber 21, and is a value at which the yellow ink adhesion might occur. In a case where the number of dots of the yellow ink is less than Z (NO in step S42), the processing proceeds to step S45.
In step S43, 500 droplets of the yellow ink are discharged for erroneous detection prevention. In step S44, a threshold is set to Ath=X(v), and the processing proceeds to the detection operation in step S46. Similarly to the first exemplary embodiment, the threshold X(v) is a threshold for distinguishing between accumulation and adhesion when a yellow ink is discharged before detection.
In a case where the number of dots of yellow ink is less than Z (NO in step S42), it is determined that the ink absorber 21 is not soiled by the yellow ink. In step S45, the threshold is set to Y(v) without discharging a yellow ink, and then, the processing proceeds to the detection operation in step S46. As the threshold Y(v), a value between an output value of adhesion of an ink in a color other than yellow and an output value of black ink accumulation can be set.
In step S46, the sensor control unit 306 controls the detection sensor 13 to perform the detection operation at the position E.
In step S47, the sensor control unit 306 converts an amount of light received by the light receiving unit 203 in step S46, into voltage, and outputs the voltage. It is then determined whether an output value is greater than or equal to the set threshold Ath. In a case where the output value is less than the threshold Ath (NO in step S47), the processing ends. In a case where the output value is greater than or equal to the threshold Ath (YES in step S47), it is determined to perform the accumulation reduction processing in step S48, and the processing ends. In a case where it is determined in step S48 to perform the accumulation reduction processing, the clear ink is discharged to the position E by a predetermined amount after accumulation detection.
In the present exemplary embodiment, the number of dots is counted. Alternatively, z may be set based on a proportion. For example, it may be determined whether a proportion of yellow in each color is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.
In addition, in a case where an output value obtained by adhesion of an ink other than the yellow ink becomes higher than an output value at which ink accumulation is detected, it may be determined whether to discharge the yellow ink to the position E before detection by counting the number of dots of the other ink in that color. Based on the total number of dots of inks in a plurality of colors having higher output values of ink adhesion than an output value at which ink accumulation is detected, it may be determined whether the yellow ink is discharged to the position E before the detection processing is performed.
As described above, in the present exemplary embodiment, the yellow ink is discharged before detection only when necessary by counting the number of dots of the yellow ink in the protruding region. Thus, ink consumption can be suppressed.
In a fourth exemplary embodiment, the description will be given of a configuration in which detection processing can be performed even in a case where a remaining amount of an ink to be discharged before the detection operation is performed is small. Also in the present exemplary embodiment, the description of parts similar to those in the above-described exemplary embodiments, such as the configuration of a recording apparatus, will be omitted.
In step S51, the CPU 300 compares ink remaining amounts in ink tanks of the yellow ink and the red ink that are stored in the ink tank remaining amount management unit 313. In a case where the remaining amount of the yellow ink is greater than or equal to the remaining amount of the red ink (YES in step S51), the processing proceeds to step S52. In a case where the remaining amount of the red ink is greater (NO in step S51), the processing proceeds to step S54.
In step S52 or S54, similarly to step S11 in the first exemplary embodiment, the carriage 2 is moved to the position E. When the movement ends, the processing proceeds to step S53 or S55, respectively.
In step S53, similarly to step S12 in the first exemplary embodiment, the yellow ink is discharged to the position E. In step S55, the red ink is discharged to the position E. When the discharge ends, the processing proceeds to step S56 from both steps.
In steps S56 to S58, processing similar to that performed in steps S13 to S15 in the first exemplary embodiment is performed. In step S56, the sensor control unit 306 controls the detection sensor 13 to perform the detection operation. In step S57, the sensor control unit 306 converts an amount of light received by the light receiving unit 203 in step S56, into voltage, and outputs the voltage. The CPU 300 determines whether an output value is greater than or equal to the threshold X(v). In a case where the output value is greater than or equal to the threshold X(v) (YES in step S57), it is determined that an ink accumulates, and the processing proceeds to step S58. In a case where the output value is smaller than the threshold X(v) (NO in step S57), it is determined that an ink does not accumulate, and the processing ends.
In step S58, it is determined to perform the accumulation reduction processing on the position E, and the processing ends. In a case where it is determined in step S58 to perform the accumulation reduction processing, the clear ink is discharged to the position E by a predetermined amount after the accumulation detection processing ends.
According to the present exemplary embodiment, when an ink is discharged to the position E before the detection, even in a case where a remaining amount of the yellow ink is small, the processing can be performed and erroneous detection can be prevented by discharging the red ink in a color that does not absorb red LED light from an alternative sensor.
In the above-described exemplary embodiments, the recording apparatus that performs recording by the recording head moving has been described. In a fifth exemplary embodiment, the description will be given of a full-line recording apparatus. In the full-line recording apparatus, discharge ports are arranged over the width range of a recording medium, and recording is performed by discharging an ink from a stationary recording head onto the conveyed recording medium. Also in the present exemplary embodiment, the description of parts similar to those in the above-described exemplary embodiments, such as the configuration of a recording apparatus, will be omitted.
In step S61, the position E at which the ink is discharged onto the ink absorber 51 in the marginless recording is moved by the conveyance belt 40 to a position that can be detected by the detection sensor 53.
In steps S62 to S65, processing similar to that performed in steps S12 to S15 in the first exemplary embodiment is performed. In step S62, the yellow ink is discharged by the recording head 43 to the position E. In step S63, the detection sensor 53 detects the position E. In step S64, it is determined whether an output value obtained in step S63 is greater than or equal to the threshold X(v). If the output value is greater than or equal to the threshold X(v) (YES in step S64), it is determined to perform the accumulation reduction processing in step S65. If the output value is less than the threshold X(v) (NO in step S64), the processing ends. In the accumulation reduction processing, an accumulated ink is absorbed into the ink absorber 51 by discharging a clear ink to the position E by a predetermined amount.
As described above, also in the full-line recording apparatus, the accumulation detection processing can be performed.
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, it is possible to prevent erroneous detection of an ink accumulated state by discharging an ink in a predetermined color to a position at which an accumulated state is to be detected, before an accumulated state is detected.
Embodiment(s) of the present disclosure can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure 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. 2018-221730, filed Nov. 27, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP2018-221730 | Nov 2018 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060033792 | Sano | Feb 2006 | A1 |
| 20180117907 | Yamamuro | May 2018 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2000-085143 | Mar 2000 | JP |
| 2004-066553 | Mar 2004 | JP |
| 2004-167945 | Jun 2004 | JP |
| 2006-168177 | Jun 2006 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200164664 A1 | May 2020 | US |
