JPH07102714B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus capable of recording on a recording medium other than ordinary recording paper.

(Prior Art) Generally, in an ink jet recording apparatus or the like, ink attached to a recording medium must be quickly absorbed. Ink absorbability is generally good when paper is used as the recording medium. However, a film sheet such as an OHP film has a very slow ink absorption since only a coating layer is applied on the surface.

Therefore, in order to enhance the ink absorption, a film sheet has been proposed in which an ink receiving layer having a high ink absorption capacity is provided on a transparent base film (JP-A-58-136480).
issue). This film sheet not only absorbs the deposited ink quickly, but also recognizes the recorded content from the side opposite to the side where the ink is deposited, so it seems that the recorded content was just coated with the base film. In this state, the image has such a merit that a high-quality image having gloss can be obtained.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, when recording is performed with a conventional recording device using this recording medium, the surface to be observed is the back side of the conventional recording medium, and the image is left-right reversed, which is a problem. .

Therefore, a memory is provided to reverse the order of data,
It is also possible to use this memory to invert the data before recording. However, in such a structure, a memory for data inversion must be separately provided.

Furthermore, when a color image is recorded on this recording medium, since the recording surface and the observing surface are different, the overlapping order of inks of different colors is opposite to that of the conventional recording medium. For this reason, even if the same image is recorded, the tint differs depending on the recording medium.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a recording apparatus capable of recording a high-quality color image with a simple configuration even on various recording media. It is in.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
A plurality of recording heads that perform recording by using coloring materials of different colors, and a moving unit that moves the plurality of recording heads in the arrangement direction, and coloring of different colors when the plurality of heads are moved by the moving unit. In a recording apparatus for recording a color image by sequentially stacking materials on a recording medium, a first mode for recording a normal image or a second mode for recording a mirror image
Selecting means for selecting a mode, and a moving direction of the plurality of heads by the moving means is set to a first direction in response to the selection of the first mode by the selecting means, and the selecting means selects the second mode. Accordingly, there is provided setting means for setting a moving direction of the plurality of heads by the moving means to a second direction opposite to the first direction.

[Operation] With the above configuration, when the first mode is selected, the plurality of recording heads are moved in the first direction, the coloring materials of different colors are overlapped in the first order, and the normal image is recorded. When the 2 mode is selected, the plurality of recording heads are moved in the second direction opposite to the first direction, and the coloring materials of different colors are overlapped in the second order opposite to the first order to form a mirror image. Make a record.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an ink jet type color recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a recording medium 1 such as a sheet of paper or a plastic sheet is supported by conveying rollers 2 and 3 composed of a pair of rollers arranged above and below, and a paper feeding motor 4 is provided.
The sheet is conveyed in the direction of arrow A by the conveying roller 2 that has been driven by. Guide shafts 5 and 5 are provided in front of the transport rollers 2 and 3 in parallel with them, and a carriage 6 is reciprocally driven in the direction of an arrow B by a force of a carriage motor 7 being received by a wire 8 along the guide shafts.

The carriage 6 is equipped with a valve jet recording head 9 which is an ink jet head. Record Head 9
The black 9B, yellow 9Y, magenta 9M, and cyan 9C discharge nozzles are arranged in that order in parallel with the guide shaft 5.

On the front surface of each of the ejection nozzles 9B to 9C, that is, on the surface facing the recording medium 1 at a predetermined interval (for example, 0.8 mm), a plurality of (for example 32) ink ejection ports 10 (see FIG. 2) are formed in a vertical line. Therefore, flying ink droplets 12 are formed by driving the electrothermal converter 11 at each ink ejection port based on the print data, and recording is performed while the print dots are attached to the recording medium 1 in a predetermined pattern.

Returning to FIG. 1 again, 13 is a printed circuit board having an electric circuit for driving the recording apparatus of this embodiment. A host device 14, which is an external device, is connected to this electric circuit, and the data sent from the host device is recorded.

Reference numeral 15 is an operation panel provided on the exterior (not shown) of the recording device, which has keys such as an online / offline switching key 16, a line feed key 17, a form feed key 18, and a recording mode switching key 19, which are respectively displayed. Lamps 16a, 17a, 18a,
19a is provided correspondingly. 20 is an alarm lamp,
It is a warning lamp such as a power lamp.

FIG. 3 shows a block circuit of this embodiment, which is a CPU
The (microprocessor) 21 is connected to the host computer 14 via an interface 22, and a command signal (command) and a recording data signal read from the host computer 14 into the data memory 23, and a program memory 24, The recording operation is controlled based on the program stored in the ROM such as the working memory 25.

The CPU 21 controls the carriage motor 7 and the paper feed motor 4 via the output port 26 and the motor driver 27, and also controls the recording head 9 via the head drive circuit 29 according to the contents stored in the data memory 23.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a paper-less sensor, which detects whether or not a recording medium exists between the transport rollers 2 and 3, and the CPU 2 is operated via the input port 31.
Inform 1 of the results. The output from each operation key on the operation panel 15 described above is transmitted to the CPU via the input port 32. Although not shown in the drawing, a display switch 33 is provided on the outer bottom surface of the recording device, and its output is also transmitted to the CPU 21 via the input port 34.

The reference numeral 35 indicates a back print film (hereinafter BP) in which the loaded recording medium records from the back side and is recognized from the front side.
(Referred to as F) is an identification sensor for identifying whether or not the sheet, The specific configuration will be described later.

The above-mentioned lamps 16a, 17a, 18a, 19a, 20 are connected to the output port 36
The drive is controlled by the CPU 21 via the, and various states such as whether the online mode, the BPF recording mode, and whether the user is ignorant are displayed and warned.

FIG. 4 illustrates the structure of a BPF sheet. An ink holding layer 39 made of a water-soluble to hydrophilic polymer (albumin, gelatin, casein, etc.) is provided on a transparent base layer 38 made of polyester resin or the like. And an ink transport layer 40 made of a water-soluble to hydrophilic polymer having a relatively large amount of filler (silica, clay, talc, etc.) further mixed thereon.
Have.

In the above BPF sheet, the ink droplet 41 is attached from the back surface side, that is, the ink transport layer 40 side,
41 passes through the ink transport layer 40 and is held as ink particles 41a on the boundary surface between the ink holding layer 39 and the base 38. The recorded contents will be observed from the front side, that is, the base 38 side.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the BPF sheet 42 and the identification sensor 35 for identifying it. A bar code 43 is printed on the edge of the BPF sheet.
When it is loaded in the space 3, the identification sensor 35, which is an optical sensor provided at a position corresponding to the barcode 43, reads the barcode 43 and recognizes that it is a BPF sheet. On the other hand, since the normal recording paper does not have a bar code, the BPF sheet can be surely identified.

6 to 9 show another embodiment showing a method for identifying a BPF sheet.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which a magnetic substance 45 is applied to the surface of the BPF31 sheet 42 and detected by a magnetic sensor 45 such as a Hall element for identification.

7A and 7B, diagonal or rectangular notches 42a and 42b are provided at the tip of the BPF sheet 42, and the notches 42 are formed.
This is an example in which the optical sensors 35a and 35b are arranged at positions corresponding to a and 42b. When the BPF sheet 42 moves in the direction of arrow 47,
There is a time difference in the end detection by the optical sensors 35a and 35b. The time difference is detected to identify the BPF sheet 42.

FIG. 9 shows a notch 4 in the core member 49 of the roll-shaped BPF sheet 48.
This is an example in which the detection lever 50 is provided at a position corresponding to the notch 49a while providing the 9a. The detection lever 50 is rotatable about a shaft 52, and is biased by a spring 51 so that the lever tip member 50a abuts the core member. Here, the tip member 50a is adapted to rotate. When the recording medium roll is set on the printer, the lever tip 50a falls into the notch 39 because the BPF sheet has the notch 49a, and therefore the protrusion 50b of the lever 50 pushes the switch 53, so that the switch 53 generates an identification signal. To do. The notch 49a may have a protruding shape.

FIG. 10 shows an example in which a recess 55a is provided at the tip of a cartridge 55 containing a plurality of BPF sheets 42 for identification. The printer device is provided with a micro switch 56 for detecting the presence / absence of the recess 55a. When the cartridge 55 is mounted on the recording device, the actuator 56a of the switch 56 is projected by the recess 55a to generate an identification signal. Even if the concave portion 55a has a convex shape, the same effect is obtained.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating the recording head control system of the recording apparatus of FIG.

As shown in the figure, the plurality of nozzles 9C, 9M, 9Y, 9B (specifically, their ink ejection ports 9C'-9B ') have a distance D1 in the scanning direction (direction of arrow B in FIG. 1) with the nozzle 9C as a reference. , D
Only 2, D3 are arranged separately.

The scanning distance of the carriage 6 is counted by detecting the number of pulses of the drive motor, and the signal counted by the counter 58 is input to the CPU 21.

On the other hand, the recording data is taken into each of the data memories 23B to 23C for each color through the interface 22.

On the other hand, a memory 60 for blank data (for example, white data) is provided in parallel with each data memory 23B to 23C, and each recording nozzle
A latch that temporarily holds signals for one cycle of 9B to 9C.
61B to 61C and switches 62B to 62C are connected so that they can be switched. A recording command (ink ejection command) signal line 63 from the CPU 21 is connected to each of the switches 62B to 62C, and the blank memory 60 is switched to each of the memories 23B to 23C by the recording command to execute ink ejection. Works like.

Further, the CPU 21 uses the delay circuit 64 to provide the reference nozzle 9C.
Based on the values of the distances D1 to D3 from, the timing of the ink ejection command is delayed so that the scanning position of the carriage 6 and the recording position of each recording nozzle, that is, the overprinting are accurately aligned.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described mainly using the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, the print data from the host is loaded into the data memories 23B to 23C for each color via the interface 22 for one scan (128 rasters). Next, in step S2, it is determined whether or not the BPF sheet recording mode is set, and if it is the BPF sheet recording mode, the process proceeds to step S3, and if not, the step
Go to S4.

Here, whether the BPF sheet recording mode or not is determined by the identification sensor 35
Is output by the CPU 21 judging it, but the mode is manually switched by the recording mode switching key 19 on the operation panel.

In the BPF recording mode, first, in step S3, the carriage 6 in FIG. 1 is moved to the right end, and in step S5, the switch is delayed and switched to 62B → 62Y → 62M → 62C, and then in steps S6 and S7. In synchronization with this switching, data is transferred from each of the data memories 23B to 23C to each nozzle in the same order as the fetched order to record a mirror image. FIG. 12 shows the relationship between the scan pulse and the switching timing of each switch 62B to 62C in the BPF recording mode.
The switch of first switches from the blank data memory 60 to the data memory 23B, and recording can be started. Then, the switch of 62Y switches in the same way at the point where the carriage advances by M1, and finally the switch 62C does the same. Switch to. Here, 1, M1, M2, and M3 respectively indicate the recording start timing of each nozzle of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

Ink droplets will be deposited on the BPF sheet as described above.
(Black) → Y (yellow) → M (magenta) → C
It will be stacked in the order of (cyan).

In step S8, it is determined whether or not one scan is completed, and if not, the process returns to step 104. If it is finished, the process proceeds to step S9 to feed one line of paper. Next, in step S10, it is determined whether or not one page has ended, and if not, the process proceeds to step S1. If completed, the sequence ends.

On the other hand, when the process proceeds from step S2 to step S4, the carriage 6 is in the plain paper recording mode, and the carriage 6 is moved to the left end in FIG.

Then, in step S11, the switch is set to be delayed and switched in the order of 62C → 62M → 62Y → 62B, and steps S12 and S13 are set.
To record a normal image. Next, in step S14, it is determined whether or not one scan is completed, and when it is completed, the paper is fed by one line and recording is performed until one page is completed.

FIG. 13 shows the scanning pulse and each switch 62 in the normal image recording mode.
The switching timing of B to 62C is shown. In this mode, the switch switches in the order of 62C → 62M → 62Y → 62B after a delay of N ₁ , N ₂ and N ₃ , so when the ink is attached to the same place on the regular recording paper, the switch is always C (cyan). ) → M (magenta) → Y (yellow) → B (black). Where 1, M1, M2, M3 are cyan,
The recording start timing of each nozzle of magenta, yellow, and black is shown.

By the way, when the magenta dots are superposed on and adhered to the cyan dots, blue dots are formed. Similarly, when a yellow dot is superposed on and adhered to a cyan dot, a green dot is formed. Similarly, when a yellow dot is superposed and attached on a magenta dot, a red dot is formed. That is, as the color types, black, yellow, magenta, cyan,
The seven colors of blue, green and red are the basic colors of the ink jet recording color image. The colors (blue, green, red) obtained by mixing two of these basic colors are
Even if the stacking order is changed, almost the same color is produced, but strictly speaking, the colors are different.

FIG. 14 explains this. (A) is a paper 70 on which cyan C and yellow Y ink is attached, and (B) is a paper 70 on which yellow Y and cyan C ink is adhered. is there. In (A), the incident light a passes through the yellow Y layer and the cyan C layer, and
Then, the light is reflected by and further passes through each layer in the opposite direction to enter the eye. Incident light b passes through the layer of yellow Y and is reflected by the layer of cyan C to enter the eye. A person unifies the ab rays and feels grin, but in (B), since the reflection layer of the ray b is yellow Y, there is a difference in chromaticity between (A) and (B).

With respect to the above problems, the recording apparatus of this embodiment reverses the order of overlapping the ink colors in the plain paper recording mode and the BPF recording mode.
When recording on a sheet, the ink is eventually overlaid in the same order when the recorded contents are observed, and both can be recorded in exactly the same color.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be applied not only to an ink jet type recording apparatus but also to a thermal transfer type or the like.

(Effect) As described above, according to the present invention, when the first mode is selected, the plurality of recording heads are moved in the first direction, and the coloring materials of different colors are overlapped in the first order to correct. When the image recording is performed and the second mode is selected, the plurality of recording heads are moved in the second direction opposite to the first direction, and the coloring materials of different colors are changed to the second direction opposite to the first order. Since the mirror images are recorded in the order of, the high-quality color image can be recorded on various recording media with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the recording apparatus, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a nozzle, FIG. 3 is an overall block circuit diagram, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a BPF sheet, and FIGS. 5 to 9 are BPF sheets. Fig. 10 is a block circuit diagram of the head control system, Fig. 11 is a flow chart, Fig. 12 is a timing chart diagram in BPF recording mode, and Fig. 13 is a plain paper recording mode. Timing chart, Figure 14 is a diagram for explaining the difference in color. 1 ... Recording medium, 6 ... Carriage 9 ... Recording head, 9B, 9Y, 9M, 9C ... Nozzle, 14 ... Host, 21 ... CPU, 35 ... BPF identification sensor, 42 ... BPF sheet, 23 ... Data memory

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of recording heads for recording by using coloring materials of different colors, and a moving means for moving the plurality of recording heads in the arrangement direction, wherein the moving means moves the plurality of heads. In a recording apparatus for recording a color image by sequentially superposing coloring materials of different colors on a recording medium, a selecting unit for selecting a first mode for recording a normal image or a second mode for recording a mirror image, and the selecting unit. The moving direction of the plurality of heads by the moving means is set to a first direction according to the first mode selection by the moving means, and the moving direction of the plurality of heads by the moving means is set according to the second mode selection by the selecting means. A recording device, comprising: setting means for setting a moving direction to a second direction opposite to the first direction. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selecting means selects the first mode or the second mode according to the type of recording medium. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the selecting means selects the second mode for a recording medium having a recording surface and an observing surface different from each other. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet head.