Inkjet recording device, and data reduction plan of temperature measuring part

Abstract

To solve the problem that temperature detection in a printer is performed during power saving, a current device configuration uses a technique of securing power using a power source and a control circuit during power saving and detecting a temperature, and thereby solves the problem, but a data amount is not touched, and the increase in a data amount is disadvantageous.SOLUTION: A data amount is reduced by reducing communication data and communication frequency, using an MCU as a sub ASIC. Specifically, such a configuration as to reduce a data amount by selection of an acquired temperature range and data conversion by the MCU solves the problem.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to data transfer during power saving in an inkjet recording apparatus.

Background Art

[0002] When an inkjet recording apparatus performs printing, maintenance is regularly performed to maintain the ejection performance of the print head in a good state. Also, the timing for performing maintenance is determined by various factors, and in some cases, the environmental temperature is considered. For this reason, even during power saving, it is necessary to periodically detect the temperature around the print head.

[0003] In the current device configuration, as in Patent Document 1, even during power saving, it has a configuration including a switching power supply, a small-capacity power supply, a control circuit, and a sensor. Technologies for securing power and performing temperature detection using a switching power supply or a control circuit have been established.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] As described above, for the regular maintenance of the print head, it is necessary to detect the temperature around the print head to confirm the timing for performing the maintenance operation.

[0006] The reason for performing regular maintenance on the print head is that the print head may become clogged due to various factors and ideal printing may no longer be possible.

[0007] The reason for detecting the temperature is, for example, that when the external temperature changes around the print head, the drying rate of the print head may change, and by detecting the above, the maintenance timing can be made appropriate.

[0008] The timing for leaving the print head unattended includes the power-saving state, and temperature detection during power saving is also required.

[0009] On the other hand, the legal regulations regarding power consumption during power saving are becoming stricter year by year, and the method of implementing temperature detection during power saving has become an issue.

[0010] However, although there is no problem with the conventional configuration for securing power like the prior art, the frequency and amount of data for acquiring temperature data around the print head have not been touched upon, and an increase in the frequency and amount of data for acquiring temperature data has become an issue.

[0011] An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording apparatus capable of reducing the amount of data and reducing the communication frequency in data transfer during power saving.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0012] In order to achieve the above object, the inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention is an inkjet recording apparatus having a temperature determination unit that measures the temperature in the inkjet recording apparatus, a microcomputer that acquires and discriminates the determination data, and an ASIC that acquires the data. Further, a conversion unit that acquires the measured temperature data acquired by the determination unit and performs analog-to-digital conversion, a temperature processing unit that converts the acquired data into temperature data used in the inkjet recording apparatus, a determination unit that distributes temperature data determination threshold values or other temperature data by a Lookup table after the data acquisition, a transmission unit that transmits the data to the ASIC, a reception unit that receives the data, and a discrimination unit that returns the data to the data of the measurement unit.

Effects of the Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the data amount and the communication frequency in data transfer during power saving.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0014]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0015] Hereinafter, with reference to the drawings, a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. Note that the following embodiments are described in an ink - jet recording device as the recording device, and are not limited to the invention specific to the ink - jet recording device. Also, not all combinations of the features described in this embodiment are essential for the solution means of the present invention.

Examples

[0016] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an outline of the configuration of an ink - jet recording device that performs recording using an ink - jet recording head which is a representative example of the present invention.

[0017] An ink - jet recording device (hereinafter, the recording device) 100 mounts an ink - jet recording head 112 that discharges ink for recording on a carriage 111, and performs recording by reciprocating the carriage 111 in the direction of arrow A.

[0018] A recording medium P such as recording paper is fed through a paper - feeding mechanism 113, conveyed to a recording position, and recording is performed by discharging ink from the recording head 112 onto the recording medium P at the recording position.

[0019] The carriage 111 of the recording apparatus 100 not only mounts the recording head 112, but also attaches an ink tank 114 that stores ink to be supplied to the recording head. The ink tank 114 is detachable from the carriage 111.

[0020] The recording apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 is capable of color recording. For this purpose, the carriage 111 mounts four ink cartridges that respectively contain magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (K) inks. These four ink cartridges are independently detachable.

[0021] The recording head 112 of this embodiment is a recording head capable of printing a width of about 1 inch at a time, and adopts an inkjet method that discharges ink using thermal energy and is provided with an electrothermal converter.

[0022] This electrothermal converter is provided corresponding to each discharge port, and by applying a pulse voltage to the corresponding electrothermal converter according to a recording signal, ink is discharged from the corresponding discharge port.

[0023] In the recording apparatus 100, in order to prevent clogging of each discharge port even when not recording, a discharge operation without printing called recovery is periodically performed. Basically, printing cannot be performed during recovery, and even when print data arrives, printing will be performed after recovery is completed.

[0024] Although not shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus 100 may have a scan unit.

[0025] Also, although not described in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus may have a large-capacity RAM (Random Access Memory) or non-volatile storage (such as an HDD) for storing print data and scan data.

[0026] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration inside the recording apparatus of the present invention.

[0027] As shown in FIG. 2, it has a thermistor 201, an MCU 202, and an ASIC 207 as functional blocks.

[0028] The thermistor 201 measures the temperature around the head.

[0029] The MCU 202 functions as a CPU during power saving, acquires temperature data from the thermistor, and has an AD acquisition unit 203 that performs analog-to-digital conversion, a temperature processing unit 204 that converts the data after analog-to-digital conversion into data used by the recording device, a LUT encoding unit 205 that checks the threshold of the data converted by the temperature processing unit 204 and the threshold of the difference data between the values before and after the converted data, and an I2C transmission unit 206 that transmits the data converted by the LUT encoding unit.

[0030] The ASIC 207 functions as the main IC and has an I2C reception unit 208 that receives the data transmitted from the I2C transmission unit 206 of the MCU 202 and a core CPU 209.

[0031] By having the MCU 202, it is possible to convert temperature data internally and reduce the amount of data, and also reduce the data transmission frequency to the ASIC 207 due to the reduction.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows an example of a flowchart according to this embodiment.

[0033] The recording device (printer) is started when in the power-saving state. Here, the power-saving state is the SOFTOFF state. However, the power-saving state is not limited to the above and may be operated under various conditions.

[0034] Acquire head peripheral temperature data from the thermistor (301).

[0035] Perform analog-to-digital conversion on the acquired temperature data in the AD acquisition unit 203 (302).

[0036] The digitally-analog converted data is converted to ±〇〇.〇 °C (first decimal place) in the temperature processing unit 204 (303).

[0037] In the LUT encoding unit 205, it is confirmed whether the acquired temperature data is within the threshold value for the converted data (304).

[0038] The threshold value here is the threshold value at which it is determined that suction maintenance is required because the ink in the head of the IJ printer vaporizes and the concentration increases. If the value is outside the threshold value, it is transmitted to the ASIC 207 as maintenance data 305 for performing suction maintenance at the time of SOFTON.

[0039] After confirming whether it is within the threshold value in the LUT encoding unit 205, the difference between the acquired temperature data and the previously acquired temperature data is calculated (306).

[0040] It is confirmed whether the difference data is within the difference threshold value (307).

[0041] The difference threshold value here is different from the above threshold value. When the difference from the previously acquired temperature data is large, such as when a rapid temperature change occurs, since the ink in the head vaporizes and the concentration increases, if it is a value equal to or greater than the threshold value that requires maintenance, it is transmitted to the ASIC 207 as maintenance data 305 for performing suction maintenance at the time of SOFTON.

[0042] The calculated difference data is held and used for calculating the difference from the newly acquired temperature data (308).

[0043] In the I2C transmission unit 206, the stored data is transmitted to the ASIC 207 as I2C communication data (309).

[0044] The transmitted data is received by the I2C reception unit 208 (310).

[0045] Figure 4 shows an example of the flow until temperature processing is performed from the acquired temperature by the thermistor.

[0046] The thermistor acquisition temperature 401 acquired by the thermistor 201 is acquired as a voltage value 402. The acquired data is converted into an analog-to-digital conversion value 403 in the AD acquisition unit 203. In the temperature processing unit 204, the value obtained by converting the data into the temperature used by the recording device becomes the temperature processing value 404.

[0047] Performing the conversion by the data processing is for the purpose of reducing the data communication volume. The I2C data transmission volume in the current recording device is 12 bits, but this time the transmission volume can be reduced to 8 bits.

Explanation of symbols

[0048] 201 Thermistor section for acquiring temperature 202 MCU with sub-ASIC 203 AD acquisition unit for acquiring the thermistor analog-to-digital conversion value inside the MCU 204 Temperature processing unit for converting into temperature data used by the printer 205 LUT encoding unit for grouping the acquired data and reducing the number of data 206 I2C slave unit for performing I2C communication 207 ASIC section with main ASIC 208 I2C master unit for performing I2C communication 209 LUT decoding unit for returning the encoded value 210 CPU

Claims

1. A temperature discrimination unit that measures the temperature in a printer, a microcomputer that acquires and discriminates the determination data, an inkjet recording apparatus having an ASIC that acquires the data, and further, a conversion unit that acquires the measured temperature data acquired by the determination unit and performs analog-to-digital conversion, a temperature processing unit that performs conversion on the acquired data, a determination unit that distributes the acquired temperature data after the data is acquired, an I2C transmission unit that transmits the data to the ASIC, An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by having an I2C reception unit that receives the data.

2. The inkjet recording apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein in the microcomputer unit, it is determined whether the acquired data is within a determination threshold value that is temperature data used uniquely by the printer, or a proper use temperature range is limited. An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by this.

3. The inkjet recording apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein in the microcomputer unit, the acquired data is used with a Lookup table, and it is confirmed using a threshold value whether the temperature is a temperature at which maintenance is required, and temperature data is acquired. An inkjet recording apparatus characterized by this.

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