Sheet Conveyance Overlap Control for Recording Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing recording apparatuses face inefficiencies in reducing sheet feeding intervals, leading to decreased throughput due to the need to determine overlap amounts between sheets before starting the recording process, which requires processing recording data and delays the feeding of subsequent sheets.
Innovation Solution
A recording apparatus with a generation unit, recording unit, sheet conveyance unit, and acquisition unit that processes input data to generate recording data, overlaps the trailing edge of a preceding sheet with the leading edge of a subsequent sheet, and acquires overlap information to enable simultaneous recording of the last line of the preceding sheet and the first line of the subsequent sheet in a single scan, allowing for early start of sheet feeding without waiting for overlap determination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the overlap amount is determined by processing recording data before sheet feeding, then the overlap accuracy is improved, but the sheet feeding time is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The sheet conveyance unit starts conveying the subsequent sheet before the acquisition unit finishes acquiring the overlap amount information. This preliminary action allows the sheet feeding process to overlap with the information acquisition process, eliminating the waiting time while ensuring accurate overlap determination is completed before recording begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains continuous operation by allowing the sheet conveyance to proceed without interruption while the overlap amount is being determined. The recording unit waits only for the essential overlap information, not for complete processing of all recording data, thus maintaining continuous useful action throughout the system.
2Stability of the object's composition
If sheets are overlapped with large margin, then the overlap stability is improved, but the image recording area is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the overlap amount based on the actual margin information acquired during operation. Rather than using a fixed large margin for all cases, the overlap is optimized to match the specific margin requirements of each sheet, maintaining stability while maximizing the usable recording area.
Solution Approach 2:
The overlap amount parameter is changed from a fixed conservative value to a dynamically determined value based on actual margin measurements. This parameter change allows the system to achieve both stability and maximum recording area by adapting to specific sheet characteristics.
3Productivity
If simultaneous recording on preceding and subsequent sheets is performed, then the recording throughput is improved, but the recording precision is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The acquisition unit acts as an intermediary that provides accurate overlap amount information to both the sheet conveyance unit and the recording unit. This intermediary function ensures that simultaneous recording maintains precision by coordinating the positions of both sheets based on measured rather than estimated overlap amounts.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a recording apparatus that start conveying a subsequent sheet in a state where an overlap amount of a preceding sheet and the subsequent sheet is not determined, acquires the overlap amount after the sheet conveyance is started, acquires distance information about a distance between a trailing edge of an image of a last line on the preceding sheet and a leading edge of an image on the subsequent sheet based on recording data and the overlap amount, and generates recording data for image forming of recording data of the last line on the preceding sheet and recording data of a first line on the subsequent sheet in the same scan by a recording unit, based on the acquired distance information.