JP3513341B2 - Recording device and recording method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method for recording a gradation image, and more particularly to a recording apparatus and method for performing on-demand recording such as an ink jet recording method. Is.
More specifically, for example, an X-ray image or an ultrasonic diagnostic image often used in the medical image field has a gradation image area represented by a predetermined gradation number and the predetermined gradation number. The present invention is applied to the recording of a gradation image in which it is desired to have a region that is a “substantially solid frame” in a region other than the gradation image region represented by.

Regardless of the medical image field, the recording of a gradation image having at least a "substantially solid frame" on the "front side" in the main scanning direction at the time of recording a gradation image represented by a predetermined number of gradations. Suitable for Here, the “substantially solid frame” is an area filled with a solid black color, or an area having a high density other than black and having a substantially uniform optical transmission density of 1.2 or more, and is generally a predetermined area. It is a background area provided for the purpose of making it easier to observe a gradation image represented by the number of gradations.

Further, the "front side" means a recording direction in which an ink jet recording head mounted in an ink jet recording apparatus is moved relative to the recording medium to record an image when recording an image on the medium. In this case, the front side immediately before the recording of the gradation image area represented by a predetermined gradation number in the main scanning direction is started.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus and method for recording a gradation image on a recording medium by a multi-nozzle inkjet recording head having a plurality of ejection ports. More specifically, the input image data is subjected to pseudo-halftone multivalue processing to generate multivalue data (output image data).
Then, it is preferably used for a recording apparatus and method for recording a gradation image on a recording medium by using dark and light inks of similar colors and different densities corresponding to the generated multi-valued data.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a recording method in a facsimile machine, a digital copying machine, a digital printer, etc., there are an electrophotographic method, a sublimation transfer method, a heat sensitive method, and an ink jet recording method. As a method of recording a gradation image by these methods, the recording dot diameter or recording dot density of toner, ink, dye or the like adhering to the recording medium is modulated by changing the voltage or pulse width applied to the recording means. There are known a dot density modulation method and a dot number modulation method that modulates the number of dots to be recorded in a unit matrix with a fixed recording dot diameter or recording dot density.
Furthermore, a gradation recording method is known which is a combination of the dot density modulation method and the dot number modulation method described above.

Of the above recording methods, a simple device configuration
Moreover, the inkjet recording apparatus of the inkjet system that can record ink on demand on a recording medium is
In recent years, it has become popular rapidly. In this inkjet recording apparatus, in order to improve the recording speed, a multi-nozzle inkjet recording head including an ejection port array in which a plurality of ejection ports are integrated and arranged is used. In addition,
In many cases, a plurality of the multi-nozzle inkjet recording heads are provided for color correspondence.

In this ink jet recording apparatus,
Since it is relatively difficult to modulate the recording dot diameter on the recording medium, it is mainly possible to perform gradation on the recording medium based on multi-valued data obtained by applying pseudo-halftone processing to input image data. I was recording images. However, according to the dot number modulation method by this pseudo halftone processing, there is a problem that it is difficult to achieve both high gradation and high resolution.

When the recording dot diameter is relatively large,
The graininess of the gradation image recorded on the recording medium was sometimes regarded as a problem. Reducing the recording dot diameter is one of the solutions to this problem, but it has been technically difficult and costly to structure and manufacture a multi-nozzle inkjet recording head. Therefore, a method of recording a gradation image using inks of similar colors but different densities (dark and light inks) has been proposed. This method will be briefly described. A low density ink is used for recording from a bright portion to a halftone area of a gradation image, and a low density ink and a high density ink are used as a combination for the halftone area. The dark areas are recorded with high density ink. By this recording method,
Graininess is reduced and a gradation image with good gradation can be recorded.

In the method of recording a gradation image using the dark and light inks, some methods of generating output image data to be recorded with each ink have been proposed. An example will be described below. For example, according to a general method of generating output image data when two kinds of dark and light inks are used, output image data to be recorded with inks of respective densities are input with gradation according to a distribution table as shown in FIG. Convert image data to output image data. In the case of the distribution table shown in FIG. 11, gamma conversion is applied to each of the input image data corresponding to the line A in FIG. 11 and the input image data corresponding to the line B in FIG. 11, and then pseudo halftone processing is performed. Output image data is generated. By this processing method, output image data corresponding to each density ink is generated. Then, an image with rich gradation can be recorded on the recording medium by recording with the ink of the density corresponding to each.

Further, by applying the dark and light inks to the color inks of respective colors, it is possible to record an image having rich color gradation on a recording medium. The inkjet recording method is not limited to the inkjet recording method using the dark and light inks, and the stability of the density of the recording dots formed on the recording medium by the ink droplets ejected from each ejection port is desired.

However, at the ejection port at the tip of the multi-nozzle ink jet recording head, the following is used in ink jet recording of a type having a heater for ejecting ink and concentrating the ink droplets remaining during ejection by evaporation or the like. The problem arises. In other words, until the heat applied from the heater stabilizes, an image may be printed at an undesirably high density or low density during printing at the start of each main scan of the multi-nozzle inkjet print head. May have an adverse effect on the.

Therefore, it has been proposed to perform preliminary ejection prior to each main scan of the multi-nozzle ink jet recording head. This is because prior to each main scan, the ink is ejected from the ejection port, separately from the ink ejection for image recording, to remove the residual ink and dirt attached to the tip of the ejection port, and also to eject the ejection port. The ink that is likely to be concentrated is ejected to the tip of the and discarded. By this preliminary ejection, it is possible to perform the recording of the image in which the ink having the constant density is ejected, and as a result, the density of the recording dot recorded at the beginning of each main scan from each ejection port is stable.

[0013]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional recording method, in the case of recording having a long image recording area in the main scanning direction, even if preliminary ejection is performed prior to each main scanning, When there is no image part of the first discharge in each main scan at the nozzle at the beginning of each main scan, or when there is a long absence of ink discharge with no recorded image in each main scan, etc.
After all, like the first ejection, the density is likely to change and the image quality is deteriorated.

In particular, in the above-described recording method using the dark and light inks, the substantially solid frame is recorded with the high density ink and not with the low density light ink. Therefore, the recording with the light ink for recording in the gradation image area is inevitably a recording after a time from the preliminary ejection. For this reason,
Even if preliminary ejection of light ink is performed before recording in the background area,
The effect fades when recording the gradation image area. Similarly, the gradation image area is recorded with, for example, CMYK color inks, and the background area that is a substantially solid frame is K (black).
When printing with ink, the background area is printed with only K ink, so the effect of preliminary ejection of each CMY ink is diminished when printing the gradation image area. Therefore, the density of the print dots of each ink is not constant at the print start position in the main scanning direction of the gradation image area, which affects the image quality.

Further, since the ink to be preliminarily ejected has been disposed of as a waste liquid, it has been desired to effectively utilize it. Furthermore, in the printing method by the multi-pass printing method, the multi-nozzle inkjet print head is made to scan the same region a plurality of times to form an image,
Although the density unevenness resulting from the discharge unevenness of each discharge port of the multi-nozzle inkjet recording head is suppressed, it has been difficult to completely suppress the connection stripes in the main scanning direction.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a recording apparatus and a recording method capable of recording an image having a substantially uniform image area and a gradation image area with good image quality. The purpose is to do.

[0017]

A recording apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, a recording apparatus for performing recording on a recording medium using a recording head for ejecting a plurality of recording agents having different densities of two or more for similar colors, and a predetermined first recording on the recording medium. When recording a gradation image represented by a predetermined number of gradations in a region, the recording agent to be used is determined from the plurality of recording agents according to the density level of the image data corresponding to the gradation image, and the determination is performed. When recording an image with substantially uniform density in a predetermined second recording area different from the first recording area on the recording medium, the first recording means performing recording using the recorded recording material, Second recording means for performing recording using all of the plurality of recording agents whose use is determined in advance.

Further, preferably, the second recording area is
It is located around the first recording area.

Further, preferably, the plurality of recording agents are black recording agents, and the second recording area is an area where all of the black recording agents are used and filled.

Further, preferably, in determining the recording agent to be used according to the density level of the image data corresponding to the gradation image, when the density level of the image data is the maximum density level, the recording agent to be used is As a result, only the recording agent with the highest concentration is selected from the plurality of recording agents.

Further, preferably, the recording agent is ink, and the recording head is an ink jet recording head for recording by ejecting a plurality of inks having different densities of two or more for the same color.

A recording method according to the present invention for achieving the above object has the following configuration. That is, it is a recording method for recording on a recording medium using a recording head for ejecting a plurality of recording agents having different densities for two or more similar colors, and a predetermined first recording on the recording medium. When recording a gradation image represented by a predetermined number of gradations in a region, the recording agent to be used is determined from the plurality of recording agents according to the density level of the image data corresponding to the gradation image,
A first recording step of performing recording using the determined recording agent, and recording an image of substantially uniform density in a predetermined second recording area different from the first recording area on the recording medium. The second recording step of performing recording by using all of the plurality of recording agents whose use is determined in advance.

[0023]

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the recording head 2 is mounted on a carriage (not shown). The recording heads 2 are arranged in a line in a predetermined direction as shown in FIG.
It is configured to have four nozzle rows 2a. Also,
The recording head 2 is a recording head which has an ejection energy generating means and ejects ink onto a recording medium facing the nozzle row 2a to perform recording. Further, the recording head 2 is supplied with a drive signal for ejecting ink through a flexible insulating belt (not shown) having a large number of conducting wires.

Each nozzle row 2a has 360 dpi (dot /
(Inch) dot density is arranged. Further, each nozzle row 2a is provided with a plurality of ink tank groups 4 that supply a plurality of inks having different densities. In addition, in the ink tank group 4 of the first embodiment, the black inks having different densities are sequentially inks D1 and D.
2. Ink D3 and ink D4 are filled.

The recording head 2 mounted on a carriage (not shown) is slidably guided and supported by a guide shaft 3. Then, the carriage motor 7 is driven through the drive belt 6 so that the carriage motor 7 can reciprocate along the guide shaft 3. Further, the recording medium is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction by a conveying roller 8 and a paper discharge roller 9 which are driven by a conveying motor (not shown), and is moved from the recording head 2 as the recording head 2 moves in the main scanning direction. An image is recorded with the ejected ink of each density.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a blade as a wiping member, one end of which is held by a blade holding member to be a fixed end, which is in the form of a cantilever. Blade 1
0 is arranged by the recording head 2 adjacent to the recording area, and in the case of the present invention, 0 is held in a protruding form in the movement path of the recording head 2. 11 is a cap part,
Arranged at the home position adjacent to the blade 10,
The recording head 2 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction to come into contact with the nozzle row 2a to perform capping. Further, reference numeral 12 denotes an ink absorber provided adjacent to the blade 10, and like the blade 10, is held in a form protruding in the movement path of the recording head 2. The blade 10, the cap 11, and the ink absorber 12 make up the ejection recovery unit 13
The blade 10 and the ink absorber 12 remove water, dust, and the like on the ejection port surface. Preliminary ejection is performed by the ejection recovery unit 13 to stabilize the ink ejection characteristics of the recording head 2.

Further, in the above structure, when the recording head 2 returns to the home position after recording is completed, the ejection recovery unit 1
The cap 11 of 3 is retracted from the movement path of the recording head 2, but the blade 10 is projected in the movement path.
As a result, the nozzle row 2a of the recording head 2 is wiped. The cap 11 is the nozzle row 2a of the recording head 2.
When capping is performed by contacting with the cap 11, the cap 11 moves so as to project into the moving path of the recording head 2. Further, when the recording head 2 moves from the home position to the recording start position, the cap 11 and the blade 10 are at the same position as the above-mentioned position at the time of wiping. As a result, the nozzle row 2a of the recording head 2 is wiped even during this movement.

As the recording medium used in the first embodiment,
An inkjet recording device BJC-60 having a dot density of 360 dpi as a recording device using a reflective recording medium LC201 (trade name: inkjet recording paper manufactured by Canon)
0 (trade name: inkjet printer manufactured by Canon Inc.), and as the recording head 2, a bubble jet printer recording head (orifice diameter 40 × 40 μm × 64 nozzles ×)
4) is used. In addition, each of the inks D1, D2, D3, and D4 filled in the ink tank group 4 has four types of different densities such that the optical reflection density when recorded on a recording medium with an area ratio of 100% is as shown in FIG. Use black ink.

The ink D4 contains BJI-201.
Bk (trade name: Canon ink cartridge black) was used, and the ink D3 was prepared by diluting the ink D4 with water to double dilution, and the ink D2 was prepared by diluting the ink D3 with water to double dilution. The ink D1 is prepared by diluting the ink D2 with water to double dilution. Next, the functional configuration of the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional arrangement of the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, 1
An image input unit 01 inputs an image signal from a computer, a video device, or the like. An operation unit 102 includes various keys for setting various parameters and instructing recording start. 103 is a CPU, which will be described later in ROM1.
The entire recording device is controlled according to various programs stored in 04. A ROM 104 stores a program for controlling the recording device. This ROM 104
A program that multi-values input image data input from the image input unit 101 and generates output image data to be output by the printer unit 107 is stored in the.

Reference numeral 105 denotes an image processing unit, which is a ROM
According to the program stored in 104, the input image data is multivalued to generate output image data. 106 is RAM
It is used as a work area for executing various programs stored in the ROM 104, a temporary save area at the time of error, and a storage area for output image data to be transferred to the printer unit 107. A printer unit 107 forms an image on a recording medium based on output image data. Reference numeral 108 denotes a bus line, which connects the constituent elements of the recording apparatus to each other, and transmits address signals, data, control signals, and the like for controlling the entire recording apparatus between the constituent elements.

Next, the processing executed in the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of processing executed in the first embodiment according to the present invention. The image recorded by the recording apparatus of the first embodiment is composed of an image having a gradation image area B having a predetermined gradation and a background area A which is a substantially solid frame, as shown in FIG. .

First, in step S1, the image input unit 1
Image data is input from 01. The image input unit 101
The input image data input more is represented by, for example, an 8-bit digital value in which the brightest part has 0 value and the darkest part has 255 values, and the resolution of the input image data is 360.
Suppose it is dpi. Next, in step S2, the RAM1
Input image data is accumulated in 06, and pseudo halftone multi-value processing is performed on the input image data. In the first embodiment, the output image data M1 to M4 corresponding to the inks of four types of density are quaternarized by the error diffusion (conditional decision dither) method using the distribution table of four types of dark and light ink shown in FIG. And generate.

The details of the method of generating the output image data will be described below. First, among the pixels of the input image data, the pixel whose pixel value is between 0 and 63 is subjected to binarization processing with 32 as a threshold value. Then, the pixel obtained by the binarization processing is stored in the RAM 106 as the output image data M1. Further, among the pixels of the input image data, the pixel whose pixel value is between 64 and 127 is binarized with 96 as a threshold. Then, the pixel obtained by the binarization process is set as the output image data M2, and the output image data M2 having a pixel value of “0” is stored as the pixel of the output image data M1.

Of the pixels of the input image data, the number of pixels whose pixel value is between 128 and 191 is 160.
Binarization processing is performed using the value as a threshold. Pixels obtained by the binarization process are output image data M3, and those of the output image data M3 having a pixel value of "0" are stored as pixels of the output image data M2. In addition, the pixel value of each pixel of the input image data is 2 from the 192 value.
Pixels between 55 values are binarized using 224 values as a threshold. Pixels obtained by the binarization process are output image data M4, and those of the output image data M4 having a pixel value of "0" are stored as pixels of the output image data M3.

By the above method, four types of output image data are generated according to the distribution table shown in FIG. 6 for the pseudo halftone multi-value processing. Regarding the four types of generated output image data, the output image data M1 uses the ink D1, the output image data M2 is the ink D2, the output image data M3 is the ink D3, and the output image data M4 is the ink D4.
Is used. As the recording medium, for example, an OHP sheet (CA101: Canon inkjet OHP sheet) which is a transparent recording medium is used.

In step S3, the background area A and the gradation image area B are determined based on the generated output image data. For example, the area in which the output image data corresponding to the area printed by the scan of the recording head 2 within the predetermined time is only the output image data M4 is determined as the background area A. On the other hand, a gradation image area B is an area where output image data corresponding to an area printed by scanning of the print head 2 within a predetermined time is mixed with output image data M1 to M4.

When the recording positions of the background area A and the gradation image area B are determined in advance as in the first embodiment, the process in step 3 is not necessary. In this case, the recording device may be controlled based on the predetermined recording positions of the background area A and the gradation image area B. In step S4, the background area A is recorded using the inks D1 to D4 of all the densities of the ink tank group 4 mounted on the recording head 2. In this case, ink D1
The recording by D3 is a preliminary ejection operation. Further, the gradation image area B is recorded based on the corresponding output image data. As a result, an image as shown in FIG. 7 is formed.

Here, a comparison between an image recorded by the recording apparatus of the present invention and an image recorded by the conventional recording apparatus is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image based on each output image data recorded by a conventional recording device. Figure 8 (a)
Each of (d) shows an image recorded based on each of the output image data M1 to M4 generated in step S2. Then, by overlappingly recording these images, an image based on the input image data to be originally recorded is formed.

As shown in FIG. 8, in the conventional recording apparatus,
Based on the output image data generated in step S2,
Since the image is recorded, the output field image data corresponding to the background area A having a constant density is, for example, the output image data M4.
It will only be. Therefore, the recording device outputs the output image data M4.
Only the ink D4 corresponding to the background area A is used.
To record. That is, printing is not performed on the background area A using the inks D1 to D3 corresponding to the output image data M1 to M3.

When such recording is performed, as described in the above-mentioned conventional technique, a phenomenon in which the density of the recording dots is seen to be high at the recording start position in the main scanning direction of the gradation image area B occurs, and the image quality is improved. Was being lowered. Further, streaks were generated in the background area A in the main scanning direction. on the other hand,
In the recording apparatus of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D, recording on the background area A is performed by outputting each output image data M1.
Recording is performed using all the inks D1 to D4 corresponding to M4 to M4.

When such recording is performed, an image can be recorded with recording dots of stable density from the recording start position in the main scanning direction of the gradation image area B. Further, since the background area A is recorded with the dark and light inks of all the densities filled in the ink tank group 4 mounted on the recording head 2 as a result, the background area A having a higher density is obtained.
Could be formed. As a result, the boundary between the background area A and the gradation image area B can be made more visible, and the observation of the gradation image area B can be made useful.

Furthermore, since the background area A is recorded with a plurality of types of ink, it is possible to make streaks in the main scanning direction inconspicuous. As described above, according to the first embodiment,
Since the recording on the background area A is performed using all the inks filled in the ink tank group 2, the background area A and the gradation image area B can be recorded with good image quality. [Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment, an image in which the background area A becomes a substantially solid frame is recorded, but it is also possible to record an image in which the background area A becomes a halftone (see FIG. 10).

In this case, by appropriately changing the ejection ratio of the ink having a low density, the same effect as that obtained in the first embodiment can be obtained. As a method of recording an image having a halftone, for example, the background area A may be ink D
1. Ink D2 performs printing (so-called multi-pass printing) using a houndstooth check pattern and an inverse houndstooth check pattern with an area ratio of 50%. Ink D3 and ink D4 also use a houndstooth check pattern and an inverse houndstooth check pattern with an area ratio of 50%. Make a record to use.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained even when the background area A is an image having halftone. [Third Embodiment] The present invention can also be applied to the case where a color image is recorded in the gradation image area B.
In this case, the ink cartridge group 2 has the inks D1 to D
Instead of 4, C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) inks are filled.

Conventionally, the background area A is recorded with K (black) ink, and the gradation image area B is C (cyan),
Since a color image was recorded using M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K inks, a phenomenon in which the density of the recording dots was seen to be high at the recording start position in the main scanning direction of the gradation image area B occurred and the image quality was improved. Had lowered. Further, streaks were generated in the background area A in the main scanning direction.

Therefore, in the present invention, the same effect as that obtained in the first embodiment can be obtained by recording the background area A using the CMY ink as well as the K ink in the background area A. Further, if a plurality of inks having different densities are prepared for each of CMYK inks, it is possible to apply it to a color gradation image. As described above, according to the third embodiment, even when the image recording the gradation image area B is a color image, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

As described above, according to the first to third embodiments, the gradation image area B to be recorded at a predetermined gradation and the background area A which is a substantially solid frame in addition to the gradation image area B are provided. In the recording of an image, particularly in the background area A, conventionally,
By recording the background area A by the preliminary ejection operation of the ink not used for recording the background area A, the density of the recording dots at the recording start position in the main scanning direction of the gradation image area B becomes unstable. The phenomenon can be drastically reduced, and a high-quality image can be recorded.

Further, by performing the preliminary ejection of the above-described ink on the background area A as described above, it is possible to obtain the effect of reducing the streaks of the background area A in the main scanning direction. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to gradation recording using black and dark ink but also to color recording. The present embodiment is provided with a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the inkjet recording system, and the ink is generated by the thermal energy. If a method of causing the state change is used, it is possible to achieve high density recording and high definition recording.

With regard to its typical structure and principle, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740 are applicable.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal to the electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which the liquid crystal is held, which corresponds to the recorded information and gives a rapid temperature rise exceeding the film boiling. Since the electrothermal converter is caused to generate heat energy to cause film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, as a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to the drive signal in a one-to-one relationship can be formed. It is valid. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. When the drive signal has a pulse shape, the growth and contraction of the bubbles are immediately and appropriately performed, so that it is possible to achieve the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise on the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed. As the structure of the recording head, in addition to the combination structure (straight liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) of the ejection port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications, a heat acting surface is also provided. A configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which is arranged in a bending region, is also included in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Sho 5-5 discloses a configuration in which a common slot for a plurality of electrothermal converters is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converters.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-123670 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 5 (1993) -58
The configuration may be based on Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-138461.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium which can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length can be increased by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification. Either of the structure satisfying the requirement or the structure as one recording head integrally formed may be used. In addition, the ink is integrated into the replaceable chip-type recording head, or the recording head itself, which can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can supply ink from the apparatus main body by being attached to the apparatus main body. A cartridge-type recording head provided with a tank may be used.

Further, in order to further stabilize the recording operation of the recording head provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus of this embodiment, it is preferable to add a preliminary auxiliary means or the like. Specific examples thereof include a pressurizing or sucking means for the recording head, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a preheating means by a combination thereof. Furthermore, provision of a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection other than recording is also effective for performing stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, but the recording head may be integrally formed or a plurality of combinations may be used. Alternatively, the device may be provided with at least one of full-color mixed colors. As described above, in the present embodiment, the description is made on the assumption that the ink is a liquid, but even an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower, one that softens or liquefies at room temperature is used. Or, in the ink jet system, it is general that the temperature of the ink itself is adjusted within a range of 30 ° C. or higher and 70 ° C. or lower to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. It suffices that the ink is in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature increase due to thermal energy from being used as the energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or to prevent the evaporation of the ink, the ink is solidified in a standing state. An ink that is liquefied by heating may be used. In any case, by applying heat energy, such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and liquid ink is ejected, or that begins to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The present invention can be applied to the case where an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time is used. In such a case, the ink is retained as a liquid or solid in the recesses or through holes of the porous sheet as described in JP-A-54-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, It may be configured to face the electrothermal converter. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to one provided integrally or separately as an image output terminal of information processing equipment such as a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader or the like, and further transmission / reception It may take the form of a facsimile machine having a function.
Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), a device including one device (for example, a copying machine, a facsimile device, etc.) May be applied to.

Further, an object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium having a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or apparatus, and to supply a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
It is needless to say that it can be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk,
A CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, a ROM or the like can be used. Further, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by executing the program code read by the computer, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instructions of the program code.
Needless to say, this also includes the case where the above-mentioned processes perform some or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory provided in the function expansion board inserted into the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is read based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the CPU or the like included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is also included.

[0062]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A recording apparatus and a recording method capable of recording an image having a substantially uniform image area and a gradation image area with good image quality can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recording head according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing types of ink according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing flow of processing executed in the first embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a distribution table according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an image recorded by the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an image based on each output image data recorded by a conventional recording device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an image based on each output image data recorded by the recording apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an image recorded by a recording device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a conventional distribution table.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 recording head 3 Guide shaft 4 ink cartridge group 6 drive belt 7 Carriage motor 8 Conveyor rollers 9 Paper ejection roller 10 blades 11 Cap section 12 Ink absorber 13 Discharge recovery unit 101 Image input section 102 Operation unit 103 CPU 104 ROM 105 image processing unit 106 RAM 107 printer section 108 bus line

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Hideto Takayama 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Osamu Kaname 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Makoto Shikata 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-8-295035 (JP, A) JP-A-156068 (JP, A) JP-A-3-231859 (JP, A) JP-A-8-307068 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/52 B41J 2 / 21 G06F 3/12

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium using a recording head for ejecting a plurality of recording agents having different densities for two or more similar colors, the recording apparatus having a predetermined size on the recording medium. When recording a gradation image represented by a predetermined gradation number in the first recording area, a recording agent to be used is determined from the plurality of recording agents according to the density level of the image data corresponding to the gradation image. A first recording unit that performs recording using the determined recording agent, and an image having a substantially uniform density is recorded in a predetermined second recording area different from the first recording area on the recording medium. In doing so, a recording apparatus comprising: a second recording unit that performs recording by using all of the plurality of recording agents whose use is determined in advance. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second recording area is located around the first recording area. 3. The recording material is a black-based recording material, and the second recording area is an area filled with all of the black-based recording material. Item 2. The recording device according to item 1 or 2. 4. When determining a recording material to be used according to a density level of image data corresponding to the gradation image,
When the density level of the image data is the highest density level,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein only the recording agent having the highest concentration is selected from the plurality of recording agents as the recording agent to be used. 5. The recording material is ink, and the recording head is an ink jet recording head that performs recording by ejecting a plurality of inks of two or more different densities with respect to the same color. The recording apparatus according to any one of 1 to 4. 6. A recording method for recording on a recording medium by using a recording head for ejecting a plurality of recording agents having different densities for two or more similar colors, the recording method being predetermined on the recording medium. When recording a gradation image represented by a predetermined gradation number in the first recording area, a recording agent to be used is determined from the plurality of recording agents according to the density level of the image data corresponding to the gradation image. A first recording step in which recording is performed using the determined recording material, and an image having a substantially uniform density is recorded in a predetermined second recording area different from the first recording area on the recording medium. In doing so, a second recording step of performing recording using all of the plurality of recording agents whose use has been decided in advance, and a recording method comprising: 7. The recording method according to claim 6, wherein the second recording area is located around the first recording area. 8. The plurality of recording materials are black recording materials, and the second recording area is an area where all of the black recording materials are used and filled. The recording method according to Item 6 or 7. 9. When determining a recording material to be used according to the density level of image data corresponding to the gradation image,
When the density level of the image data is the highest density level,
9. The recording method according to claim 6, wherein only the recording agent with the highest concentration is selected from the plurality of recording agents as the recording agent to be used. 10. The recording material is ink, and the recording head is an ink jet recording head that performs recording by ejecting a plurality of inks having different densities of two or more for the same color. The recording method according to any one of 6 to 9.