JPH07256883A - Recording head, as well as recording method and device using the recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recording head capable of accurate driving of a recording head by reducing a burden on a control circuit. CONSTITUTION:In a recording head having a heating element to drive recording elements, and a circuit which passes a current to the heating element in response to recording data to performs recording, an input terminal to input data to fix a pulse width to pass a current to the heating element is provided, and data to determine a pulse width to be inputted from the input terminal are stored once in a shift resistor, and is latched in a latch circuit 202 of a pulse generating circuit. A counter 201 inputs clock signals, and counts them, a width of a pulse to energize the heating element is determined depending on a counted value by the counter 201 and data stored in the latch circuit 202.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording head having a plurality of recording elements, a recording method using the recording head, and an apparatus thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The ink jet (liquid jet) recording method is
The generation of noise at the time of recording is extremely small to a negligible level, high-speed recording is possible, and a special process of fixing ink or the like on so-called plain paper is not required. It is a recording method.

Among them, for example, JP-A-54-5183
The liquid jet recording method described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 7 and German Publication (DOLS) No. 2843064 discloses another liquid jet recording method in that thermal energy is applied to the liquid to obtain a driving force for droplet ejection. It has different characteristics from the recording method. That is, in the recording method disclosed in the above publication,
The liquid subjected to the action of thermal energy undergoes a state change accompanied by a sharp increase in volume, and the action based on the state change causes the liquid to be ejected from the orifice at the tip of the recording head portion to form flying droplets. The droplets adhere to the recording member and recording is performed. In particular, the liquid jet recording method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2843064 is not only very effectively applied to the so-called drop-on-demand recording method, but also the recording head is a full line type, Since the recording head section having a multi-orifice at a high density can be easily embodied, it has a feature that an image of high resolution and high quality can be obtained at high speed.

The recording head portion of the apparatus applied to the above-mentioned recording method communicates with an orifice provided for ejecting liquid, and thermal energy for ejecting droplets acts on the liquid while communicating with the orifice. And a liquid discharge part having a liquid flow path having a heat acting part as a part thereof, and a base body of a recording head including an electrothermal converter (heating element) as means for generating thermal energy. I have it.

In recent years, in such a substrate for a recording head, not only a plurality of heating elements are formed on the substrate, but also drivers for driving the heating elements and image data input in series to the drivers respectively. A shift register having the same number of bits as the heating element for sending in parallel and a latch circuit for temporarily storing the data output from the shift register are formed in the same substrate.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration example of a conventional recording head section.

In the figure, 900 indicates a head substrate,
Reference numeral 901 is a heating element (resistor), and 902 is a power transistor for controlling energization to the heating element 901. A latch circuit 903 latches the recording data in synchronization with the latch clock 907. A shift register 904 inputs serial data 906 and a serial clock 905 synchronized with the serial data 906, and latches data of one line. A resistance sensor 914 is a heating element 901 of the base 900.
This is a sensor for monitoring the resistance value of. 905-9
Reference numeral 13 denotes an input / output terminal. Reference numeral 908 denotes a drive pulse width input (heat pulse) terminal 908 for controlling the ON time of the power transistor 902, that is, the time to drive the heating element 901 by supplying a current. , Driving power source (5V) terminal 909 of logic circuit, ground terminal 91
0, there is an input terminal 911 of the driving power source for the heating element 902.
Reference numeral 912 is a terminal for driving and monitoring the sensor 914.

In the above configuration, the serially input print data is stored in the shift register 904 and latched in the latch circuit 903 by the latch signal. In this state, when a heat pulse is input from the terminal 908, the transistor 902 is turned on according to the print data, a current flows through the corresponding heating element 901, the ink in the liquid flow path is heated, and the nozzle tip is heated. It is ejected as a droplet.

Considering the energy required for bubbling the liquid in the heating element 901, if the heat radiation condition is constant, the energy is the input energy per unit area required by the heating element and the energy of the heating element. Expressed as the product of areas. Thus, the voltage applied to both ends of the heating element 901, the current flowing through the heating element 901, and the time (pulse width) may be set to values that can obtain the required energy. The voltage applied to the heating element can be kept substantially constant by supplying the voltage from the power source of the printer body. On the other hand, regarding the current flowing through the heating element 901, the resistance value of the heating element varies depending on the lot or the substrate due to variations in the film thickness of the heating element during the manufacturing process of the substrate. Therefore, when the applied pulse width is constant and the resistance value of the heating element is larger than the set value, the flowing current value becomes small and the amount of energy input to the heating element becomes insufficient, so that the ink is properly Cannot be foamed. On the contrary, when the resistance of the heating element decreases, the current value becomes larger than the set value even if the same voltage is applied. In this case, excessive energy is generated by the heating element, which may lead to burnout or a short life of the heating element. To deal with this, the sensor 91
4, there is a method of constantly monitoring the resistance value of the heating element 901 and changing the power supply voltage or the heat pulse width according to the value so that a substantially constant energy is applied to the heating element 901.

Next, when considering the ejection amount of the ejected ink droplets, the ejection amount mainly relates to the bubbling volume of the ink. Since the bubble volume of the ink changes depending on the temperature of the heating element and the surroundings, before applying the heat pulse for ink ejection, a pulse of small energy (pre-heat pulse) that does not eject ink is added, By changing the pulse width of the preheat pulse and the output timing thereof, the temperature of the heating element and the surroundings is adjusted, and a fixed amount of ink droplets are ejected to maintain the print quality.

[0011]

The correction of the variation in the resistance value of the heating element and the control of the temperature of the substrate are carried out by feeding back the signal from the temperature sensor to the width of the heat pulse, the width of the preheat pulse, This can be done by outputting a heat signal with the timing of these heat pulses changed. However, in addition to the above, due to variations in the area of the orifice opening in manufacturing, variations in the film thickness of the protective film on the heating element, and the like, variations in the ejection amount occur from nozzle to nozzle, which results in density This leads to unevenness, streaks, etc., and it is necessary to control the ejection amount in each nozzle or in several nozzles. Furthermore, with the increase in the number of nozzles, when a plurality of recording head substrates are arranged to form a multi-nozzle inkjet recording head, the resistance value differs depending on the substrate. Therefore, the heat pulse for ejecting ink is changed for each substrate, and the energy to be applied is changed. You also have to match. That is, in the case of a recording head composed of a plurality of bases, the density difference between the bases becomes conspicuous in addition to the above-mentioned orifice area. Is even more important than when it is alone.

When the control circuit controlling the printer device controls the temperature sensor 914 while constantly monitoring the resistance value of the temperature sensor 914, noise is included in the signal line from the sensor due to external noise, etc., and accurate control can be performed. There is a possibility that it may be eliminated, or the work of determining the pulse width while monitoring the output of such a sensor is a burden on the CPU and there is a problem that the printing speed is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording head which can reduce the load on the control circuit and can drive the recording head with high accuracy to perform recording.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording head which can be energized by changing the pulse width by reducing the amount of processing on the recording apparatus side.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a recording method and apparatus capable of correcting and recording variations in recording elements.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording method and apparatus for recording by adjusting the recording characteristics due to the variation of the resistance value of the current carrying body with a heat pulse.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording head which detects variations in recording characteristics of the recording head and automatically changes the pulse width of a heat pulse for recording, and a recording method and apparatus.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above object, the recording head of the present invention has the following structure. That is, a recording head including an electric conductor for driving a plurality of recording elements and a circuit for energizing the electric conductor according to recording data to perform recording, wherein a pulse width for energizing the electric conductor is determined. Input terminal for inputting data, storage means for storing data for determining the pulse width input from the input terminal, counting means for inputting and counting a clock signal, count value by the counting means, and And an energizing means for energizing the current-carrying body according to the data stored in the storage means.

In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, it is a recording device for recording an image on a recording medium by electrically driving a recording head,
The recording head determines an electric conductor for driving a plurality of recording elements, an input terminal for inputting data for determining a pulse width for energizing the electric conductor, and the pulse width input from the input terminal. Storage means for storing data,
A counting means for inputting and counting a clock signal, and an energizing means for energizing the current-carrying body according to the count value by the counting means and the data stored in the storage means,
Characteristic information storage means for storing recording characteristics of recording elements of the recording head, transfer means for determining the data based on the recording characteristics stored in the characteristic information storage means and transferring the data to the recording head, and image data According to the above, there is a recording energizing means for outputting a clock signal to the counting means when energizing the energizing body of the recording head for recording.

In order to achieve the above object, the recording method of the present invention comprises the following steps. That is, a recording method of energizing the recording head according to claim 2 to record an image on a recording medium, wherein a plurality of data indicating the pulse width is transferred to the recording head and stored in the storage means. And a step of outputting a predetermined number of clock signals when conducting recording by energizing the current-carrying body of the recording head according to image data.

[0021]

With the above arrangement, the recording head of the present invention is
The pulse width data for energizing the current-carrying body is stored, and at the time of actual image recording, the current can be energized with a desired pulse width by giving a predetermined number of clock signals.

Further, the recording head of the present invention automatically detects the resistance value or temperature of the current-carrying body and automatically determines the current-carrying pulse width for recording an image in accordance with the detected resistance value or temperature. You can select and record.

According to the recording method and apparatus of the present invention,
By determining the pulse width for energizing the recording head and transferring it to the recording head and storing it in advance, energization can be performed only by outputting a clock signal during actual image recording.

Further, according to the present invention, a plurality of data for determining the energization pulse width are transferred and stored in the recording head, so that the energization pulse width at the time of actual image recording can be set to the resistance value of the current carrying member or It can be automatically determined and recorded according to the temperature.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, before explaining the present embodiment,
A configuration example of a printer using the recording head of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA to which the present invention can be applied. In the figure, the carriage HC that engages with the spiral groove 5004 of the lead screw 5005 that rotates via the driving force transmission gears 5011 and 5009 in conjunction with the forward / reverse rotation of the drive motor 5013 has pins (not shown). Then, it is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a and b. An inkjet cartridge IJC is mounted on the carriage HC. A paper pressing plate 5002 presses the paper against the platen 5000 in the moving direction of the carriage HC. Reference numerals 5007 and 5008 denote photocouplers, which are home position detecting means for confirming the presence of the carriage lever 5006 in this area and switching the rotation direction of the motor 5013. 5
Reference numeral 016 is a member that supports a cap member 5022 that caps the front surface of the recording head IJH. Reference numeral 5015 is a suction unit that sucks the inside of the cap, which is an opening 5023 in the cap.
The suction recovery of the recording head IJH is performed via the. 5017
Is a cleaning blade, and 5019 is a member for moving this blade in the front-back direction.
These are supported by 18. Needless to say, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied to this example instead of this form. Reference numeral 5012 denotes a lever for starting suction for suction recovery, which moves in accordance with the movement of the cam 5020 that engages with the carriage, and the movement of the driving force from the driving motor is controlled by a known transmission means such as clutch switching. To be done.

The capping, cleaning, and suction recovery are configured so that the desired processing can be performed at their corresponding positions by the action of the lead screw 5005 when the carriage HC reaches the area on the home position side. Any desired operation can be applied to the present example if the desired operation is performed at the timing.

<Description of Control Configuration> Next, a control configuration for executing the recording control of the above-mentioned apparatus will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. In the figure showing a control circuit, 1700 is an interface for inputting a recording signal, 1701 is an MPU, 1702 is a program ROM for storing a control program executed by the MPU 1701,
1703 is a dynamic type R for storing various data (recording data, recording data supplied to the head, etc.).
AM. A gate array 1704 controls supply of print data to the print head IJH, and also controls data transfer between the interface 1700, the MPU 1701, and the RAM 1703. 5013 is a recording head IJH
1709 is a carrier motor for carrying the recording paper, and 1709 is a carrying motor for carrying the recording paper. Reference numerals 1706 and 1707 denote motor drivers for driving the carry motor 1709 and the carrier motor 5013, respectively. Reference numeral 1711 is a signal line for monitoring the base sensor 914, and 1712 is a signal line including a preheat pulse, a latch signal, a heat pulse (main heat pulse) signal, and the like.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of the substrate 100 of the recording head IJH of this embodiment.

In FIG. 4, a flow path wall member 401 for forming a liquid path 405 communicating with a plurality of discharge ports 400,
A top plate 402 having an ink supply port 403 is attached. Here, the ink injected from the ink supply port 403 is stored in the common liquid chamber 404 inside, and each liquid passage 40
5 is supplied. In that state, the heating element 901 of the base body 100
Further, by energizing according to the print data, ink is ejected from the ejection port 400 and printing is performed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of a substrate 100 of a recording head IJH of an ink jet recording apparatus IJRA of this embodiment, which is common to the configuration of the substrate 900 of the conventional recording head shown in FIG. Are indicated by the same numbers.

Here, 100 is the recording head I of this embodiment.
JH substrate, 101 is a heat pulse generation circuit for determining a heat width, which will be described later with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, 90
Reference numeral 3 is a latch circuit for latching recording data.
Reference numeral 904 denotes a shift register which serially inputs and holds recording data or data for determining a heat pulse width in synchronization with a shift clock 905. 103 is a terminal for inputting a clock signal for determining the heat pulse width, 1
Reference numeral 04 is a latch clock for latching the data from the shift register 904 in the heat pulse generation circuit 101.

FIG. 2 shows a heat pulse generation circuit 1 of this embodiment.
01 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration of 01, and here, a circuit for generating a heat pulse signal for a heating element in units of 8 is shown.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a counter, here a 4-bit counter for inputting and counting the clock signal 103. Reference numeral 202 denotes an 8-bit latch circuit, which inputs and latches data for determining heat pulses for eight heating elements from the shift register 904. 20
Reference numerals 3 and 204 are comparators, which compare the output of the counter 201 with the output of the latch circuit 202 and output a pulse signal when they match. A set / reset type flip-flop 205 is set by the output of the comparator 203 and reset by the output of the OR circuit 207.

Reference numeral 210 is rising data input from the shift register 904, and reference numeral 211 is falling data input from the shift register 904. In the example of FIG. 3, the rising data is, for example, “0010 (binary number)” and the falling data is, for example, “1011 (2)”.
As a result, after the counter 201 starts counting by the clock signal 103 and the output value thereof coincides with the value of the rising data, the comparator 2
The output of 03 becomes high level, and the flip-flop 20
The Q output of 5 becomes high level (timing T1). Further, when the counter 201 performs counting and the output value thereof matches the falling data, the output of the comparator 204 becomes high level and the flip-flop 205 is reset (timing T2). As a result, heat pulse signals for eight heating elements 902 are generated and output.

In this embodiment, the heat pulse width is set in units of a predetermined number of heating elements 902, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the latch circuit 202 of FIG. By configuring and inputting 1-bit data from the shift register 904 a total of 8 times and latching the data, the heat pulse width can be determined for each heating element unit. In this case, the number of latch clocks 104 is required according to the number of stages. Further, in the circuit of FIG. 2, in order to prevent malfunction of the heat pulse generation circuit 101, it is preferable to provide a reset signal input terminal for inputting a reset signal input from the MPU 1701. The reset signal resets the counter 201 and the flip-flop 205.

In the present embodiment, the counter 201 has 4 bits, but the number of bits of the counter can be appropriately determined depending on the pulse width of the heat pulse signal to be generated, the timing resolution, the frequency of the clock 103, and the like. Further, when it is desired to generate a plurality of heat pulse signals having different resolutions, and when the number of pulses (the number of bits of the counter 201) that is required increases when the resolution is adjusted to a fine resolution, a plurality of clock signals 103 are used to reduce the frequency of each. By generating different signals and combining them, it is possible to generate heat pulse signals with different resolutions without increasing the number of bits.

The heat pulse generation circuit 101
May be built in and provided on the substrate of the base of the recording head, or may be formed as an IC circuit and mounted on the substrate. Further, the circuit of the present embodiment can be applied to a case where all the heating elements are not driven at the same time and are driven separately in order to suppress an increase in power supply capacity.

The operation based on the above configuration will be described.

First, after the power source of the apparatus is turned on, the ink discharge amount characteristics (predetermined pulse application at a constant temperature at a constant temperature, which is measured in advance, from each discharge port (heating element) corresponding to the substrate of the recording head is measured in advance. The heat pulse width of each heating element is determined according to the ink ejection amount). The rising and falling data for determining the heat pulse width corresponding to each determined ejection port is transferred to the shift register 904 in synchronization with the shift clock 905. After that, the latch clock 907 is output to latch the rising and falling data of the shift register 904 in the latch circuit 202 of the heat pulse generation circuit 101. The ink ejection amount characteristic of the substrate described above may be stored in, for example, a memory on the substrate of the substrate of the recording head, or may be stored in the ROM 1702 or the RAM 1703. When recording is actually performed in this manner, the clock signal 103 is output in 16 pulses when the counter 201 has 4 bits, for example. As a result, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 3, the heat pulse width is determined according to the rising and falling data, and the heating element 901 is driven to generate heat.

Recording head IJH having the structure described above
By attaching the above to the main body of the inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment and applying a recording signal to the recording head IJH, an inkjet recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording and high-quality recording can be obtained.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processing from power-on to the end of printing one page in the ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment. The control program for executing this processing is stored in the ROM 1702, and the MPU 1
701 is executed.

The process of FIG. 7 is started by turning on the power of the apparatus. First, in step S1, the recording head IJH is started.
The resistance value of the heating element of the base body and the ink ejection amount characteristic from each nozzle (ejection port) of the base body are read out and read out in RAM1.
703. The resistance value of the heating element is detected by the resistance sensor 914, and the ink ejection amount characteristic of each nozzle is provided, for example, on each of the base bodies of the recording head.
For example, it may be stored in a memory or the like. Next, in step S3, the rising and falling data described above is determined according to the resistance value of the heating element of the base and the ink ejection amount characteristic, and the data is serially transferred to the shift register 904 of the base of the recording head. It is latched in the latch circuit 202 of the heat pulse generation circuit 101 of the substrate. Here, when the latch circuit 202 is configured in multiple stages, a latch signal and a select signal (these are input together) are output for each stage and latched in the latch circuit 202.

Next, in step S4, it is checked whether or not print data is input from an external device (host computer) not shown via the interface 1700. When print data is input, the flow advances to step S5 to receive the print data. Is stored in the RAM 1703. And step S
In step 6, it is checked whether printing of one line can be started. If not, step S4
To start printing, the process proceeds to step S7.

In step S7, the recording data recorded in the first column is serially transferred to the shift register 904. Next, in step S8, the recording data for one line is latched in the latch circuit 903 in the substrate,
It is output to the AND gate circuit. Then, in step S8, 16 pulses of the clock signal 103 are output in this embodiment. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the pulse width of the heat pulse is determined according to the rising and falling data, and the heating element 901 of the recording head is energized (heated). In this way, actual image recording is performed.

Even during the heat treatment for the actual recording, data reception from the host computer,
Further, the print data of the next column is being transferred to the shift register 904 of the substrate. Further, in step S8, instead of energizing all the heating elements at the same time, the heating elements may be dividedly driven and energized at different times. By doing so, the power supply capacity of the device can be reduced. Then, in step S9, it is checked whether or not the recording of one line is completed, and when the recording of one line is not completed, the process returns to step S7 and the above-described processing is executed.

When the recording process for one line is completed in this way, the process proceeds from step S9 to step S10, and the conveyance motor 1
709 is rotationally driven to convey the recording paper by one line in the sub-scanning direction, and in step S11, it is determined whether or not recording of one page is completed. If not completed, the process returns to step S6 to move to the next line. Check if reception of the recorded data of is completed. When the recording of the image of one page is completed by repeating the above operation, the recording process is completed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the width of the heat pulse can be changed with a simple structure,
At the time of actually outputting the heat pulse (at the time of recording the image), it is sufficient to simply output the clock signal 103.
There is an effect that the burden on 1701 can be reduced. In this embodiment, the value of the sensor 914 is detected only at the beginning of the recording process of one line, but it may be performed at each energization.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the structure of the substrate of the recording head according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The parts common to those in the above-mentioned embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals, and their description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, the heat pulse generation circuit 3
01 obtains the resistance characteristic of the heating element 901 by the sensor 914 and automatically selects an appropriate pulse width to generate the heating element 90.
1 is driven.

In FIG. 8, the heat pulse generation circuit 30
1 inputs and latches rising data and falling data as in the above-described embodiment. However, this heat pulse generation circuit 301 inputs and latches a plurality of types of falling data, detects the resistance value of the resistance value sensor 914 directly connected, and outputs a pulse width (falling edge) according to the resistance value. The point that data) is selected is the difference from the above-mentioned embodiment. The resistance sensor 91
No. 4 is formed on the substrate at the same time as the heating elements 901, and faithfully reflects the resistance characteristics of these heating elements 901.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a partial structure of the heat pulse generating circuit 301 of the second embodiment. The operation will be described below with reference to this drawing.

In FIG. 9, 330 is the counter 2 described above.
The counter is the same as 01, and is a 4-bit counter here. Reference numerals 331 to 334 are comparators similar to the comparator 203 of the above-described embodiment, which compare the output value of the counter 330 with the rising and falling data latched by the latch circuit 335, and when they match, generate a high-level match signal. It is outputting. Reference numeral 336 is a flip-flop similar to the above-mentioned flip-flop 205, which determines the pulse width of the heat pulse signal. Again 337
Is a selection circuit for selecting the falling timing (that is, pulse width) of the heat pulse. A window comparator 338 determines the falling timing selected by the selection circuit 337 according to the voltage level output from the amplifier / current source 339.

That is, depending on the resistance value of the resistance value sensor 914, any one of the fall timings of the pulse signals based on the plurality of set fall data is selected.
Selected by 37. Accordingly, it is possible to realize driving of the heating element with a heat pulse width according to the resistance value of the heating element 901.

Also in this embodiment, similarly to the above-mentioned embodiments, the latch circuit 335 is constituted by a plurality of stages, and by inputting each in the form of 1-bit data, the pulse width corresponding to one heating element is obtained. Can be set.

In the above description, the sensor 914 has been described as a resistance value sensor, but it may be a temperature sensor such as a thermistor. In this case, the temperature of the base body or the degree of heat storage of the heating element is detected, and the sensor is used. According to this, it is possible to realize appropriate recording control (energization control), and it is possible to obtain a higher quality recorded image.

As the processing of the MPU 1701 in this case, step S in the flowchart of FIG.
The process of reading the value of the sensor 914 in 1 becomes unnecessary,
Further, in step S3, a plurality of types of falling data may be set in advance, and the subsequent steps can be performed in exactly the same manner as the above-described embodiment.

As described above, according to the second embodiment,
Since the control by the MPU 1701 is not required, there is an effect that the load on the control unit can be reduced. Further, it is important to provide a plurality of these sensors to monitor the resistance value and the temperature of each part, but even in such a case, the load on the control circuit due to the increase in the number of sensors is eliminated, so that it is possible to perform real-time measurement. Processing becomes possible.

In the above embodiment, the MPU 1701 is used to cope with the resistance value or the temperature which changes with time.
Processing has become enormous, but in this second embodiment M
It is possible to deal with the temperature change of the heating element in real time without increasing the load on the PU 1701.

Further, since no cable or connector for connecting to the outside is required, the influence of external noise can be eliminated and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In the above description, an example in which the substrate of the recording head is used in an inkjet recording head has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, it can be applied to a substrate for a thermal head.

The present invention is provided with a means (eg, electrothermal converter or laser light) for generating thermal energy as energy used for ejecting ink, particularly in the ink jet recording system, and the thermal energy The printing apparatus of the type that causes a change in the state of ink has been described. According to such a method, the recording density is increased,
High definition can be achieved.

Regarding its typical structure and principle, see, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
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 heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter to cause film boiling on the heat acting surface of the recording head, air bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal in a one-to-one correspondence 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. It is more preferable to make this drive signal in a pulse shape, because bubbles can be grown and contracted immediately and appropriately, and thus a liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved.

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 constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the discharge port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the linear liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, The present invention also includes configurations using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose configurations in which the heat-acting surface is arranged in a bending region. In addition, for multiple electrothermal converters,
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-123670, which discloses a configuration in which a common slot is used as a discharge portion of the electrothermal converter, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-63, which discloses a configuration in which an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is associated with the discharge portion. A configuration based on Japanese Patent No. 138461 may be used.

Further, as a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that 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, by being attached to the apparatus main body, it can be electrically connected to the apparatus main body and can be supplied with ink from the apparatus main body by a replaceable chip type recording head or the recording head itself. Alternatively, a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank may be used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus of the present invention, because the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. . Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suctioning means for the recording head, preheating means using an electrothermal converter or another heating element or a combination thereof, and recording. It is also effective to perform a stable recording by performing a preliminary discharge mode in which another discharge is performed.

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.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above,
Although the ink is described as a liquid, an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower, or one that softens or liquefies at room temperature may be used, or the ink itself may be 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or more in the inkjet method. In general, the temperature is adjusted within the following range to control the temperature of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in the stable ejection range. Therefore, the ink may be in a liquid state when the use recording signal is applied.

In addition, in order to positively prevent the temperature rise due to thermal energy from being used as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state,
Alternatively, in order to prevent the ink from evaporating, an ink that solidifies in a standing state and liquefies 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.

The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or an apparatus including a single device. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where it is achieved by supplying a program for executing the present invention to a system or an apparatus.

The present invention can be applied not only to the serial type recording head which scans the recording head for recording as in the present embodiment, but also to the line type head.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the ink jet head of the embodiment, but a recording element (nozzle, heating element, etc.) such as a thermal head or a wire dot is made to flow an electric current.
The present invention can also be applied to a recording head of another recording method that drives a recording head and a recording method and apparatus using the recording head.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the data is latched on the substrate for the ink jet recording head in order to determine the pulse width of the heat pulse.
The heat pulse can be automatically determined and the heating element can be energized. Further, since the conventional shift register can be utilized for inputting the data for determining the pulse width, the circuit element for inputting the pulse width data can be omitted, and the increase of the circuit space can be prevented.

Furthermore, since the heat pulse having an arbitrary width can be easily output only by storing the data for determining the heat pulse in the recording head, the ink ejection amount from each nozzle can be easily controlled.

Furthermore, it is possible to provide a long-life recording head and a recording apparatus using the recording head.

[0079]

As described above, according to the present invention, recording can be performed by correcting the energization timing of each recording element without significantly increasing the size of the circuit substrate of the head and reducing the load on the control circuit. .

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform energization drive with less processing on the recording apparatus side.

Further, according to the present invention, the recording characteristic due to the variation in the resistance value of the current carrying member can be adjusted by the heat pulse.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to correct the variation of each recording element and perform recording.

Further, according to the present invention, by recording the recording characteristics due to the variation of the resistance value of the current carrying member by adjusting the heat pulse width, it is possible to obtain a high quality image.

Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that recording can be performed in real time in response to changes in the temperature or resistance value of the recording element without increasing the load on the control circuit.

[0085]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an inkjet recording head substrate used in an inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a heat pulse generation circuit according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a timing diagram showing an operation example in the heat pulse generation circuit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram showing a configuration of a recording head of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view showing a main part of the ink jet recording apparatus of this embodiment.

6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the recording apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a recording process in the inkjet recording apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a substrate of a recording head according to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a partial configuration of a heat pulse generation circuit of the recording head according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a conventional inkjet recording head substrate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100, 300 Recording head substrate 101, 301 Heat pulse generation circuit 201, 330 Counter 202, 903 Latch circuit 203, 204, 331 to 334 Comparator 205, 336 Flip-flop 337 Selection circuit 338 Window comparator 339 Amplifier / current source 901 Heating element 903 Latch circuit 904 Shift register 914 Resistance (temperature) sensor

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masami Ikeda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. A recording head comprising: an electric conductor for driving a plurality of recording elements; and a circuit for energizing the electric conductor according to recording data to perform recording. An input terminal for inputting data for determining a width, a storage unit for storing the data for determining the pulse width input from the input terminal, a counting unit for inputting and counting a clock signal, and a counting unit for counting by the counting unit. A recording head, comprising: an energizing unit that energizes the current-carrying body according to a numerical value and the data stored in the storage unit. 2. A recording head comprising: an electric conductor for driving a plurality of recording elements; and a circuit for energizing the electric conductor according to recording data to perform recording, and a pulse for energizing the electric conductor. An input terminal for inputting data for determining a width; a storage unit for storing a plurality of data for determining the pulse width input from the input terminal; a counting unit for inputting and counting a clock signal; Detecting means for detecting a resistance value or temperature; and selecting one of a plurality of data stored in the storage means according to the count value by the counting means and the resistance value or temperature detected by the detecting means, A recording head, comprising: an energizing unit that energizes an energizing member. 3. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the current-carrying body is a heating resistor. 4. The storage means includes a latch circuit for inputting the data through a shift register for serially inputting and holding the print data and holding the data. The recording head described in 1. 5. The recording head according to claim 1, further comprising a detection unit that detects a resistance value of the electric conductor. 6. The recording head according to claim 1, further comprising temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the electric conductor. 7. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the data includes at least information that defines a fall timing of a pulse signal that energizes the energization body. 8. The recording head according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink. 9. The recording head is a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is provided with a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 8. The recording head according to item 8. 10. A recording device for recording an image on a recording medium by energizing a recording head, wherein the recording head comprises an energizing body for driving a plurality of recording elements, and a pulse energizing the energizing body. An input terminal for inputting data for determining a width, and a storage unit for storing data for determining the pulse width input from the input terminal,
Recording means for inputting a clock signal, counting means for counting, and energizing means for energizing the current-carrying body in accordance with a count value by the counting means and the data stored in the storage means. Characteristic information storage means for storing the recording characteristics of the element, transfer means for determining the data based on the recording characteristics stored in the characteristic information storage means and transferring the data to the recording head, and the recording according to image data A recording energizing means for outputting a clock signal to the counting means when energizing the energizing body of the head for recording. 11. A recording apparatus for energizing the recording head according to claim 2 to record an image on a recording medium, wherein the storage means of the recording head defines a plurality of energizing times for an electric conductor. And a recording energizing unit that outputs a clock signal to the counting unit when energizing the energizing body of the recording head in accordance with image data to perform recording. Recording device. 12. The recording means further comprises a detecting means for detecting a resistance value of the electric conductor, and the recording energizing means determines a pulse width for energizing the electric conductor according to the resistance value. The recording device according to item 10. 13. A temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the electric conductor is further provided, and the recording energizing means determines a pulse width for energizing the electric conductor according to the temperature. The recording device according to 1. 14. The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the current-carrying body is a heating resistor. 15. The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that ejects ink to perform recording. 16. The recording head is a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is provided with a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 15. The recording device according to Item 15. 17. A recording method for recording an image on a recording medium by electrically driving the recording head according to claim 1, wherein a pulse width for energizing is determined based on recording characteristics of the recording head. And a step of transferring the data for instructing the pulse width to the recording head and storing it in the storage means; and, when recording by energizing the current-carrying body of the recording head according to image data, a clock signal And a step of outputting several times. 18. A recording method for recording an image on a recording medium by energizing the recording head according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of data indicating the pulse width is transferred to the storage head to store the data. And a step of storing a predetermined number of clock signals when energizing the current-carrying body of the recording head in accordance with image data for recording. 19. The recording method according to claim 17, wherein the current-carrying body is a heating resistor. 20. The recording method according to claim 17, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that performs recording by ejecting ink. 21. The recording head is a recording head which ejects ink by utilizing thermal energy, and is provided with a thermal energy converter for generating thermal energy applied to the ink. Item 21. The recording method according to Item 20.