JP2002254619A - Image recording device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve a high performance of an image recording by means of an ink jet recording system by preventing deterioration of an image quality of recorded images. SOLUTION: In the case a transparent film is not formed on the surface layer of a recording material on which an image is recorded by the ink jet system (a step 206 is negative), solvent in ink liquid drops adhered on the recording material is removed from the surface layer of the recording material when the image recording surface of the recording material is in contact with a foreign matter. Likewise, the solvent is removed by setting a hot air temperature (208, 210) in accordance with the soaking speed of ink liquid drops into the recording material, and adding a heat energy by supplying hot air to the recording material. In the case the transparent film is formed on the recording material (a step 206 is affirmative), nearly all of the solvent adhered on the recording material is removed from the recording material at the time the transparent film is formed based on (the maximum value of) the amount of the solvent adhered on the recording material. Likewise, the solvent is removed by setting the hot air temperature (228) in accordance with the ink liquid drop soaking speed into the recording material, supplying the hot air to the recording material, and adding the heat energy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by attaching recording droplets ejected from an ejection port of a recording head to the recording medium. And an image recording method applicable to the image recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The most common method of photographing a subject and recording it as a color image on a recording medium such as recording paper is a method using a silver halide color photosensitive material. That is, a silver halide color photographic photosensitive material for photography, such as a color negative film, is loaded into a camera, and an image of the subject is exposed and recorded on the photographic photosensitive material for photography (latent image formation) by photographing the subject with the camera. The photographic light-sensitive material for photographing that has been completed is subjected to a color developing process, a bleach-fixing process, a washing process, and a drying process.
The latent image formed on the photographic photosensitive material for photography is visualized as an image.

Next, an image formed on the photographic photosensitive material for photographing is irradiated with light, and the light transmitted or reflected by the image is subjected to a silver halide color photographic photosensitive material for appreciation such as color paper (photographic paper). Directly irradiate the material or optically read the image formed on the photographic photosensitive material for photography,
By irradiating the viewing photographic material with light modulated according to image information obtained by this reading,
The image is exposed and recorded (latent image formation) on the viewing photographic light-sensitive material, and the development processing including the color development, bleach-fixing, washing and drying steps is performed on the viewing photographic light-sensitive material on which the image has been exposed and recorded. Thus, the latent image formed on the photographic light-sensitive material for viewing is visualized as an image, and a color image (photographic print) of the subject is obtained.

However, in the development processing, it is necessary to sequentially immerse the photographic photosensitive material in a plurality of types of processing liquids. Are different. Further, in an image recording method using a silver halide color photosensitive material, a dye is formed through a chemical reaction in a processing solution, so that the quality of an output image is easily affected by the temperature and components of the processing solution. It is necessary to keep the temperature constant, and it is necessary to appropriately replenish the replenisher in accordance with the degree of deterioration of the processing solution. For this reason, the image recording method using a silver halide color light-sensitive material has a problem that the apparatus is large and the configuration is complicated, and maintenance is troublesome. Although various improvements have been made, further miniaturization and maintenance-free are desired.

In an image recording method using a silver halide color light-sensitive material, in particular, fluctuations in exposure and development processing to the photographic light-sensitive material for viewing, or fluctuations in characteristics of the photographic light-sensitive material for viewing itself may affect the image quality of an output color image. There is also the problem of direct effects. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-33732 discloses that the exposure amount is corrected on the basis of data representing the relationship between the exposure amount on the recording material and the color density of the recording material, the density of a test chart image, and the like. Although techniques for absorbing fluctuations such as fluctuations and exposure have been proposed, further stabilization of image quality is required.

On the other hand, as another image recording method widely used for recording data output from a computer as an image on a recording medium, an ink droplet ejected from a discharge port of a recording head is used as a recording medium. 2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet recording method for recording an image on a recording medium by attaching the recording medium to a recording medium has been known. The ink jet recording method has an advantage that the image density is small due to a change in environmental conditions such as temperature because the dye solution (ink) is directly attached to a recording medium to record an image. This is basically advantageous in terms of maintainability as compared with the image recording method using.

[0007]

On the other hand, in the ink jet recording method, since the dye solution is attached to the recording medium, the solvent contained in the dye solution (recording droplet) adhered to the recording medium at least covers the surface layer of the recording medium. Until volatilization occurs, there is a disadvantage in that the recorded image is disturbed if the image recording surface comes into contact with foreign matter (for example, another component such as a transport roller). In addition, in the inkjet recording method, for the purpose of improving the weather resistance of the image recorded on the recording medium, a transparent film may be formed on the recording medium on which the image is recorded, but the attached solvent remains in the recording material. If the transparent film is formed in this state, the solvent trapped in the transparent film may cause deterioration of the recorded image.

In an existing image recording system for recording an image using a silver halide color light-sensitive material, a high processing capability has been realized by improvements over many years, and a processing capability equivalent to that of the above-mentioned image recording system has been achieved by an ink jet recording system. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to provide a mechanism for removing the solvent attached to the recording medium in a short time with the recording of the image. However, applying heat to a recording medium on which an image is recorded by an ink jet recording method for the purpose of removing a solvent in a short period of time, as in the case of drying a silver halide color light-sensitive material, removes water adhered by washing with water. Unlike the case of simply removing, it is necessary to establish an appropriate heating method in the ink jet recording method because it may affect the image quality of the recorded image.

The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and provides an image recording apparatus and an image recording method capable of achieving high image recording performance by an ink jet recording method without causing deterioration in image quality of a recorded image. The purpose is to get.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, an image recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention discharges a recording droplet from a discharge port of a recording head according to an image to be recorded on a recording medium. Recording means for recording an image on a recording medium by causing the recording liquid droplets to adhere to the recording medium; and applying thermal energy to the recording medium to which the recording liquid droplets are adhered by the recording means, thereby applying the recording medium to the recording medium. Heating means for removing the solvent contained in the attached recording droplets; presence / absence of formation of a transparent film on the recording medium on which the image has been recorded; type of recording medium; reflectance of the recording medium for light of a predetermined wavelength; Thermal energy applied to the recording medium by the heating means based on at least one of the surface temperature of the recording medium, the amount of solvent in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium, and the amount of the recording liquid ejected to the recording medium. Control means for controlling the amount of energy.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a recording liquid droplet is discharged from a discharge port of a recording head in accordance with an image to be recorded on the recording medium, and the recording liquid droplet is attached to the recording medium, thereby forming an image on the recording medium. Recording means for recording the
The heating unit removes the solvent contained in the recording droplets adhered to the recording medium by applying thermal energy to the recording medium to which the recording droplets are adhered by the recording unit. In addition, as the heating means, for example, a configuration in which heated air is supplied to the recording medium to apply thermal energy to the recording medium can be adopted.

By the way, a transparent film (a film formed on the outermost layer in order to improve the weather resistance of the recorded image and maintain the image quality of the recorded image over a long period of time) on the recording medium on which the image is recorded.
When forming a, it is necessary to remove substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium with the recording of the image before the formation of the transparent film, whereas, when the transparent film is not formed on the recording medium, By removing at least the solvent attached to the surface layer of the recording medium, it is possible to prevent the recorded image from being disturbed when the recording medium on which the image is recorded comes into contact with foreign matter. Therefore, the appropriate amount of thermal energy to be applied to the recording material on which the image has been recorded differs depending on whether or not a transparent film is formed on the recording medium.

When at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed from the solvent adhering to the recording medium during the recording of the image, the same amount of solvent is applied to the recording medium adhering the same amount of solvent. Even if the heat energy is applied, the time until the solvent is removed from the surface layer of the recording medium depends on the penetration speed of the recording droplets into the recording medium, and the penetration speed of the recording droplets depends on the type of the recording medium. Is different. Therefore, an appropriate amount of heat energy to be added to the recording medium to remove the solvent from the surface layer of the recording medium differs depending on the type of the recording medium.

Since there is a correlation between the amount of the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light of a predetermined wavelength (for example, a wavelength in the infrared region), and the surface temperature of the recording medium, the recording is performed. Whether or not the solvent has been removed from the surface layer of the medium can be determined from the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength (for example, a wavelength in the infrared region) and the surface temperature of the recording medium.

Further, when substantially the entire amount of the solvent adhered to the recording medium is removed with the recording of the image, even if the same amount of heat energy is applied to the same kind of recording medium, the substantially entire amount of the adhered solvent is recorded. The time it takes to be removed from the media is
The amount differs depending on the amount of the solvent in the recording droplet attached to the recording medium, and the amount of the solvent in the recording droplet attached to the recording medium changes in accordance with the amount of the recording droplet ejected to the recording medium. For this reason, the amount of thermal energy to be applied to the recording medium to remove substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium differs depending on the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium and the ejection amount of the recording droplet onto the recording medium.

Therefore, when a transparent film is selectively formed on a recording medium, the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is
It is desirable to control at least in accordance with the presence or absence of the formation of the transparent film, and when removing the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium arbitrarily selected from a plurality of types of recording media, the heat applied to the recording medium It is desirable to control the energy amount according to at least the type of the recording medium (the speed at which the recording droplets penetrate the recording medium), or the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength, or the surface temperature of the recording medium, When removing substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium, the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium must be at least the amount of the solvent in the recording droplet attached to the recording medium, or the ejection of the recording droplet to the recording medium. It is desirable to control according to the amount.

Based on the above, the first aspect of the present invention provides a recording medium on which an image is recorded, whether or not a transparent film is formed, the type of the recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength, the surface temperature of the recording medium, Since the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is controlled based on at least one of the amount of the solvent in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium and the amount of the recording liquid droplets discharged to the recording medium, The solvent attached to the recording medium can be removed in a short time, and the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium can be optimized. For example, despite the addition of thermal energy to the recording medium, the solvent is not removed from the recording medium. Solvent remaining in the recording medium may cause deterioration in the quality of the recorded image, or excessive thermal energy may be applied after the solvent is removed from the recording medium, resulting in deterioration of the recorded image due to deterioration of the recording medium. It is possible to prevent the drop occurs. Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to achieve high capability of image recording by the ink jet recording method without lowering the image quality of the recorded image.

The formation of a transparent film on a recording medium can be realized by providing a film forming means capable of forming a transparent film on a recording medium on which an image has been recorded by the recording means. Controlling the amount of thermal energy based on the presence or absence of the formation of the transparent film on the recording medium on which the image has been recorded is, specifically, formed by forming the transparent film by the film forming means as described in claim 2. If not, the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed before the foreign matter comes into contact with the image recording surface of the recording medium, and the transparent film is formed by the film forming means. In this case, it can be realized by controlling the amount of thermal energy so that substantially the entire amount of the attached solvent is removed before the formation of the transparent film.

As described above, when a transparent film is not formed, by removing at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium, the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium can be suppressed, and energy saving can be realized. it can.
Further, when a transparent film is formed, almost all of the attached solvent is removed before the formation of the transparent film, so that a part of the attached solvent can be prevented from being trapped in the transparent film, It is possible to prevent the deterioration of the quality of the recorded image due to the solvent trapped in the transparent film.

Controlling the amount of thermal energy based on the type of the recording medium is particularly effective when, for example, removing the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium. Is a storage unit for storing a recording droplet infiltration speed of a recording medium for each type of recording medium, and a medium for detecting the type of recording medium on which an image is recorded by the recording unit. Provided with a species detecting means, based on the type of the recording medium detected by the medium type detecting means, so that at least the solvent attached to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed, the recording medium stored in the storage means This can be realized by controlling the amount of thermal energy according to the recording droplet infiltration speed. This makes it possible to accurately detect an appropriate amount of heat energy to be added to the recording medium in order to remove the solvent from the surface layer of the recording medium, and to appropriately control the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the recording droplet infiltration speed is stored for each of all types of recording media which are likely to perform image recording by the image recording apparatus according to the present invention. Alternatively, the recording medium may be divided into a plurality of groups so that recording media having the same or similar recording droplet infiltration speed belong to the same group, and the recording droplet infusion speed may be stored for each group. You may. The time required until the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed varies not only with the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium but also with the amount of solvent adhering to the recording medium. In the present invention, the amount of heat energy may be controlled in consideration of the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium. Thereby, the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium can be controlled more accurately.

Controlling the amount of thermal energy based on the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength (for example, a wavelength in the infrared region) or the surface temperature of the recording medium can also be applied to the surface layer of the recording medium. It is particularly effective in the case of removing a solvent, and the control is specifically performed, for example, in claim 4
As described in, provided a reflectance detection means for detecting the reflectance of the recording medium for light of a predetermined wavelength or a surface temperature detection means for detecting the surface temperature of the recording medium, the reflectance detected by the reflectance detection means, Alternatively, it can be realized by controlling the amount of thermal energy based on a change in the surface temperature of the recording medium detected by the surface temperature detecting means so that at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed.

As described above, there is a correlation between the amount of the solvent adhering (remaining) on the surface layer of the recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength, and the surface temperature of the recording medium. From the reflectance detected by the reflectance detecting means or the change in the surface temperature of the recording medium detected by the surface temperature detecting means, it can be accurately determined whether or not the solvent has been removed from the surface layer of the recording medium. In addition, the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium can be appropriately controlled.

Controlling the amount of thermal energy based on the amount of solvent in the recording liquid droplets adhered to the recording medium is particularly effective in the case of removing substantially the entire amount of the solvent adhered to the recording medium. Specifically, the control is performed by, for example, as described in claim 5, the solvent attached to the recording medium based on the concentration of the solvent in the recording droplet and the ejection amount of the recording droplet onto the recording medium. This can be realized by detecting the amount and controlling the amount of thermal energy so that substantially the entire amount of the attached solvent is removed before the formation of the transparent film. This makes it possible to accurately detect an appropriate amount of heat energy to be added to the recording medium in order to remove substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium, and to appropriately control the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium. it can.

As the heating means, for example, a configuration in which heat energy is applied to the recording medium by supplying heated air to the recording medium can be employed.
The control means controls at least one of the temperature of the air supplied to the recording medium by the heating means and the supply time of the heated air to the recording medium as described in claim 6, so that the control means can control the temperature of the air supplied to the recording medium. The amount of heat energy that can be controlled can be controlled.

In a configuration in which heat energy is applied to a recording medium by supplying heated air to the recording medium,
The speed at which the solvent attached to the recording medium is removed depends not only on the temperature of the heated air but also on the humidity of the heated air. For this purpose, as described in claim 7, a humidity detecting means for detecting the humidity of air supplied to the recording medium by the heating means is provided, and the control means controls the recording medium in accordance with the humidity detected by the humidity detecting means. It is preferable to adjust the amount of thermal energy applied to the fin. Thereby, the thermal energy applied to the recording medium can be controlled more accurately.

Further, a period from when the image is recorded on the recording medium by the recording means to when the application of the thermal energy to the recording medium by the heating means is started, and when the application of the thermal energy by the heating means is completed. Therefore, during the period until the image recording surface of the recording medium comes into contact with foreign matter or a transparent film is formed on the recording medium, volatilization of the solvent attached to the recording medium occurs. The amount of solvent adhering to the recording medium when it comes into contact with foreign matter or when a transparent film is formed on the recording medium also depends on the volatilization amount of the solvent during the period. Then, the volatilization amount of the solvent in the period varies depending on the environmental condition of the space where the recording medium is placed in the period.

In consideration of the above, as described in claim 8, the temperature and humidity of the portion where the recording medium to which the recording liquid droplets are adhered by the recording means passes during a period in which heat energy is not applied by the heating means. It is preferable to provide an environmental condition detecting means for detecting at least one of the above, and to adjust the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium according to at least one of the temperature and the humidity detected by the environmental condition detecting means. As described above, by adjusting the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium in consideration of the volatilization of the solvent during a period in which heat energy is not applied by the heating unit, the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium can be suppressed. , Energy saving can be realized.

There are a plurality of methods for forming a transparent film on a recording medium. For this reason, as described in claim 9, a film forming means capable of forming a transparent film by selectively applying a plurality of kinds of film forming methods to a recording medium on which an image is recorded by the recording means is provided. It is preferable to control the film forming means so that the transparent film is formed by a film forming method selected from among various kinds of film forming methods.

As a plurality of kinds of film forming methods, for example, as described in claim 10, a film forming material (for example, a thermoplastic resin latex or the like) is applied by applying thermal energy to a recording medium in advance. A first method for forming a transparent film by melting a material for forming a transparent film, a method for forming a transparent film by applying a material for forming a film to a recording medium to which no material for forming a film is adhered and performing a predetermined post-treatment. There is a second method for forming a film to be formed, and a third method for forming a transparent film by adhering a film-forming material formed in a sheet shape to a recording medium to which no film-forming material is adhered. The film forming means can be configured to be capable of forming a transparent film by two or more of the first to third film forming methods, for example.

The second method for forming a film further includes a method of forming a transparent film by applying thermal energy to the adhered material for forming a film as the predetermined post-treatment and melting the material for forming a film. By applying a coating solution containing a material for forming a film to a recording medium, the material for forming a film is attached, and heat energy is applied as the predetermined post-treatment, and a solvent in the solution is removed to form a transparent film. Forming method and applying a coating liquid containing the film forming material to a recording medium to adhere the film forming material, and irradiating ultraviolet rays or infrared rays as the predetermined post-treatment to solidify to form a transparent film. Although there is a method of doing so, any may be adopted.

Further, the selection of the method of forming a film is performed, for example, every time a recording medium is set in the image recording apparatus according to the present invention.
The operator may select the film formation method (and whether or not the film is formed), or the film formation method and the film formation method which are selected and set in advance for each type of recording medium on which an image can be recorded by the image recording apparatus. May be stored, and the corresponding film forming method is automatically selected based on the result of detecting the type of the recording medium.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the image recording method, recording droplets are ejected from an ejection port of a recording head in accordance with an image to be recorded on a recording medium, and the recording droplets are attached to the recording medium. An image recording method for recording an image on a recording medium by applying thermal energy to the recording medium to which the recording liquid droplets are attached, thereby removing a solvent contained in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium. In the case of, the presence or absence of formation of a transparent film on the recording medium on which the image is recorded, the type of the recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light of a predetermined wavelength, the surface temperature of the recording medium, the solvent in the recording droplet attached to the recording medium At least one of the amount and the ejection amount of the recording droplet onto the recording medium.
The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is controlled on the basis of the image recording method according to the first aspect of the present invention. High performance can be achieved.

[0034]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an image recording system 10 according to the present embodiment.
The image recording system 10 includes a film scanner 12 and a media driver 1 as input devices for inputting image data.
4 and an image data receiving device 16, each of which has an image processing device 18 for processing image data input from an input device, and outputs image data (or an image) that has been processed by the image processing device 18. As an output device, an ink jet printer 20 that records an image by an ink jet recording method is provided. Note that the inkjet printer 20 is a printer to which the image recording method according to the present invention is applied, and corresponds to the image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

The media driver 14 is, for example, a magnetic disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk (FD) or a C disk.
Various types of optical media such as DR, magneto-optical disks (MO), smart media and compact flash (registered trademark) that can be loaded into digital still cameras (DSC) (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as "digital camera cards") One of the information storage media is set, and image data stored in the set information storage medium is read and output. The image data receiving device 16 is connected to a computer network such as the Internet, and receives R, G, and B image data from an information processing device (for example, a personal computer (PC)) via the computer network. And output the image data.

The film scanner 12 is used for the photographic film 3
8 (for example, a negative film or a reversal film), a film image recorded on a photographic material (hereinafter simply referred to as a photographic film) (a negative image or a positive image visualized by photographing a subject and developing the film): Claim 6
And outputs image data obtained by the reading. The light emitted from the LED light source 30 and the light amount unevenness of which is reduced by the light diffusion box 34 is transmitted to the film carrier 36. The photographic film 38 that has been set is irradiated,
Light transmitted through 8 is formed into an image on a light receiving surface of an area CCD sensor 42 (or a line CCD sensor) via a lens 40.

The film carrier 36 intermittently conveys the photographic film 38 so that the film images are sequentially positioned on the optical axis (reading position) of the light emitted from the LED light source 30. The LED light source 30 includes a number of LEDs that emit R light,
A large number of LEDs for emitting G light, a large number of LEDs for emitting B light, and a large number of LEDs for emitting IR light are arranged at a constant and high density on the entire surface of a substrate (not shown). When one image is located at the reading position, it is driven by a driver (not shown) so as to sequentially emit R, G, and B lights.

Thus, the film images recorded on the photographic film 38 are sequentially read by the CCD sensor 42, and the CCD sensor 42 outputs R, G, B, and IR signals corresponding to the film image. The signal output from the CCD sensor 42 is converted into digital image data by the A / D converter 43 and input to the image processing device 18. The film scanner 12 is provided with a scanner control unit 28, and the operation of each unit of the film scanner 12 is controlled by the scanner control unit 28.
The reading of each film image may be performed a plurality of times (for example, a pre-scan for reading a film image at a relatively low resolution and a fine scan for reading a film image at a relatively high resolution).

As an input device according to the present embodiment,
The reflection type scanner for reading a reflection original (for example, color paper on which an image is recorded) and outputting image data obtained by the reading is the film scanner 12 described above.
And may be provided separately. As the reflection type scanner, there is a scanner provided with an automatic supply mechanism for sequentially and automatically supplying a plurality of reflection originals to a reading unit of the scanner so that a plurality of reflection originals can be read automatically and continuously. Preferably, it is used.

The film scanner 12, the media driver 14, and the image data receiving device 16 described above are connected to the pre-processing unit 44 of the image processing device 18, and the image data output from these image data input devices is It is input to the pre-processing unit 44. The pre-processing unit 44 performs different predetermined pre-processing on the input image data depending on the image data input source. Examples of pre-processing for image data input from the film scanner 12 include darkness correction, density conversion, shading correction, defective pixel correction, and the like. The pre-processing for the image data input from the media driver 14 includes, for example, decompression of image data compressed and recorded on an information storage medium, and image processing such as improvement in sharpness. The pre-processing of the image data input from the image data receiving device 16 includes, for example, decompression of compressed image data (for example, JPEG format image data) received by the image data receiving device 16.

The pre-processing unit 44 is connected to an image processing unit 48 via an image memory 46. The image data is read by the image processing unit 48 and input to the image processing unit 48. The image processing unit 48 automatically determines, based on the image data read from the image memory 46, the processing conditions for various types of image processing on the image data by calculation (setup calculation).

The image processing performed by the image processing unit 48 includes, for example, gray balance adjustment, density adjustment, gradation control, hypertone processing for compressing the gradation of an ultra-low frequency luminance component of the image, and granular processing. Hyper sharpness processing that emphasizes sharpness while suppressing noise, IR
Image processing for improving the image quality of an output image, such as a defective portion repairing process for correcting a defective portion of image data caused by a flaw on a photographic film, the attachment of a foreign substance, or the like based on the above data. Further, image processing for intentionally changing the image tone (for example, image processing for finishing the output image in a portrait tone) or image processing for processing the image (for example, a person existing in the original image is thinned on the output image) Image processing such as image processing for finishing) may be executable.

The image processing section 48 performs various image processes on the image data read from the image memory 46 in accordance with the processing conditions determined by the setup operation.
The image processing unit 48 is connected to the image data storage unit 54 of the inkjet printer 20, and the image data that has undergone various image processing is transferred to the image data storage unit 54 as recording image data and is temporarily stored therein.

The image processing device 18 includes a CPU, an RO,
The M, RAM, and input / output ports are connected to each other via a bus, and include a PC having a configuration in which a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) is connected to the input / output ports. CRT5
0 and an input device 52 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like. Pre-processing unit 44 and image processing unit 4 described above
8 can be realized, for example, by causing a PC to execute a predetermined program, but may be configured to include dedicated hardware for executing various image processing.

Further, the image processing is performed on the image data based on the processing conditions of the image processing obtained by the setup calculation, and the image data after the image processing is output to the CRT 50, whereby the finish of the output image is estimated. By displaying the image on the CRT 50, the processing conditions obtained by the setup operation are verified by the operator, and when the processing conditions are instructed through the input device 52, the processing conditions are corrected in accordance with the instruction. It may be.

On the other hand, a printer control unit 56 composed of a microcomputer or the like is connected to the image data storage unit 54 of the ink jet printer 20. The printer control unit 56 has a recording head 60 via a driver 58.
Are connected, and a material type sensor 61, a recording material transporting unit 62, an in-machine environment detecting unit 63, a heating / drying unit 64, and a transparent film forming unit 65 are also connected (details will be described later). The recording head 60 and the driver 58 correspond to the recording unit of the present invention, the material type sensor 61 corresponds to the medium type storage unit described in claim 3, and the in-machine environment detecting unit 63 corresponds to claim 8. Corresponds to the environmental state detecting means described in (1). The heating / drying section 64 corresponds to the heating means of the present invention (specifically, the heating means according to claim 6), and the transparent film forming section 65 corresponds to claims 2, 9 and 10.
Respectively.

As shown in FIG. 2, the housing 20A of the ink jet printer 20 has a substantially box shape.
A magazine 72 for storing the long recording material 70 wound around a reel 72A is set at one end of the magazine 72. With the magazine 72 set in the housing 20A,
The reel 72A is connected to a pull-out transport motor via a speed reduction mechanism (both are not shown), and is rotated by driving the pull-out transport motor. Thus, the recording material 70 is pulled out of the magazine 72.

The ink jet printer 20 according to this embodiment is capable of recording an image on a variety of recording materials as the recording material 70, and the material type sensor 61 uses the recording material 70 (image set on the ink jet printer 20) for performing image recording. Recording material 7 stored in magazine 72
0) can be detected (the sensor 61 is not shown in FIG. 2). As an example, a plurality of types of magazines 72 are prepared, each magazine 72 stores only a specific type of recording material 70, and a mark (for example, a bar code or another mark) indicating the type of the recording material 70 to be stored is provided. In the aspect recorded in the magazine 72, the material type sensor 61 may be configured to read a mark or the like recorded in the magazine 72 set in the inkjet printer 20.

Further, the type of the recording material 70 stored in the magazine 72 is undefined, and a mark (for example, a bar code) or the like indicating the type of the recording material 70 is provided on the wrapping paper for wrapping the unused recording material 70. In the recorded aspect, the material type sensor 61 may employ a configuration for detecting the mark or the like recorded on the wrapping paper. The material type sensor 61 outputs the result of detecting the type of the recording material 70 on which the image is to be recorded to the printer control unit 56.

The recording material on which an image can be recorded by the ink jet printer 20 according to the present embodiment is a recording material designed and manufactured on the premise that a transparent film is not formed unlike plain paper or the like. Three types of recording materials: materials (for example, thermoplastic resin latex, etc.) pre-attached, and recording materials designed and manufactured on the premise that a transparent film is formed after image recording, although the material for film formation is not attached. It is roughly divided into.

Recording material 7 pulled out of magazine 72
0 is conveyed toward the other end of the housing 20A by the conveyance rollers 74A to 74F arranged on the downstream side in the drawing direction of the recording material 70. The transport roller 74A is driven to rotate by a driving force of a pull-out transport motor, and the transport rollers 74B to 74F are driven to rotate by a synchronous transport motor (not shown). A loop forming mechanism (not shown) is provided between the transport rollers 74A and 74B, and a loop of the recording material 70 is formed between the transport rollers 74A and 74B by the loop forming mechanism. In the vicinity of the loop forming position, there are provided loop sensors 84 each composed of a pair of a light emitting element and a light receiving element opposed to each other with the loop forming position interposed therebetween, at two different height positions.

The draw-out transport motor, synchronous transport motor, loop forming mechanism, and transport rollers 74A to 74F constitute a recording material transport section 62, and the printer control section 56
After the loop of the recording material 70 is once formed by the loop forming mechanism, the loop sensor 84 positioned above does not detect the loop of the recording material 70 (light emitted from the light emitting element is blocked by the recording material). When the recording material 70 is received by the light receiving element without being driven), the pull-out and conveyance motor is driven to rotate the reel 72A and the conveyance roller 74A, thereby starting to pull out the recording material 70 from the magazine 72, and moving downward. When the positioned loop sensor 84 detects the loop of the recording material 70 (when the light emitted from the light emitting element is blocked by the lowermost portion of the loop of the recording material 70 and cannot be received by the light receiving element), it is pulled out. The operation of stopping the driving of the transport motor and stopping the drawing of the recording material 70 from the magazine 72 is repeated.

By forming the above loop, it becomes possible to convey the recording material 70 on the downstream side of the loop asynchronously with the drawing of the recording material 70 from the magazine 72.
For this reason, the printer controller 56 drives the synchronous transport motor so that the recording material 70 is transported on the downstream side of the loop in synchronization with the image recording on the recording material 70 by the recording head 60, and the transport roller 74B ７４74F is driven to rotate.

A recording head 60 is disposed above the transport rollers 74B and 74C. As shown in FIG.
The recording head 60 is arranged near the conveyance path of the recording material 70. A shaft 86 disposed along the width direction of the recording material 70 and both ends of which are supported by a box-shaped frame 88 penetrates the recording head 60. 70 is movable along the width direction.

The recording material 7 is provided at the bottom of the frame 88.
0 is formed, and a projection 88A is formed to guide both ends in the width direction of the recording material 70 passing through the inside of the frame 88. The projection 88A constitutes a support member for the recording material 70 together with the bottom surface of the frame 88. The recording material 70 transported by the transport rollers 74B to 74F has the lower surface supported by the bottom surface of the frame 88 and both ends in the width direction. An image is formed by the recording head 60 in a state where it is held at a fixed position by the projection 88A (details will be described later).

The recording head 60 has a pair of pulleys 9.
It is attached to an endless belt 94 wound around 0,92. The pair of pulleys 90 and 92 are pivotally supported by a bracket (not shown), and the bracket is attached to a frame 88. The driving force of a scanning motor (not shown) is transmitted to the endless belt 92, and the endless belt 92 is rotated in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions in FIG. It is moved in the B direction. The driving of the scanning motor is also performed by the printer control unit 5.
6.

One end of the recording head 60 is fixed to the side plate of the frame 88 and is bent in a U-shape in advance. A flexible harness 96 configured to move a bending position is attached. The flexible harness 96 includes a plurality of signal lines for transmitting the ejection signal generated by the driver 58 and a hollow supply pipe for supplying ink to the recording head 60.

On the other hand, a recording material 70 is
A plurality of nozzle rows (four rows of 60A, 60B, 60C, and 60D in FIG. 3) are arranged along the width direction of the recording material 70, and a plurality of nozzle rows are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the recording material 70. A plurality of ink chambers are respectively formed inside the recording head 60 corresponding to the respective nozzle rows, and a plurality of main tanks (see FIG. 4) respectively communicating with any of the plurality of ink chambers are attached to the recording head 60, respectively. Have been.

The plurality of main tanks store inks of different colors (for example, C, M, Y, and BK).
The ink is supplied to each nozzle row via the ink chamber. Thereby, inks of different colors are ejected from each nozzle for each nozzle row.

A plurality of supply pipes 106 (see FIG. 4) which are a part of the flexible harness 96 described above are provided in detail corresponding to each color, and one end of each supply pipe 106 has a plurality of supply pipes. Each is connected to one of the main tanks 104. Further, the other end of each supply pipe 106 is connected to one of a plurality of sub-tanks 108 (see FIG. 4) provided for each color similarly to the main tank 104, and an intermediate portion is connected from the sub-tank 108 to the main tank. A supply pump 110 for supplying ink to the tank 104 is provided.

Since the main tank 104 attached to the recording head 60 moves integrally with the recording head 60, the storage capacity of ink is limited due to the weight and size, but the sub tank 108 is separate from the recording head 60. In this embodiment, the storage capacity is much larger than that of the main tank 104 because the weight and size of the body are less restricted. Thus, without performing the operations of replenishment of ink to the sub tank 108, at least 30000cm image printing area 30% ²
It is possible to output the above.

On the other hand, as a discharge method for discharging ink from the nozzles, an arbitrary method can be adopted from various known discharge methods. For example, a typical method is a piezoelectric element provided in an ink chamber. Applying a pulse voltage to the piezoelectric element to deform the piezoelectric element changes the ink liquid pressure in the ink chamber, and uses the change in the ink liquid pressure to eject ink droplets from the nozzles. A heating method in which ink is heated by a heating element and ink droplets are ejected from nozzles by bubbles generated in the ink chamber by the heating can be adopted. As shown in FIG. 4, the print head 60 also includes a pump 112 that generates a negative pressure to suck ink in all the ink chambers inside the print head 60 in order to eliminate clogging of the nozzle orifices. Installed.

Based on the recording image data read from the image data storage unit 54, the printer control unit 56 converts the image represented by the recording image data into each color component (for example, C,
The drive timing of each nozzle of the print head 60 (for example, energization of a piezoelectric element or a heater provided corresponding to each nozzle) so that printing is performed on the print material 70 in dot units for each of M, Y, and BK). ), And outputs the generated image signal to the driver 58, and drives the scanning motor so that the recording head 60 moves along the shaft 86 at a predetermined moving speed.

The driver 58 selectively drives each nozzle at a timing corresponding to the image signal based on the image signal input from the printer control unit 56 (for example, selectively energizes the piezoelectric element or heater of each nozzle). B) generating a discharge signal, and transmitting the generated discharge signal to the flexible harness 96.
To the recording head 60 via the. Accordingly, ink droplets ejected from each nozzle of the recording head 60 at a timing corresponding to the image signal adhere to the recording material 70, and the main scanning is performed by the movement of the recording head 60, and the sub-scanning is performed by the conveyance of the recording material 70. Is performed, a color image is recorded on the recording material 70 in units of the same number of dot rows as the number of nozzles constituting each nozzle row provided in the recording head 60. Thus, the recording head 60 and the driver 58 correspond to the recording unit of the present invention.

In this embodiment, as described above, the mechanism for supporting the recording head 60 and moving the recording head 60 (the shaft 86, the pulleys 90 and 92 around which the endless belt 94 is wound), and the like. The support members for the recording material 70 are each integrated with the frame 88, and the recording head 60
Is configured. A main body frame 89 of the ink jet printer 20 is located below the frame 88. Between the frame 88 and the main body frame 89, there are a plurality of locations at substantially constant intervals, each serving as a vibration isolator. Vibration rubbers 87 are interposed. Note that various elastic bodies such as natural rubber, resin rubber, and elastomer can be used as the vibration-proof rubber 87.

As a result, the recording unit including the recording head 60, the supporting / moving mechanism of the recording head 60, the supporting member for the recording material 70 and the frame 88 is vibrated insulated from the main body frame 89, and the inside or outside of the ink jet printer 20. Can be prevented from being transmitted to the recording unit due to the vibrations generated in the main body frame 89, regardless of the occurrence of vibration inside or outside the ink jet printer 20. The positional relationship and the positional relationship between the recording head 60 and the recording material 70 can be kept constant, and fluctuations in the image quality of the recorded image can be suppressed.

The vibration isolating means may be any one that can prevent, block or reduce the propagation of vibration from the main frame 89 by absorbing the energy of shock or vibration by elastic deformation in the compression or shear direction. In addition to the anti-vibration rubber 87 described above, for example, anti-vibration cork, anti-vibration air spring,
An elastic body that does not cause self-excited vibration and has a high energy absorbing effect by a spring action, such as a metal spring for vibration isolation, or a dynamic damper using these can be applied.
In addition, a viscoelastic body is particularly preferable as the elastic body used as the vibration isolator. Since the elastic force of the viscoelastic body changes according to the deformation speed, the propagation of vibration can be more reliably prevented. Further, the vibration isolating means may use the above-described vibration isolating material alone, or may use a combination of a plurality of types of vibration isolating materials. For example, a spring (coil spring) or the like The anti-vibration means may be configured in combination.

The position at which the vibration isolating rubber 87 is interposed between the frame 88 and the main body frame 89 is not limited to the position illustrated in FIG. Can be appropriately selected as needed. Further, in the above description, the recording head 60, its moving mechanism, the support member of the recording material 70, and the frame 88 are integrated as a recording unit. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It may be. For example, the entirety of the transport mechanism for the recording material 70 existing between the position where the loop forming mechanism is provided and the position where the heating / drying unit 64 is provided may be integrated, or the loop forming mechanism and the heating / drying unit may be integrated. If a back printing portion or the like that prints on the back surface of the recording material 70 is provided between the recording materials 70, the back printing portion may also be integrated.

As is apparent from FIG. 2, each of the transport rollers 74A to 74F other than the transport roller 74C is composed of a pair of rollers for nipping and transporting the recording material 70. The transport roller 74 </ b> C disposed at the position closest to the position where the recording head 60 is disposed on the downstream side of the position where the recording head 60 is disposed is constituted by a single roller that contacts only the back surface of the image recording surface. . Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the foreign matter such as the transport roller from contacting the image recording surface immediately after the image is recorded by the recording head 60, thereby preventing the image quality of the recorded image from deteriorating.

Further, between the transport rollers 74C and 74D, hot air is supplied to the recording material 70 on which an image is recorded by applying ink droplets ejected from the recording head 60 to heat the recording material 70 (thermal energy). Is provided, a heating and drying unit 64 for drying the solvent contained in the ink droplets attached to the recording material 70 is provided. Heat drying section 64
The conveyance path of the recording material 70 in the inside (between the conveyance rollers 74C and 74D) is formed in a substantially U-shape, and a blower 76 for generating an air flow is installed above the substantially U-shaped conveyance path. ing.

Further, a chamber 80 is connected via a duct 78 to the exhaust side of the blower 76 directed downward from the heating and drying unit 64. A heater 82 is provided in the duct 78.
The air flow generated by the blower 76 is heated by the heater 82 and sent into the chamber 80 as hot air. The chamber 80 is the chamber 8
0 is extended downward (inside of the substantially U-shaped conveyance path) so that the outer peripheral surface of the recording medium 70 faces the recording material 70 conveyed on the substantially U-shaped conveyance path at a substantially constant interval. Along with
A large number of holes are formed in the outer peripheral surface. Therefore, the hot air sent into the chamber 80 passes through a large number of holes formed in the outer peripheral surface of the chamber 80 and is blown onto the image recording surface of the recording material 70 conveyed through the substantially U-shaped conveyance path.

A temperature sensor 120 and a humidity sensor 122 are located downstream of the heater 82 inside the duct 78.
Are attached, and the temperature sensor 120 and the humidity sensor 122 are connected to the printer control unit 56. In addition, a temperature sensor 124 and a humidity sensor 126 as the in-machine environment detecting unit 63 are also mounted inside the housing 20A of the inkjet printer 20. The printer control unit 56 controls the temperature and humidity of the hot air supplied to the recording material 70 detected by the temperature sensor 120 and the humidity sensor 122, and the temperature inside the body of the inkjet printer 20 detected by the temperature sensor 124 and the humidity sensor 126. The power supply to the heater 82 is controlled based on the humidity and the humidity.

Further, on the downstream side of the heating / drying section 64, a transparent film forming section 65 for forming a transparent film on the recording material 70 on which an image is recorded is provided. Hereinafter, the transparent coating will be described first. When an image is formed on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from an inkjet recording head, a transparent polymer film or the like is formed on the outermost layer to improve the weather resistance of the image and maintain high image quality over a long period of time. It is preferable to carry out a post-treatment for providing a transparent coating of. This transparent coating has the effect of improving the weather resistance of the image. Here, “transparent” refers to a state in which an image formed on a recording medium can be observed through a film. The material of the transparent film is not particularly limited, and for example, various polymer materials can be used. That is, it may be a water-soluble polymer such as gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol, or a hydrophobic polymer such as polymethyl methacrylate.

As a method of forming a transparent film, (1) a method of attaching (laminating) a transparent polymer film formed in a sheet shape in advance, (2) a method of applying a polymer solution, and (3)
After image formation, a method of applying a liquid coating agent on the surface and solidifying it with ultraviolet or infrared rays to form a transparent overcoat layer, (4) providing a thermoplastic resin porous layer in advance on the top layer, and after image formation A method of forming a transparent resin film by densifying the resin porous layer by heating (pressing if necessary) and applying a material such as (5) a latex-like polymer (by applying an ink-jet method to the entire surface) May be)
Then, a method of forming a transparent resin film by heating and melting is given.

As will be described below, the transparent film forming section 65 according to the present embodiment includes the method (4) (hereinafter referred to as a first film forming method) and the method (5) (hereinafter referred to as a second film forming method). A transparent film can be formed by selectively using the method of forming a film) and the method (1) (hereinafter, referred to as a third film forming method), but a transparent film can be formed by another method. The transparent film forming portion 65 may be configured as described above.

The method (4) (first film forming method)
The resin porous layer is preferably formed by coating and drying thermoplastic resin particles on a silica or alumina hydrate porous layer. As the thermoplastic resin, those made of various thermoplastic resin materials can be used. As the thermoplastic resin particles, for example, vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, styrene, acrylic, urethane, polyester, ethylene, amide, epoxy, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate- Thermoplastic resin particles contained in latex such as acrylic, SBR, NBR or copolymers thereof can be preferably used. These particles can be used alone or in combination of two or more as long as the film formability and the like are not impaired. The particle size of the thermoplastic resin particles is, for example, 0.1 μm to 40 μm, preferably 2 μm to 20 μm
It is.

To prepare a coating liquid containing the above-mentioned thermoplastic resin particles, these materials are mainly dispersed in a suitable solvent, for example, an aqueous solution, and the solid content is adjusted to 10 to 50% by weight.
, But can be appropriately adjusted according to the coating method. The coating amount is usually 2 to 10 in terms of dry layer thickness in order to impart surface gloss, suppress the appearance of interference colors, and obtain a degree having a sufficient function as a protective film.
It is preferable that the thickness be adjusted to μm.

In the first method for forming a film, an image can be formed by applying an ink droplet to a recording medium and then making the outermost porous thermoplastic resin layer nonporous (clear). If the porous thermoplastic resin layer is made non-porous, it can improve the weather resistance of the image, such as water resistance, light resistance, and gas resistance, impart gloss to the image, and enable long-term storage of the image. it can.

As a method for making the outermost porous thermoplastic resin layer nonporous, there is a method of heating and melting the porous thermoplastic resin layer. The heating temperature has a relationship with time in consideration of the influence on the material such as the base material, the ink reception amount and the ink, the surface properties after nonporous formation, and the like.
A range of 80 ° C. is preferred.

The outermost layer may also contain a dispersant, if necessary.
Thickeners, pH adjusters, lubricants, flow modifiers, surfactants, defoamers, water-proofing agents, mold release agents, fluorescent brighteners, ultraviolet absorbers, antioxidants, etc. You may add in the range which does not have a trouble.

Between the transport rollers 74D and 74F, three transport paths having different heights are formed as transport paths for transporting the recording material 70, and the transparent film forming section according to the present embodiment is formed. Numeral 65 is provided with a guide member (not shown) for selectively guiding the recording material 70 passing through the position where the transport roller 74D is provided to any one of the transport paths.
Each transport path corresponds to a different coating forming method among the first to third coating forming methods, and the printer control unit 56 determines that the recording material 70 passing through the position where the transport roller 74D is disposed is The control is performed so that the recording material 70 is conveyed along a conveyance path corresponding to the film forming method.

The first transport path located at the highest position corresponds to the first film forming method. Further, the second transport path located at the intermediate height position corresponds to the second film forming method, and a film forming material such as a latex-like polymer is provided in the middle of the second transport path. A coating head 130 for coating the recording material 70 by an ink jet method is provided. Also, the third position located at the lowest position
Corresponds to the third film forming method, and in the middle of the third transport path, a laminating section for attaching (laminating) the transparent polymer sheet 132 formed into a sheet shape to the recording material 70. 134 is provided.

On the downstream side of the transport roller 74F, a secondary heating section 136 for forming a transparent film by applying thermal energy generated by a heater to the recording material 70 is provided.
Is provided. The appropriate heating temperature of the secondary heating unit 136 differs depending on the film forming method, and the printer control unit 56 sets the temperature corresponding to the film forming method to be performed as the heating temperature of the secondary heating unit 136,
The secondary heating unit 136 controls energization of the heater so that the heating temperature becomes the set temperature. On the downstream side of the secondary heating unit 136, a cutter 100 for cutting the long recording material 70 in units of individual images is provided. Cutter 1
The recording material 70 cut for each image by 00 is discharged onto a tray 102 provided outside the housing 20A.

Next, as an operation of the present embodiment, a heating drying / coating forming process executed by the printer controller 56 when the ink jet printer 20 records an image on the recording material 70 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG. I do.

In step 200, the type of the recording material 70 (the recording material 70 for recording an image by the ink jet printer 20) detected by the material type sensor 61 is fetched. In step 202, the temperature T _ROOM and the humidity H _ROOM in the housing 20A detected by the temperature sensor 124 and the humidity sensor 126 of the in-machine environment detecting unit 63 are fetched.

In the next step 204, the recording image data of each image to be recorded on the recording material 70 is fetched, and based on the fetched recording image data, the individual areas when the recording image is divided into a plurality of areas are determined. All the images to be recorded on the recording material 70 are obtained by calculating the ejection amount of the ink droplets as a unit and calculating the amount of the attached solvent in the individual region based on the concentration of the solvent in the ink droplets. Do about. Then, to extract the maximum value S _MAX of the deposition amount of the solvent calculating the individual regions of each image as a unit. Although the number of divisions of the recorded image can be determined as appropriate, it is preferable that each area has an aspect ratio of 1 or a shape close to 1 (for example, a square or the like). The above step 204
This corresponds to the detection of “the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium” described in claim 5.

In the next step 206, it is determined whether or not a transparent film is to be formed on the recording material 70. Non-volatile storage means 56A (R
OM or a semiconductor memory connected to a backup power supply). As the recording material information, as shown in Table 1 below, for example, various recording materials 70 capable of recording an image with the inkjet printer 20 are used. , “Presence / absence of formation of a transparent film”, “film formation method”, and “inking speed” of ink droplets are stored. The storage means 5
6A corresponds to the storage means according to claim 3.

In step 206, the above-mentioned judgment is made by referring to the corresponding information (presence or absence of transparent film formation) using the type of the recording material 70 taken in in step 200 as a key. For example, in the example of Table 1, when the recording material type is “A”, the determination is negative, and when the recording material type is “any of BD”, the determination is affirmative.

[0089]

[Table 1]

Instead of determining whether or not to form a transparent film based on the recording material information, for example, an inquiry is made to the operator as to whether or not to form a transparent film, and the determination is made based on the selection result by the operator. May be performed.

When an image is recorded on the recording material 70 (ink droplets ejected from the recording head 60 are attached), the image recording surface of the recording material 70 becomes wet with the solvent contained in the ink droplets. State, but step 20
If the determination of No. 6 is denied, the transparent film is not formed on the recording material 70, so that the foreign matter contacts the image recording surface of the recording material 70 (in this embodiment, the recording head 6
0 until the recording material 70 on which the image is recorded contacts the transport roller 74D).
If the solvent adhering to the surface layer is removed, the image quality such as disturbance of the recorded image does not occur even if foreign matter comes into contact with the image recording surface. Then, the recording material 70
The time until the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed depends on the rate of ink droplet infiltration into the recording material.

Therefore, if the determination in step 206 is denied, the process proceeds to step 208, and step 200
By referring to the recording material information using the type of the recording material 70 taken in as a key, the ink droplet penetration speed Vx of the recording material 70 is recognized. And in step 210,
Based on the ink droplet permeation speed recognized in step 206, the recording material 70 on which the image has been recorded adheres to at least the surface layer of the recording material 70 until the recording material 70 passes through the heating / drying unit 64 and comes into contact with the transport roller 74D. In consideration of the temperature and humidity in the housing 20A taken in step 202, the heating and drying unit 64 sets the recording material 7 so that the solvent is removed.
The hot air temperature T to be supplied to 0 is set, and the process proceeds to step 230.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, the recording material 70
Is transported at a substantially constant transport speed by the transport rollers 74 </ b> B to 74 </ b> F. A section from the recording on the recording material 70 by the heat drying section 60 to the start of the heating and drying by the heating and drying section 64 (first section), and a section in which the heating and drying section 64 blows the recording material 70 with the hot air (the second section). Section) and a section (third section) from the end of heating and drying by the heating and drying unit 64 until the recording material 70 comes into contact with the transport roller 74D, the recording material 70 passes through each section. The time required to do so is substantially constant.

In the first and third sections, the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording material 70 has a volatilization rate V ₁ corresponding to the temperature T _ROOM and the humidity H _ROOM in the housing 20A. (V ₁ = f (T _ROOM , H _ROOM )), and in the second section, volatilizes at a volatilization rate V ₂ according to the temperature T and humidity H of the hot air supplied by the heating / drying unit 64 (V _Two
= F (T, H)) and gradually decreases by penetrating into the inside of the image receiving layer of the recording material 70 at the penetration speed Vx through the first to third sections.

Therefore, the recording material 70 is transported by the transport roller 74D.
The condition that the solvent is removed from the surface layer of the recording material 70 until the recording medium 70 comes into contact with is controlled by controlling the temperature T of the hot air supplied from the heating and drying unit 64 so as to satisfy the following equation (1). (However, t ₁ , t ₂ , and t ₃ are times required for the recording material 70 to pass through the first section, the second section, and the third section).

S _MAX = V ₁ (t ₁ + t ₃ ) + V ₂ t ₂ + Vx (t ₁ + t ₂ + t ₃ ) (1) Specifically, the volatilization rate V ₂ in the second section is calculated based on the equation (1). Then, a predetermined value is set as the hot air humidity H (the humidity H _ROOM in the housing 20A may be used), and the evaporation rate V
₂ and the relationship between hot air temperature T and humidity H (V ₂ = f (T,
The temperature T may be obtained from H)). As described above, by setting the temperature T so that the solvent is removed from the surface layer of the recording material 70 until the recording material 70 contacts the transport roller 74D, the heat applied to the recording material 70 is increased. Since the amount of energy can be kept to a minimum,
Energy saving can be realized.

The above-described setting of the hot air temperature T corresponds to the control when the transparent film is not formed in the control means according to the second aspect and the control of the control means according to the third aspect. Setting the hot air temperature T in consideration of the temperature and humidity of the first section and the third section as in the equation (1) corresponds to the control by the control means according to claim 8. .

Since the ink droplet penetration speed Vx of the recording material 70 has a greater effect on the time for removing the solvent from the surface layer of the recording material 70 than the amount of the solvent adhering to the recording material 70, In particular, when it is estimated that there is no large variation in the amount of solvent attached to each area of each image as a unit, the amount of solvent attached to each individual area as a unit can be taken into consideration (for example, the solvent A fixed value may be used as the maximum value S _MAX of the amount of adhesion, and the temperature T of the hot air may be set.

On the other hand, if a transparent film is to be formed on the recording material, the determination in step 206 is denied and step 21
2 and the recording material 70 captured in step 200
The method of forming a film on the recording material 70 is determined by referring to the recording material information using the type as a key. In addition,
As for the film forming method, for example, instead of making a determination based on the recording material information, for example, an inquiry may be made to the operator about the film forming method, and the determination may be made based on the selection result by the operator. Then, in step 214, the transport path of the recording material 70 in the transparent film forming section 65 is set according to the film forming method determined in step 212.

In the next step 216, the process branches depending on the method of forming the film on the recording material 70. Recording material 7
When the first film forming method is applied to 0, the process proceeds from step 216 to step 218, where the heating temperature of the secondary heating unit 136 melts the film forming material previously attached to the recording material 70. The heater of the secondary heating unit 136 is driven so as to reach the temperature. Thus, the recording material 70 on which the transparent film is formed by the first film forming method
Is transported through the first transport path after being discharged from the heating / drying unit 64, and the transparent coating is formed by melting the pre-adhered coating material by heating in the secondary heating unit 136. become.

When the second film forming method is applied to the recording material 70, the process proceeds from step 216 to step 220, and the coating head 1 of the transparent film forming section 65 is moved to step 220.
30 is instructed to apply the film forming material to the recording material 70. In step 222, the secondary heating unit 1
The heater of the secondary heating unit 136 is driven such that the heating temperature by 36 becomes a temperature at which the film forming material applied to the recording material 70 by the application head 130 is melted.
Thus, the recording material 70 on which the transparent film is formed by the second film forming method is discharged from the heating and drying unit 64 and then conveyed through the second conveying path, so that the coating head 1
By 30, the material for forming a film is applied by an ink-jet method, and then the applied material for forming a film is melted by heating in the secondary heating unit 136 to form a transparent film.

When the third film forming method is applied to the recording material 70, the process proceeds from step 216 to step 224, where the transparent material is applied to the laminating part 134 of the transparent film forming part 65. Polymer sheet 132
To laminate. In step 226, the heater of the secondary heating unit 136 is driven such that the heating temperature of the secondary heating unit 136 becomes a temperature that improves the planarity of the laminated transparent polymer sheet 132. As a result, the recording material 70 on which the transparent film is formed by the third film forming method is discharged from the heating and drying unit 64 and then conveyed through the third conveying path, so that the laminating unit 1
The transparent polymer sheet 132 is laminated by 34,
After that, the laminated transparent polymer sheet 132 is heated by the secondary heating unit 136 to form a transparent film having high flatness.

When laminating the transparent polymer sheet 132, pressure may be applied instead of heating, or heating and pressing may be used in combination. Further, some of the transparent polymer sheets 132 can provide a transparent film having high flatness without performing any post-treatment such as heating or pressure bonding. The post-processing can be omitted.

In the case where a transparent film is formed on the recording material 70, if the solvent adhering to the recording material 70 remains at the time of forming the transparent film, the remaining solvent becomes inside the transparent film. Since the trapped solvent may cause the deterioration of the quality of the recorded image, almost all the solvent attached to the recording material 70 needs to be removed when the transparent film is formed. The time required to remove substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording material 70 is as follows:
It depends on the amount of solvent adhered to the recording material 70.

For this reason, when the processing of the previous step 218, or steps 220, 222, or 224, 226 is performed, the flow shifts to step 228, where the recording material 70 Before the transparent film is formed, the heating / drying unit 64 is designed in consideration of the temperature and humidity in the housing 20A taken in step 202 so that substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording material 70 is removed. The temperature T of the hot air supplied to the recording material 70 is set.

Specifically, when a transparent film is formed on the recording material 70, it is necessary to remove the solvent that has permeated the surface of the recording material 70 into the image receiving layer. Material 70 associated with the penetration of the solvent into the image receiving layer
Term considering the decrease in the amount of solvent adhering from the surface layer (: Vx
Based on the following equation (2) excluding (t ₁ + t ₂ + t ₃ )),
The volatilization rate V ₂ in the second section is determined, and the hot air humidity H
The temperature T may be determined from the relationship (V ₂ = f (T, H)) between the previously determined volatilization speed V ₂ and the temperature T and humidity H of the hot air. By controlling the energization of the heater of the heating and drying unit 64 based on the temperature T, when forming the transparent film on the recording material 70, it is possible to remove almost all the solvent attached to the recording material 70. be able to.

S _MAX = V ₁ (t ₁ + t ₃ ) + V ₂ t ₂ (2) Note that the time t _{3 in the} expression (2) is the same value as the expression (1) (the recording material 70 is in the third section). May be used, but instead of this, the heating and drying unit 6 may be used.
The time from the end of the heating and drying in Step 4 to the start of the formation of the transparent film on the recording material 70 (this time differs for each film forming method in the ink jet printer 20 according to the present embodiment) is used. You may.

The above-described setting of the hot air temperature T corresponds to the control when the transparent film is formed by the control means according to the second aspect and the control by the control means according to the fifth aspect. The setting of the hot air temperature T in consideration of the temperature and humidity of the first section and the third section as in the equation (2) also corresponds to the control by the control means according to claim 8. .

Step 210 or the above step 228
When the temperature T of the hot air is set, the energization to the heater 82 of the heating and drying unit 64 is started, and the amount of energization to the heater 82 (the amount of current flowing to the heater 82 may be set, or the heater 8 may be used).
2 may be controlled according to the set temperature T. Then, when the image recording on the recording material 70 is started, the blower 76 is operated, and the recording medium 70 sent into the heating and drying unit 64 is blown with hot air to remove the solvent adhering to the recording material 70. .

In the next step 230, it is determined whether or not the heating of the recording material 70 is to be terminated. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 232, where the actual temperature T _RE and the actual humidity H _RE of the hot air blown on the recording material 70 are detected by the temperature sensor 120 and the humidity sensor 122. Then, in step 234, the amount of power to the heater 82 of the heating and drying unit 64 is adjusted based on the detected temperature T _RE and humidity H _RE .

For example, when the humidity H _RE is lower than a predetermined level by a predetermined value or more, the volatilization rate of the solvent by blowing hot air is lower than the volatilization rate V ₂ obtained from the equation (1) or (2). Therefore, the set temperature T is corrected so that the set temperature T becomes lower by a predetermined temperature, and the amount of electricity supplied to the heater 82 is adjusted according to the deviation between the corrected set temperature T and the detected temperature _TRE . When the humidity H _RE is higher than the previously assumed humidity by a predetermined value or more, the volatilization rate of the solvent becomes (1)
Since the volatilization rate V ₂ obtained from the equation (2) is smaller than the volatilization rate V ₂ , the set temperature T is corrected so that the set temperature T increases by a predetermined temperature, and the deviation between the corrected set temperature T and the detected temperature T _RE. The amount of power to the heater 82 is adjusted in accordance with. This step 234 also corresponds to the control by the control means.

When the processing of step 234 is performed, step 2
Returning to step 30, steps 230 to 234 are repeated until the determination in step 230 is affirmative. Thus, when the recording material 70 on which the image is recorded comes into contact with the transport roller 74D or when a transparent film is formed on the recording material 70, the solvent adhering to the recording material 70 becomes a desired dry state. As described above, the heat energy amount can be controlled with high accuracy. Then, when the recording material 70 is discharged from the heating / drying unit 64, the determination in step 230 is affirmed, and the process ends. As described above, thermal energy is applied to the recording material 70 to which the solvent has adhered in accordance with the image recording, and the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording material 70 or substantially the entire amount of the solvent adhering to the recording material 70 is removed. The processing capacity of the inkjet printer 20 (the number of recorded images per unit time)
High performance can be achieved.

The configuration of the heating / drying section 64 is not limited to the above. For example, as disclosed in JP-A-5-289297, the drying rack through which the recording material passes is connected to the blowout port of the blower. A configuration may be adopted in which a hot air circulation path is formed by connecting each with the suction port, and the hot air is circulated in the circulation path while purifying the circulation air with an air filter and mixing with the outside air. 6-
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 324469, a configuration is employed in which a plurality of heaters are arranged in a direction transverse to the direction in which hot air flows, and the bias of the temperature distribution is compensated by separately controlling the energization of each heater. May be. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
As disclosed in JP-A-76346 and JP-A-8-76344, by transporting the recording material in a state of being suspended in the air by the wind pressure of hot air, it is possible to prevent the image recording surface of the recording material from coming into contact with foreign matter. A configuration in which heat energy is applied while blocking the heat may be employed.

In the above description, an example in which thermal energy is applied to a recording material by blowing hot air onto the recording material has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In the vicinity of the conveyance path, and heat energy may be applied to the recording material by radiant heat from the heating means.

In the above description, the set temperature T of the hot air for all the images to be recorded on the recording material 70 is fixed, and substantially constant heat energy is applied to the portion of the recording material 70 where the images are recorded. In particular, when a transparent film is formed on the recording material 70, the amount of heat energy required to remove substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording material 70 largely depends on the amount of the solvent attached to the recording material 70. For this reason,
The amount of thermal energy (for example, the temperature T of hot air) to be applied to the recording material may be set and controlled in units of a single frame or a plurality of frames, based on the solvent adhesion amount of the single or multiple frames.

Controlling the amount of thermal energy to be applied to the recording material in single or multiple frame units is, for example, in a mode in which thermal energy is applied by blowing hot air onto the recording material. Is divided into a plurality of areas, and a hot air generating mechanism (for example, a mechanism including a blower, a heater, and a guide member for guiding generated hot air to an image recording surface of a recording material) is provided for each area, and recording is performed in each area. The temperature of the hot air blown onto the material is separately controlled (for example, when the recording material is conveyed, when the boundaries of the portions of the image recording surface of the recording material to which different amounts of heat energy are applied sequentially pass through each region, For example, the temperature of the hot air blown to the recording material in each area is sequentially switched from the upstream area in accordance with the movement of the boundary. Also, in an embodiment in which thermal energy is applied by radiation from a heating unit such as an infrared heater, a large number of heating units are arranged along the recording material conveyance path, and the amount of heat energy applied to the recording material by each heating unit is reduced. This can be realized by separately controlling as described above. From the above, the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording material is
The optimization can be performed in units of single or multiple frames.

Further, in the above, when the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording material is removed, the amount of heat energy (temperature of hot air T ) Is set and controlled, but is not limited to this. The reflectance of the recording material with respect to light of a predetermined wavelength (for example, infrared light) decreases as the amount of the solvent attached to the surface layer of the recording material decreases. A reflectance sensor comprising a light emitting element that emits infrared light and a photoelectric conversion element that photoelectrically converts infrared light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected by a recording material at at least one place (preferably a plurality of places). Reflectance detecting means), the reflectance sensor measures infrared reflectance at each part of the image recording surface of the recording material, and the heating / drying unit 64 applies thermal energy to the recording material based on the measurement result. The rate of decrease in the infrared reflectance of each part of the image recording surface of the recording material is detected, and the portion where the rate of decrease of the infrared reflectance is 0 or a value close to 0 is recorded. Fee is determined that the solvent is removed from the surface layer may be controlled to apply a further heat energy to the moiety is stopped. This control corresponds to the control by the control means according to the fourth aspect.

When heat energy is applied to the recording material, the surface temperature of the recording material hardly rises in a state where the solvent remains on the surface layer of the recording material, and when the solvent is removed from the surface layer of the recording material. Since it clearly starts to rise, for example, at least one of the recording material in the heating / drying section 64 near the conveyance path of the recording material.
A temperature sensor (surface temperature detecting means according to claim 4) for detecting the surface temperature of the recording material is provided at a plurality of locations (preferably a plurality of locations). Is measured, and a change in the surface temperature in each part of the image recording surface of the recording material is detected based on the measurement result. It may be determined that the solvent has been removed from the surface layer of the recording material for the portion that is changing at the changing speed, and control may be performed so that the application of further thermal energy to the portion is stopped. This control also corresponds to the control by the control means according to the fourth aspect.

Further, in removing the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording material until the foreign matter comes into contact with the image recording surface of the recording material, the ink droplet infiltration speed into the recording material, the light of a predetermined wavelength, The amount of thermal energy applied to the recording material may be controlled by using two or more parameters of the reflectance of the recording material and the surface temperature of the recording material.

Further, in the above, in removing substantially the entire amount of the solvent adhering to the recording material, the amount of heat energy applied to the recording material is determined based only on the amount of the solvent adhering to the recording material. As the ink droplet infiltration speed increases, the amount of solvent penetrating into the image receiving layer of the recording material increases, so the amount of energy required for removing the solvent from the recording material may increase. For this reason, for example, when removing substantially the entire amount of the solvent attached to the recording material having a particularly high ink droplet infiltration speed, the ink droplets applied to the recording material are increased so that the amount of energy applied to the recording material becomes larger. The amount of heat energy to be applied to the recording material may be determined in consideration of the dyeing speed.

In the above description, the amount of thermal energy (total amount) applied to the recording material 70 is adjusted by adjusting the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording material 70 per unit time (temperature T of hot air blown onto the recording material 70). Instead of adjusting the amount of heat energy per unit time,
The time during which thermal energy is applied to the recording material (the time during which hot air is blown onto the recording material) may be adjusted. The time during which the thermal energy is being applied to the recording material is the distance over which the recording material is transported in the section where the thermal energy is being applied (corresponding to the second section in this embodiment), or the transport speed of the recording material in the section. Can be adjusted by changing. The total amount of thermal energy applied to the recording material may be adjusted by adjusting both the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording material per unit time and the time during which thermal energy is applied to the recording material.

Further, in the above description, the temperature T _ROOM in the housing 20A is set.
And the humidity H _ROOM , the amount of heat energy to be applied to the recording material in section 2 was determined in consideration of the volatilization amount of the solvent in section 1 and section 3, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the section 2 in which the recording material 70 is blown with hot air without considering the volatilization amount of the solvent in the section 1 and the section 3, the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording material is removed, or The heat energy amount may be determined so that substantially the entire amount of the attached solvent is removed.

[0123]

As described above, according to the first and the eleventh aspects of the present invention, the solvent attached to the recording medium is removed by applying thermal energy to the recording medium.
Whether a transparent film is formed on the recording medium on which the image is recorded, the type of the recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light having a predetermined wavelength,
Since the amount of thermal energy is controlled based on at least one of the surface temperature of the recording medium, the amount of the solvent in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium, and the amount of the recording liquid discharged onto the recording medium, the image quality of the recorded image There is an excellent effect that high performance of image recording by the ink jet recording method can be achieved without causing a decrease.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, when the transparent film is not formed, the foreign matter adheres to at least the surface layer of the recording medium before the foreign matter comes into contact with the image recording surface of the recording medium. The amount of thermal energy is controlled so that the solvent that is present is removed, and when a transparent film is formed, the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that almost the entire amount of the attached solvent is removed before the formation of the transparent film. , In addition to the above effects,
When a transparent film is formed, energy saving can be realized, and when a transparent film is formed, there is an effect that deterioration in the quality of a recorded image can be prevented.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the recording droplet infiltration speed of the recording medium is stored for each type of the recording medium, and the type of the recording medium is detected. Since the amount of thermal energy is controlled in accordance with the recording droplet infiltration speed of the recording medium so that the solvent adhering to the surface layer is removed, in addition to the above effects, the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is appropriately controlled. It has the effect of being able to.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the reflectance of the recording medium or the surface temperature of the recording medium with respect to the light having a predetermined wavelength is detected, and based on the change in the reflectance or the surface temperature, at least. Since the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed, there is an effect that, in addition to the above effects, the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium can be appropriately controlled.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium is detected based on the concentration and the ejection amount of the solvent in the recording droplet, and the approximate amount of the attached solvent is detected. Since the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that the entire amount is removed before the formation of the transparent film, there is an effect that the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium can be appropriately controlled in addition to the above effects.

The invention according to claim 7 is the invention according to claim 6, wherein the humidity of the air supplied to the recording medium by the heating means is detected, and the amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium is detected in accordance with the detected humidity. Since the adjustment is performed, in addition to the above-described effects, there is an effect that the heat energy applied to the recording medium can be more accurately controlled.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, at least the temperature and the humidity of the portion where the recording medium to which the recording liquid droplets are attached pass during a period in which no heat energy is applied by the heating means. Since one of them is detected and the amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is adjusted according to at least one of the detected temperature and humidity, there is an effect that energy saving can be realized in addition to the above effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image recording system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an ink jet printer.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the vicinity of a recording head of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a mechanism for supplying ink to a recording head.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the content of a heating drying / coating formation control process according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 inkjet printer 56 printer control unit 58 driver 60 recording head 61 material type sensor 63 in-machine environment detecting unit 64 heating and drying unit 65 transparent film forming unit 76 blower 82 heater 120 temperature sensor 122 humidity sensor 124 temperature sensor 126 humidity sensor 130 humidity sensor 132 coating head 132 Transparent polymer sheet 134 Laminating section 136 Secondary heating section

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Atsushi Ueshima 798, Miyadai, Kaisei-cho, Ashigara-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C056 EA04 EA13 EB13 EB14 EB30 EB31 EB45 EC14 EC29 FA03 FA04 FA10 HA29 HA47 2C061 AQ05 BB17 CK10

Claims (11)

[Claims] Recording means for ejecting recording droplets from an ejection port of a recording head in accordance with an image to be recorded on the recording medium, and attaching the recording droplets to the recording medium, thereby recording an image on the recording medium; A heating unit that removes a solvent contained in the recording droplets attached to the recording medium by applying thermal energy to the recording medium to which the recording droplets are attached by the recording unit; and a recording medium on which an image is recorded. Whether or not a transparent film is formed on the recording medium, the type of recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium with respect to light of a predetermined wavelength,
Heat applied to the recording medium by the heating means based on at least one of the surface temperature of the recording medium, the amount of solvent in the recording liquid droplets adhered to the recording medium, and the amount of the recording liquid ejected to the recording medium. An image recording apparatus, comprising: control means for controlling an amount of energy. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a film forming unit configured to form a transparent film on a recording medium on which an image is recorded by the recording unit, wherein the control unit determines whether a transparent film is formed on the recording medium on which the image is recorded. When the transparent film is not formed by the film forming means, the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed before the foreign matter comes into contact with the image recording surface of the recording medium. And
2. The image according to claim 1, wherein when the transparent film is formed by the film forming means, the amount of thermal energy is controlled such that substantially the entire amount of the attached solvent is removed before forming the transparent film. Recording device. 3. A storage unit for storing a recording droplet infiltration speed of a recording medium for each type of recording medium, and a medium type detecting unit for detecting a type of recording medium on which an image is recorded by the recording unit. The control means is based on the type of the recording medium detected by the medium type detection means, so that at least the solvent attached to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed, and the control means is stored in the storage means. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of heat energy is controlled according to a recording droplet infiltration speed of a recording medium. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a reflectance detecting unit configured to detect a reflectance of the recording medium with respect to the light having the predetermined wavelength, or a surface temperature detecting unit configured to detect a surface temperature of the recording medium. The amount of thermal energy is controlled such that at least the solvent adhering to the surface layer of the recording medium is removed based on the reflectance detected by the method or the change in the surface temperature of the recording medium detected by the surface temperature detecting means. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The control unit detects the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium based on the concentration of the solvent in the recording droplet and the amount of the recording droplet ejected to the recording medium, and detects the amount of the solvent attached to the recording medium. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of thermal energy is controlled so that substantially the entire amount is removed before forming the transparent film. 6. The heating unit applies heat energy to the recording medium by supplying heated air to the recording medium, and the control unit controls the temperature of the air supplied to the recording medium by the heating unit, The amount of heat energy applied to the recording medium is controlled by controlling at least one of the supply time of the heating air to the recording medium and the heating time.
The image recording apparatus as described in the above. 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a humidity detecting unit configured to detect a humidity of air supplied to the recording medium by the heating unit, wherein the control unit adds the humidity to the recording medium according to the humidity detected by the humidity detecting unit. The image recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the amount of heat energy to be applied is adjusted. 8. An environmental condition detecting means for detecting at least one of a temperature and a humidity of a portion of a recording medium to which a recording liquid droplet is adhered by said recording means during a period when heat energy is not applied by said heating means. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control unit adjusts an amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium according to at least one of a temperature and a humidity detected by the environmental state detecting unit. Image recording device. 9. A recording medium on which an image has been recorded by the recording means, further comprising a film forming means capable of selectively applying a plurality of kinds of film forming methods to form a transparent film, wherein the control means comprises: 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said film forming means is controlled such that the transparent film is formed by a film forming method selected from a plurality of kinds of film forming methods. 10. A first film forming method for forming a transparent film by applying thermal energy to a recording medium on which a film forming material has been previously attached to melt the film forming material, A second film forming method for forming a transparent film by applying a film forming material to a recording medium to which no film forming material is adhered and performing a predetermined post-processing, and a recording medium to which no film forming material is adhered That the transparent film can be formed by two or more of the third film forming methods of the third film forming method of forming a transparent film by sticking a film forming material formed into a sheet shape on the sheet. The image recording device according to claim 9, wherein: 11. An image recording method for recording an image on a recording medium by ejecting recording droplets from an ejection port of a recording head in accordance with an image to be recorded on the recording medium and attaching the recording droplets to the recording medium. In the removal of the solvent contained in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium by applying thermal energy to the recording medium having the recording liquid droplets adhered thereto, the transparent medium on the recording medium on which the image is recorded is removed. The presence or absence of film formation, the type of recording medium, the reflectance of the recording medium for light of a predetermined wavelength,
The amount of thermal energy applied to the recording medium is controlled based on at least one of the surface temperature of the recording medium, the amount of the solvent in the recording liquid droplets attached to the recording medium, and the amount of the recording liquid droplet ejected to the recording medium. An image recording method, comprising: