JP2003034024A - Ink jet printer and printing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet printer capable of performing printing in which an edge of a recording medium such as a tape is painted without gaps without leaving unpainted edges of the recording medium, and a printing method thereof. That is the task. SOLUTION: In a printing method of an ink jet printer which performs printing by an ink jet method on a recording medium T conveyed alone in one direction by a print head reciprocating in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, Printing is started before the leading end of the recording medium T conveyed relative to the recording medium T reaches the printing position by the print head, and the edge of the recording medium T in the transport direction and the direction perpendicular to the transport direction. It is characterized in that printing is performed by painting the entire surface of the recording medium T without gaps up to a position outside the end.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer having an ink jet type print head. More specifically, the present invention relates to an ink jet printer capable of filling the surface of a recording medium such as a tape without gaps and a printing method therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of inkjet printers are known. In these printers, the printable range is individually set for the specified recording medium size, and normally, the printing range is set to the upper, lower, right, It is defined as the left margin. Each margin is set to a value within the range of about 3 to 13 mm. Therefore, there is no proposal of a specification that allows printing up to the edge of the recording medium.

As an ink jet printer,
A small-sized printer configured to perform color printing on each color tape as a recording medium has been proposed. This type of small inkjet printer prints color on a tape by supplying ink from an ink tank of cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y) to an inkjet print head. It can be performed.

As a tape, an adhesive layer is formed on the back side of the tape, and the adhesive layer is covered with release paper.
There is one that can be attached as a label at a desired place by cutting after printing to a certain length and peeling off the release paper. Printers for printing on such tapes are called label printers, label word processors, etc., and have been on the market in recent years.

[0005]

When the ink jet printer is used to print on a recording medium, for example, a tape without gaps (solid printing),
There is a problem that an unpainted portion may be left on the edge (for example, the width direction) of the tape.

That is, assuming that the print head is reciprocally moved in the width direction of the tape to perform solid printing so as to eliminate unpainted residue at the edge in the tape width direction, the edge of the tape in the width direction at the start of printing. It is necessary to start the printing operation by the print head according to the edge and also stop the printing operation according to the edge of the tape in the width direction on the printing end side.

However, it is generally difficult to drive the print head to start printing accurately at the print start position or to stop printing accurately at the print stop position. The tape transport position may shift slightly in the width direction,
Alternatively, there is an influence of the reciprocating movement of the print head and the deviation of the ink droplet ejection operation.

If an accurate printing operation cannot be realized, for example, if the start of the printing operation is delayed from the time when the print head is located at the edge of the tape, unpainted residue will occur on the widthwise edge of the tape. Will end up.

In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to
Printing that fills part, the entire width, the entire length or the entire edge of the recording medium without leaving any unpainted portion on the edge of the recording medium such as tape (hereinafter, such printing operation is referred to as "solid printing"). It is intended to realize an inkjet printer and a printing method thereof capable of performing the above.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An ink jet printer of the present invention is an ink jet printer that uses a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction with respect to a recording medium that is unwound from a cartridge and is independently conveyed in one direction. In an inkjet printer that performs printing by a method, a recording medium conveying unit that conveys a recording medium alone, a head carriage unit that mounts a print head and reciprocates the print head, a recording medium conveying unit, a head carriage unit, and a print head And a print drive control means for setting the print range of the recording medium,
The print drive control means separates the print range of the print head in the transport direction and the print range in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction to the outside of the edge of the print medium in order to perform printing to fill the entire surface of the print medium with no gaps. It is characterized in that the printing is started before the leading end of the recording medium which is set to the position and is conveyed reaches the printing position by the print head.

In this case, the printed recording medium is cut at its printed portion, and the print drive control means is arranged such that the rear end of the recording medium at the cutting position after printing is the print head. It is preferable to continue printing until after passing the printing position.

In these cases, there is further provided an ink collecting means for receiving the ink of the print head ejected outside the edge of the recording medium at a position beyond the recording medium and absorbing and holding the received ink. Is preferred.

In this case, it is preferable that the ink collecting means is connected to an ink discharging means for sucking the collected and held ink.

In these cases, it is preferable that the ink collecting means is incorporated in a guide member that is arranged to face the print head and guides the conveyance of the recording medium.

In this case, the ink collecting means is composed of an ink absorbing portion for absorbing and holding the ink and a mesh filter arranged on the surface of the ink absorbing portion, and the mesh filter also serves as the guide surface of the guide member. Are preferred.

In these cases, there is further provided a width detecting means for detecting the medium width in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium,
It is preferable that the print drive control unit sets the print range in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction based on the detection result of the width detection unit.

In these cases, the recording medium is a long tape having a constant width, and the recording medium is accommodated in the cartridge in a roll-wound state so that the cartridge can be fed out. It is preferable that the cartridge is detachably mounted on the cartridge mounting portion having the formed opening / closing lid.

In this case, a plurality of types of recording media having different medium widths are prepared, the recording medium is a long tape having a constant width, and the recording medium is wound in a roll shape. In this state, the cartridge is removably accommodated in the cartridge, the cartridge is detachably attached to a cartridge attaching portion having an opening / closing lid formed in the apparatus main body, and the width detecting means is
The cartridge has a detector attached to the opening / closing lid for detecting the type of the recording medium, and the cartridge has a display for displaying the medium width of the recording medium and facing the detector.
preferable.

In these cases, the recording medium is preferably a transparent recording medium.

The printing method of the ink jet printer according to the present invention is applied to a recording medium which is independently transported in one direction.
In a printing method of an inkjet printer that performs inkjet printing by a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, the print head is relatively moved with respect to the recording medium, and the leading end of the transporting recording medium is The printing is started before reaching the printing position by the print head, and printing is performed so that the entire surface of the recording medium is filled up without gaps up to the position outside the edge of the recording medium in the transport direction and the direction orthogonal to the transport direction. And In this case, the printed recording medium is cut at its printed portion, the print head is moved relative to the recording medium, and the rear end of the recording medium at the cutting position after printing is printed. It is preferable to continue printing until after passing the print position by the head.

[0021]

For example, when the ink jet printer of the present invention is used to perform solid printing in which the width or length direction of a recording medium is filled without any gap, the print drive control means causes a printing range wider than the width or length of the recording medium. Is set. Therefore, the printing by the print head is started before reaching the edge on the print start side of the conveyed recording medium and is finished at the time after passing the edge on the print end side of the recording medium. . By setting the print start position to a position that is a sufficient distance before the edge on the print start side and the print end position to a position that has passed a sufficient distance from the edge on the print end side, the width direction of the recording medium In addition, no unpainted state occurs at the edge in the longitudinal direction.

Here, the ink droplets ejected from the print head during the printing operation before and after passing the recording medium are collected by the ink collecting means. Therefore,
It is possible to avoid such an adverse effect that the ink droplets ejected during the overflow printing adhere to, for example, the surface of the guide member that is arranged to face the print head and stain the subsequent recording medium.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a portion cut along the line II-II. The inkjet printer 1 of this example is of a type called a “label printer”, a “label word processor” or the like that prints on the surface of a tape having an adhesive layer covered with a release paper on the back side. is there.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink jet printer 1 has a casing 101 having a thin rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and a front half of the upper surface thereof is an operation surface 102. Various keys are arranged here, and a print button 103 for instructing a print operation, a power button 104, and the like are also included. An opening / closing lid 105 is attached to the rear half of the casing 101. The opening / closing lid 105 can be opened and closed centering on its rear end so that the inside is opened when viewed from the operation surface 102 side, and the lock is released by operating the lid opening / closing button 106 arranged on the operation surface 102. You can open it.

When the lid 105 is opened, a mounting portion 23 for the tape cartridge 3 described later is formed inside. Therefore, the tape cartridge 3 can be attached and detached by opening the lid. A transparent window 105a is attached to the lid 105, and it is possible to confirm whether or not the tape cartridge 3 is attached through this window. At a position adjacent to the lid 105, a liquid crystal display unit 107 for displaying character information and the like input via the keys on the operation surface 102 is arranged.

On the other hand, the back side surface 101 of the casing 101
A tape discharge port 101b is formed in a, and the tape after printing is discharged to the outside through this. The tape ejected from here is guided by the tape ejection guide plate 108. The operation surface 102
A power supply unit 112, a battery 113 such as a nickel-cadmium battery, and the like are mounted inside the casing 101 on the back side of the.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a schematic structure of a main part of the ink jet printer 1 mounted in the casing 101. In the figure, reference numeral 2 is a base for mounting each component, which is mounted on the bottom plate of the casing 101. On top of this, tape cartridge 3,
Three ink tanks 4 (4C, 4M, 4Y) and an ink jet type print head 5 are arranged. The print head 5 is carried by a head carriage 6, and the head carriage 6 is supported by lead screws 7 that are bridged between the left and right side walls 21 and 22 of the base 2. The carriage 6 is supported by a guide shaft (not shown) arranged in parallel with the lead screw 7 so as to be movable left and right (in the axial direction of the lead screw) in a non-rotatable state. Therefore, by rotating the lead screw 7, the head carriage 6 and the print head 5 carried thereon can be reciprocated in the left-right direction (first direction) indicated by arrows A and B in the drawing.

At the center of the moving range of the print head 5, a tape guide member 8 is arranged so as to face the print head 5. The tape guide member 8 is a member corresponding to a platen arranged to face a print head of another printing type such as a thermal printer, and defines a print position of the print head 5.

In this example, the guide member 8 constitutes an ink collecting means. As shown in FIG. 5, the surface of the guide member 8 of this example is formed by a rectangular ink filter 81 capable of absorbing and passing ink.
The ink filter 81 can be composed of, for example, a mesh filter made of stainless steel. The ink filter 81 is attached to the surface of a rectangular parallelepiped ink absorbing portion 82 made of an ink absorbing material.
Therefore, the ink attached to the surface of the guide member 8 passes through the ink filter 81 and is absorbed by the ink absorber 82 side.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the head cap mechanism 9 is arranged at a position closer to the side wall 22 than the guide member 8. The head cap mechanism 9 is located outside the reciprocating range of the print head 5 during printing. In the unused state, the print head 5 moves to the position of the head cap mechanism 9 and is held in a closed state by the cap surface 91 of the cap mechanism 9.
At the lateral position of the tape cartridge 3, an ink pump 1 for manually forcibly supplying ink from the ink tank 4 to the print head 5 before printing is started.
1 is arranged.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the main components of the ink jet printer 1 of FIG. 3 when viewed from above. The configuration of the main part of the inkjet printer 1 of this example will be described in detail with reference to this drawing as well.

First, the tape cartridge 3 has a case 31 having a constant thickness, a core shaft 32 rotatably accommodated in the case 31, and a constant width W1 wound around the outer circumference thereof.
Of tape T. The upper half of the front end surface of the case 31 projects forward, and is composed of a tape guide 33 formed of a PET film and a tape pressing roller 34 pressed against the surface with a constant elastic force. And a tape feeding portion. The tip of the tape T is initially set in a state of being sandwiched between them. The support member 35 of the tape pressing roller 34 is supported by the case 31 side via a coil spring 36 so as to be vertically movable with respect to the tape guide 33. The support member 35 is connected to the lever 37.
The lever 37 has a front end surface 37 a protruding from the upper surface of the case 31 to the outside. When the tip end surface 37a is pushed in, the tape pressing roller 34 is pressed against the tape guide 33 side in conjunction with this. Further, on the upper surface of the case 31, six display portions 38 for displaying the width dimension of the built-in tape T are formed.

On the side of the ink jet printer body to which the tape cartridge 3 of this structure is detachably mounted,
A mounting portion 23 for mounting this is formed. In this mounting portion 23, the tape feed roller 12 is arranged at a position directly below the tape guide 33 that defines the tape feeding portion of the tape cartridge 3.
The roller 12 has a shape in which a large diameter portion and a small diameter portion are alternately formed. Further, as described above, the opening / closing lid 105 for attaching / detaching the tape cartridge to / from the mounting portion 23 is attached immediately above the tape cartridge 3.

As described above, in this example, the recording medium supply source is
The tape cartridge 3 in which the tape T is housed and the mounting portion 23 in which the tape cartridge 3 is mounted are basically configured.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, this opening / closing lid 105
A push-in portion 105b that can push in the tip end surface 37a of the lever 37 protruding from the upper surface of the tape cartridge when it is closed is formed on the. The opening / closing lid 105 facing the display section 38 for displaying the tape width dimension formed on the upper surface of the case of the tape cartridge 3 is provided with a detection section 105c for detecting these.

Next, the transport path of the tape T fed from the tape cartridge 3 will be described. The tape T is delivered by rotating the tape feed roller 12. A plurality of tape guide pieces 13 made of PET film are arranged in contact with the outer circumference of the small diameter portion of the tape feed roller 12. These tape guide pieces 13
By this, the tip of the tape T is reliably guided toward the front side in the transport direction. A tape guide 14 made of stainless steel is arranged on the front side of the tape guide pieces 13 in the transport direction. The tape T is guided toward the printing position by the guide 14 and the guide 15 facing the guide 14. The printing position is defined by the print head 5 and the guide member 8 facing the print head 5. The surface of the guide member 8 is a mesh filter 81, which is arranged on the surface of the ink absorbing portion 82 formed of the ink absorbing material. The tape T that has passed this printing position passes through the tape cutting position 17 while being pressed against the tape guide 16 side by the tape pressing roller 15, and is carried out from the tape discharge port 101b to the outside.

A drive force transmission system of the head carriage 6 carrying the tape feed roller 12 and the print head 5 described above will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base 2
The tape feed motor 18 is attached to the inside of the side wall 22. The motor output shaft 18a is provided with a gear train 181.
Is connected to the end of the rotary shaft 121 of the tape feed roller 12. In this example, the gear train 181 has a power switching function, and when the head carriage 6 moves to the side wall 22 side and pushes the protrusion 182 protruding inward from the side, the power transmission path is switched. , Motor 1
8 is transmitted to the cap mechanism 9 side. As described above, in this example, the tape transporting means, which is a recording medium, is basically constituted by the tape feed roller 12, the motor 18 that is a drive source of the tape, and the gear train 181 for transmitting power from the motor 18 to the roller 12. It is configured.

On the other hand, a head drive motor 19 is arranged inside the other side wall 21 on the base. The motor output shaft 19a is a reduction mechanism 19 including a gear train.
It is connected to the end of the lead screw 7 via 1.

Next, the ink supply means is the ink tank 4
And three ink tubes 41 (41Y, 41M, 41) for supplying ink to the print head 5 from here.
C) and an ink pump 11 for manually forcibly supplying ink. The three ink tanks 4C, 4M, and 4Y store inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow colors, respectively, and color printing is possible using these inks.

Here, the ink jet printer 1 of this example
In FIG. 4, the maximum width of the mountable tape T is set to W (max) as shown in FIG. The printable range W (p) of the print head 5 in the tape width direction (moving direction of the print head 5) is the maximum tape width W.
The range is slightly wider to the left and right than (max).
The mesh filter 81 that defines the surface of the guide member 8 is arranged over the printable range.

Therefore, in the case of the example shown in the figure, since the width of the loaded tape is W1, the printable range of the print head 5 is set to the range W (p1) including this.

The tape width of the tape cartridge 3 to be mounted is such that the tape width is 6 on the upper surface of the case 31.
It can be detected by reading the individual display units 38. For example, the tape width dimension is displayed depending on whether or not a hole is formed in each display unit 38, and the presence or absence of holes in these display units is determined by a mechanical sensor or an optical sensor that constitutes the detection unit 105c on the inkjet printer side. It may be detected by any sensor.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic structure of a control system of the ink jet printer 1 of this example. 100 in the figure
Is a control circuit composed of a microcomputer, and an input unit 110 composed of a group of keys arranged on the operation surface 102 of the inkjet printer 1 is connected to this input side. Further, a detection unit 105c for detecting the tape width is connected. Control circuit 100
On the output side of the display unit 107, a display unit 107 such as a liquid crystal display device for performing various displays, a printer controller 140 for controlling the printing operation of the print head 5, and each motor 1
A motor driver 150 for controlling the drive of 8 and 19;
160 is connected. Under the control of the control circuit 100 based on a control program stored in advance in the ROM of the control circuit 100, the mounted tape cartridge 3
A printable range corresponding to the width of the tape accommodated in the tape is set, and operations such as solid printing described below are performed. As described above, in this example, the print drive control unit is configured with the control circuit 100 as the center.

A solid coating printing in which the entire width of the tape T is filled with the ink by the ink jet printer 1 of this embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration will be described. In this case, no margin is set at both ends of the tape T in the width direction, and the print range is
It is set to a range W (p1) wider than the tape width W1.
By driving the motor 18 and rotating the tape feed roller 12, the tape T is unwound from the tape cartridge 3 and conveyed toward the printing position. The lead screw 7 is rotated by the motor 19 in synchronization with the transport operation of the tape T, and the print head 5 is moved by the carriage 6. The print head 5 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the figure, and printing is started from the time when it takes time to reach the edge T1 of the tape T conveyed to the printing position, that is, time T0 in FIG. In addition, at the end of printing by this forward movement, the tape T
4 after passing the other edge T2 of
It is time point 3.

As described above, in the ink jet printer 1 of this example, since printing is performed in a printing range wider than the conveyed tape width W1, unpainted portion is left at the edge T1 or T2 of the tape T. There is no such thing.

Here, when such printing is performed, the ink is ejected from the print head in the printing operation on the front side of the edge T1 of the tape T and the printing operation after passing through the edge T2 of the tape T. The ink droplets fly to the guide member 8 side without adhering to the tape T. In this example, since the surface 81 of the guide member 8 is arranged over the printable range, the ejected ink droplets do not fly to other parts and adhere to the other parts. Adhere to. Further, in this example, the guide member 8 is the mesh filter 81.
And an ink absorbing portion 82 continuous with this. Therefore, the ink droplets ejected toward the surface 81 of the guide member and adhering to the surface 81 pass through the mesh filter 81, reach the ink absorbing portion 82 on the rear side, and are absorbed and held there. Therefore, the ink droplets remain attached to the surface of the guide member, and the tape T transported later is not contaminated by the ink droplets.

In this way, by using the ink jet printer 1 of this example, the full width printing of the tape can be performed without leaving an unpainted portion and without staining other parts of the tape with ink droplets. It is possible.

After the printing is completed, the head carriage 6 carrying the print head 5 moves in the direction of the arrow B and returns to the end as shown in the figure, and the rotary cutter 61 mounted on the carriage 6 is driven. Then, in this state, the carriage 6 moves in the direction of arrow A. This allows the tape T
Is cut into a certain length and discharged to the outside.

After this, the roller 12 is driven by the motor 18.
Rotates in the reverse direction, and the leading end of the tape T is returned to immediately before the printing position. Further, the carriage 6 moves to the other side wall 22, and the side surface pushes the protrusion 182 outward. As a result, the connection between the motor 18 and the tape feed roller 12 is broken, and the roller 12 stops. Instead, the cap mechanism 9 is driven so that the print head 5 is capped.

When the opening / closing lid 105 covering the mounting portion 23 is opened in order to replace the tape cartridge 3, the tape T whose front end is located in front of the printing position is rewound and its front end is rewound. It returns to a position between the pressing roller 34 and the tape guide 33 which define the tape feeding portion of the tape cartridge.

As described above, in the ink jet printer 1 of this embodiment, a printing range wider than the width of the loaded tape is set so that the full width printing of the tape is performed and the guide member is used. As the above, a device having an ink absorbing surface capable of absorbing ink over a range including a printable range is adopted. Therefore, it is possible to perform solid coating without leaving uncoated areas on both end portions of the tape. Further, since the ink droplets ejected by the printing at the positions deviated from both ends of the tape are absorbed by the guide member, the conveyed tape is not contaminated.

When solid printing is performed only on one edge side in the width direction on the tape surface, the printing operation is performed from a point before this edge or a point after passing this edge. Just set the print range.

Further, in the above description, the operation of performing printing so that the unpainted residue does not occur on both ends of the tape has been described. Of course, it is also possible to perform printing so that no unpainted portion is left on the front and rear edges of the tape. For example, in order to prevent the unpainted portion from occurring on the front end of the tape, printing may be started before the front end of the tape reaches the print position of the print head. In order to prevent the unpainted portion from remaining on the trailing edge of the tape, continue printing until the trailing edge of the tape (printing end edge) has passed the print position, and cut the tape at the printing end point. You can do it. In this case, as the ink collecting means, one having an ink absorbing surface having a required width in the tape transport direction may be adopted.

(Second Embodiment) FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 show the main parts of an ink jet printer most suitable for solid printing on a large size recording medium such as a poster. However, it goes without saying that the present example can be applied to a recording medium having a relatively small size such as the tape described in the first embodiment.

The ink jet printer 200 of this example is
Basically, except that the recording medium is a paper sheet such as a poster, the carriage mechanism of the print head is a belt / pulley type, and the configuration of the ink collecting means formed in the paper guide is different. This is the same as the first embodiment. Therefore, in the following description, only these different parts will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 7, in the ink jet printer 200 of the present example, the carriage 202 which carries the print head on its lower surface also carries ink cartridges 203Y, 203M and 203C of three colors. . One side of the carriage 202 is supported along the surface of the carriage guide plate 204 so as to be capable of reciprocating in the width direction of the recording paper 205. Carriage 20
The other side of 2 is supported by a carriage guide shaft 206 running parallel to the guide plate 204 so as to be capable of reciprocating in the same direction. The carriage 202 supported in this manner is connected to the timing belt 209 that is stretched between the drive pulley 207 and the driven pulley 208. The drive pulley 207 is attached to the output shaft of the carriage motor 210. Therefore, by driving the motor 210, the print head carried on the carriage 202 can be reciprocated in the width direction of the recording paper 205 being conveyed.

Carriage 2 carrying a print head
02 to the recording paper 205 in the conveying direction (upstream)
A paper feed roller 221 and a pair of paper pressing rollers 222 and 223 pressed against the outer peripheral surface are arranged on the side, and the recording paper 205 passes between them and reaches the printing position by the print head. It is transported toward.

A guide member for the recording medium 205 is provided below the print head over at least the reciprocating range of the print head, and the ink recovery mechanism 211 is provided in the guide member.
Are arranged. As shown in FIG. 8, the ink collecting mechanism 211 carries a rectangular ink collecting container 212 that is sufficiently wider than the width of the recording paper to be carried, and an ink absorbing material 213 arranged inside the container. A plurality of guide ribs 214 for guiding the recording paper are provided. The ink recovery container 212 includes a bottom plate 212a and front, rear, left and right side walls 212b, 212c, 2 rising from the periphery thereof.
12d and 212e, and the upper side is open. The ink absorbing material 213 is arranged in a U-shape on the bottom surface 212a of the ink recovery container 212 so as to extend from the side wall 212b to the left and right side walls 212c and 212d. Then, from the bottom wall 212a surrounded by the inner peripheral edges of the ink absorbing material 213 on three sides and the front side wall 212e of the ink recovery container, a fan-shaped guide rib 214 is formed.
Are formed so as to vertically project at an equal pitch in the width direction. The upper ends of the ribs 214 project slightly above the upper end surface of the ink recovery container 212, and therefore the recording paper 205 passing over the ink recovery container 212 is guided by the upper end portions of the ribs 214. To be done.

Here, the bottom wall 21 of the ink recovery container 212
2a is provided with an ink discharging means. That is,
The ink absorbing tube 215 is connected to the ink absorbing material 2.
It communicates with the 13 side. The other side of the ink recovery pipe 215 is connected to the side of an ink suction pump (not shown).

In the printer of this example having the ink recovery mechanism as described above, as shown in FIG. 9, the left and right ink absorbing material portions are located at the passage positions of both end portions of the recording paper 205 being conveyed. The width is set to include the print width W (p) which is set to be wider than the maximum width W (max) of the recording paper 205. Then, as in the first embodiment, in the width direction of the recording paper 205 being conveyed, printing is started from the time before the print head reaches the edge 205L of the recording paper, and the edge 205R of the recording paper is moved. By continuing the printing until after passing, the solid printing without leaving the unpainted area on both ends is performed. When such printing is performed, ink droplets which have not adhered to the front surface of the recording paper and have flown to the back surface thereof reach the surface of the ink absorbing material 213 of the ink recovery mechanism 211,
It is absorbed inside this. Therefore, the harmful effect such as the subsequent recording paper becoming dirty does not occur.

Further, in this example, the following is performed in order to apply a solid coating so that the front and rear ends of the recording paper 205 in the transport direction cannot be left unpainted. The print position by the print head is indicated by line P in FIG. This printing position is the width of the ink absorbing material in the transport direction (line L
(Between 1 and L2). When the front end 205F of the recording paper 205 reaches (upstream) before reaching the line P, printing by the print head is started.
Further, printing is continued until the rear edge 205R of the recording paper 205 has passed the line P. By performing printing in this manner, it is possible to perform solid coating printing in which no unpainted residue occurs at the front and rear edges (downstream side edge and upstream side edge in the transport direction) of the recording paper 205. Even if such printing is performed, the ink droplets that fly without adhering to the recording paper are reliably captured by the ink absorbing material on the back surface side and absorbed inside. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the adverse effect that the ink droplets adhere to an undesired portion and stain the subsequent recording paper.

Here, in this example, the ink absorbing material 213 is arranged in a U-shape. Of course, the ink recovery container 212
The rectangular ink absorbing material 213 may be arranged over the entire bottom surface of the. Further, they may be arranged in a frame shape. However, in this example, since the ink absorbing material 213 is arranged only in the portion where the ink droplets fly, the amount of the ink absorbing material 213 used is small, which is economical. Further, the installation space for the ink absorbing material is small. Even if the usage amount is reduced in this way, there is no problem because the present embodiment is provided with the ink discharging means, as described below.

That is, in this example, the ink absorbing material 213
An ink recovery pipe 215 is connected to the device 1, so that the ink collected here can be recovered and removed. Therefore, it is possible to avoid an adverse effect such that the ink is excessively accumulated in the ink absorbing material 213 and the recovery efficiency thereof is reduced.

In this example, the width dimension of the recording paper 205 is detected as follows. That is, the reflective optical sensor 231 is attached to the side surface of the head carriage 202. The sensor 231 detects the width dimension of the recording paper to be conveyed or the position where the widthwise edge of the recording paper passes. Based on this detection result, a printing range that is wider than both ends of the recording paper is set. The sensors 231 may be installed on both sides of the carriage, and the positions of both ends may be detected based on the detection results of both sensors. Or when using one sensor,
By moving the carriage in the width direction before printing,
It suffices to detect both end positions of the recording paper.

(Modification of Second Embodiment) FIG. 10 shows a modification of the ink collecting mechanism in the second embodiment. The ink recovery mechanism 311 of this example also includes the ink recovery container 312 and the ink absorbing material 31 disposed inside the ink recovery container 312.
The carriage 31 is composed of three
4 reciprocates integrally with the print head carriage 315.

That is, the ink collecting mechanism 311 is supported by the carriage 314, and the carriage 314 has a pair of guide shafts 316 and 317 extending in parallel.
It is supported by reciprocating movement. The carriage 314 is connected to a timing belt 318, and the timing belt 318 is stretched between a drive pulley 319 and a driven pulley 320. The drive pulley 319 is connected to the output shaft of the carriage motor 322 via the reduction gear train 321. On the other hand, the head carriage 315 carrying the print head is
The guide plate 332, the guide shaft 3 and
It is supported by 33 so as to be capable of reciprocating. Then, it is connected to a timing belt 336 that is stretched between the drive pulley 334 and the driven pulley 335. The drive pulley 334 is connected to the output shaft of the carriage motor 322 via the gear train 337. In this example, the two timing belts 318 and 336 are synchronously driven to reciprocate the ink recovery mechanism 311 integrally with the print head.

Between the head carriage 315 and the ink collecting mechanism 314, a guide member 36 having a width wider than the maximum printing width is provided.
1 is arranged, and the guide member 361 is the recording paper 36.
2 extends toward the front (upstream) side in the transport direction of 2 by a predetermined length.

Since the ink collecting mechanism 311 of the present embodiment thus constructed moves together with the print head, the ink absorbing material is arranged over the width including the reciprocating range of the print head as in the second embodiment. You don't have to. Therefore, the ink recovery mechanism can be made compact. In particular, in an ink jet printer that prints a recording paper having a width of 1 meter such as a large poster, it is preferable to configure an ink collecting mechanism over the entire width as in the second embodiment. In some cases, it may be advantageous to configure the ink recovery mechanism to move integrally with the print head, as in the example.

In this example also, the ink absorbing material 31
3 through the ink recovery pipe 341 to the ink recovery pump 3
It is desirable that the ink be sucked by 42 and collected in the ink tank 343.

(Other Embodiments) In each of the above embodiments, three color inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow are incorporated for color printing.
Ink tanks are installed. However, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to a color printer, and can be applied to, for example, an ink jet printer in which only a black ink tank or only one color ink tank is mounted.

Further, in the case of performing color printing, instead of the above-mentioned respective embodiments, three colors of cyan, magenta and yellow are used.
In addition to colored inks, it is desirable to configure to use white inks as well. By doing so, each color can be printed with good reproducibility even when the ground color of the recording medium is other than white.

That is, the colors formed by mixing the cyan, magenta, and yellow colors are only red, green, blue, and black, and the other colors are expressed by area gradation by the dither method. Therefore, these colors are often inferior to the colors expressed by normal printing, and the color reproducibility is poor. Further, when printing is performed on a recording medium whose ground color is not white, black characters can be printed by mixing three colors, but white characters cannot be reproduced by using three colors of cyan, magenta and yellow. However, if a white ink is used in addition to these three colors, such an adverse effect can be avoided.

On the other hand, as the recording medium, the background color was not particularly mentioned. Basically, any color recording medium can be used in the printer of the present invention. In the case of an inkjet printer equipped with four color inks of cyan, magenta, yellow and white as described above, it is preferable to prepare a transparent recording medium, for example, a transparent tape, because all colors can be reproduced. .

[0075]

As described above, in the ink jet printer of the present invention, solid printing is performed by setting a printing range that exceeds the width or length of a recording medium such as tape. Therefore, it is possible to realize solid coating printing with no coating residue on the edge of the recording medium.

Further, since the present invention has the ink collecting means for collecting the ink droplets ejected at the time of printing at the position outside the edge of the recording medium, the ink droplets ejected at the time of such printing are guided. It is possible to avoid a harmful effect such as being adhered to a member or the like and contaminating a subsequent recording medium.

Further, by adopting a construction in which the ink collected by the ink collecting means can be discharged by the ink discharging means, it is possible to prevent the ink collecting means from being filled with the collected ink and collecting more ink. it can.

On the other hand, if a tape is adopted as the recording medium and the tape cartridge is detachably attached to the main body of the ink jet printer,
This has the advantage that the tape of the desired color and width can be easily installed. In this case, if dimension display means for indicating the width dimension of the tape accommodated in the case of the tape cartridge is arranged, the print width corresponding to the mounted tape can be easily set based on this.

Further, if a transparent recording medium such as a transparent tape is used, there is an advantage that color reproducibility by solid printing can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an inkjet printer that is a first embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of the printer of FIG. 1 taken along line II-II.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the printer of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the inkjet printer of FIG. 4 as viewed from above.

5 is a configuration diagram showing only a paper guide of the printer of FIG.

6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a control system of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an inkjet printer which is a second embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a configuration diagram showing an ink recovery container of the printer of FIG. 7 taken out.

9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a printing operation of the printer of FIG. 7. FIG.

10 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a main part of an ink jet printer which is a modified example of the printer of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 inkjet printer 2 base 3 tape cartridges 38 Tape width display 4 ink tank 5 Inkjet print head 6 head carriage 7 lead screw 8 guide members 81 mesh screen (paper guide surface) 82 Ink absorption part 120 Tape width detector T tape (recording medium) W1 tape width W (p1) Print range for solid printing 200 inkjet printer 211 Ink collection mechanism 212 ink collection container 213 ink absorber 215 Ink collection tube 205 recording paper 311 Ink collection mechanism 314 Carriage of ink recovery mechanism 341 Ink collection tube 342 ink recovery pump 343 ink tank P print position

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 29, 2002 (2002.8.2)
9)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

7. The said ink recovery means, an ink jet printer according to claim 3 or 6, characterized in that the ink discharging means for sucking the absorbed held ink is connected.

8. The width detection means for detecting the direction of medium width perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording medium, further comprising the print drive control means based on a detection result of said width detection means, said the ink jet printer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that to set the print area in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.

Wherein said recording medium is an elongated tape of a predetermined width, the recording medium, feeding can be accommodated in the cartridge in a state of being wound into a roll, the cartridge device body the ink jet printer according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that it is detachably mounted to the cartridge mounting portion having a lid formed in.

10. A printing method for an ink jet printer, which prints in an ink jet system by a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction with respect to a recording medium that is independently carried in one direction. Is relatively moved with respect to the recording medium, printing is started before the leading edge of the recording medium being conveyed reaches the printing position by the print head, and the conveying direction of the recording medium and a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. Printing method for an inkjet printer , wherein printing is performed up to a position outside the edge of the ink jet printer.

Wherein said recording medium after printing, the printed portion thereof is adapted to be cut, the print head is relatively moved with respect to the recording medium, the recording of a cutting position after printing 11. The printing method for an inkjet printer according to claim 10 , wherein printing is continued until after the rear end of the medium has passed the print position by the print head.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0010

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0010]

The inkjet printer of the present invention prints on a recording medium which is independently transported in one direction by an inkjet method by a print head which reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. In an inkjet printer for performing, a recording medium conveying unit that conveys a recording medium alone, a head carriage unit that mounts a print head and reciprocates the print head, a recording medium conveying unit, a head carriage unit, and a print head are controlled. , and a print drive control means for setting a print area of the recording medium, the print drive control means, the printing range in a direction orthogonal to the print range and the conveying direction of the conveying direction of the print head, the edge of each recording medium The print head is the tip of the recording medium that is set to a position that is more outward Characterized in that to start printing before reaching the printing position by.

[Procedure 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0011

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In this case, the printed portion of the recording medium after printing is cut, and the print drive control means is arranged such that the rear end of the recording medium at the cutting position after printing is the print head. It is preferable to continue printing until after passing the printing position.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0013

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

Another ink jet printer of the present invention is
The direction in which a recording medium is transported in one direction
The print head that reciprocates in the direction orthogonal to the
For inkjet printers that print using the jet method
A recording medium conveying means for conveying the recording medium, and printing
Mount the head and move the print head back and forth.
Head carriage means, recording medium conveying means, head carriage
Control the ridge means and print head,
A printing drive that sets the print range of the body to a wider range than the recording medium
The dynamic control means and the print head that moves back and forth.
Of the fixedly arranged
And a means for collecting ink on the recording medium.
The print head image ejected at a position outside the edge.
It is characterized by receiving a link .

[Procedure Amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0014

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In this case, the print drive control means determines the print range.
In the transport direction of the recording medium and in the direction orthogonal to this.
It is possible to set up to a position that is outside the edge of each
preferable.

[Procedure correction 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0015

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In these cases, the ink collecting means is the ink
It is preferable to have an ink absorbing member that absorbs and holds the ink .

[Procedure Amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0016

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In the third or sixth aspect, the ink collecting means
Is equipped with an ink discharge device that sucks the ink that has been absorbed and retained.
It is preferably connected .

[Procedure Amendment 8]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0017

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

In these cases, the recording medium is orthogonal to the conveying direction.
Further having a width detecting means for detecting the medium width in the direction of
The print drive control means is based on the detection result of the width detection means.
Therefore, it is preferable to set the printing range in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction .

[Procedure Amendment 9]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0018

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[0018] In these cases, the recording medium is long of constant width
-Shaped tape, the recording medium was wound into a roll
The cartridge is stored in the cartridge so that it can be
The cartridge is a cartridge with an opening / closing lid formed on the main body of the device.
It is preferably detachably attached to the attachment portion .

[Procedure Amendment 10]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0019

[Correction method] Delete

[Procedure Amendment 11]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0020

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The printing method of the ink jet printer according to the present invention is applied to a recording medium which is independently transported in one direction.
In a printing method of an inkjet printer that performs inkjet printing by a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, the print head is relatively moved with respect to the recording medium, and the leading end of the transporting recording medium is It is characterized in that printing is started before reaching the printing position by the print head , and printing is performed up to a position outside the edge of the recording medium in the transport direction and the direction orthogonal to the transport direction. In this case, the printed portion of the recording medium after printing is cut, the print head is moved relative to the recording medium, and the rear end of the recording medium, which is the cut position after printing, is printed. It is preferable to continue printing until after passing the print position by the head.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C055 CC00 CC01 CC03 CC05                 2C056 EA27 EC11 EC12 EC13 EC66                       JC10 JC15 JC17                 2C058 AB19 AC07 GA13 GB14 GB15                       GB31 GB32                 2C480 CA01 CA37 CA39 CA40 EC02

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer for performing printing by an ink jet method on a recording medium, which is unwound from a cartridge and is independently transported in one direction, by a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. A recording medium conveying unit that conveys a medium alone, a head carriage unit that mounts the print head and reciprocates the print head, and controls the recording medium conveying unit, the head carriage unit, and the print head, A print drive control unit that sets a print range of the recording medium, wherein the print drive control unit records the print range in the transport direction by the print head and the print range in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, In order to perform printing in which the entire surface of the medium is filled without any gap, Inkjet printer of set from edge to a position outside the outer side, and the leading end of the recording medium Yuku is conveyed, characterized in that to start printing before reaching the printing position by the printing head. 2. The printed recording medium is configured so that a printed portion thereof is cut, and the print drive control means is configured such that the rear end of the recording medium, which is a cut position after printing, is the printed medium. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the printing is continued until after the head has passed the printing position. 3. An ink collecting unit that receives ink of the print head ejected outside the edge of the recording medium at a position beyond the recording medium, and absorbs and holds the received ink. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, further comprising: 4. The ink jet printer according to claim 3, wherein the ink collecting means is connected to an ink discharging means for sucking the collected and held ink. 5. The ink recovery means is incorporated in a guide member that is arranged to face the print head and guides the conveyance of the recording medium.
Or the inkjet printer described in 4. 6. The ink collecting means includes an ink absorbing portion that absorbs and holds ink, and a mesh filter arranged on the surface of the ink absorbing portion, and the mesh filter also serves as a guide surface of the guide member. The inkjet printer according to claim 5, wherein the inkjet printer is a printer. 7. The print drive control means further includes width detection means for detecting a medium width of the recording medium in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction, and the print drive control means is configured to detect the width of the recording medium based on a detection result of the width detection means. 7. The inkjet printer according to claim 1, wherein a printing range is set in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. 8. The recording medium is a long tape having a constant width, and the recording medium is accommodated in the cartridge in a roll-wound state so that the cartridge can be drawn out. The ink jet printer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the ink jet printer is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion having an opening / closing lid formed in (1). 9. A plurality of types of recording media having different medium widths are prepared, the recording medium is a long tape having a constant width, and the recording medium is wound in a roll shape. The cartridge is accommodated in the cartridge so as to be able to be drawn out in a rotated state, the cartridge is detachably mounted to a cartridge mounting portion having an opening / closing lid formed in the apparatus main body, and the width detecting means is attached to the opening / closing lid. The detection unit for detecting the type of a recording medium is provided, and the cartridge has a display unit for displaying the medium width of the recording medium and facing the detection unit. The described inkjet printer. 10. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is a transparent recording medium. 11. A printing method for an ink jet printer, which prints in an ink jet system by a print head that reciprocates in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction with respect to a recording medium that is independently carried in one direction. Is relatively moved with respect to the recording medium, printing is started before the leading edge of the recording medium being conveyed reaches the printing position by the print head, and the conveying direction of the recording medium and a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. A printing method for an ink jet printer, characterized in that printing is performed so that the entire surface of the recording medium is filled up with no gaps to a position outside the edge of the recording medium. 12. The recording medium after printing is configured so that a printed portion thereof is cut, and the recording head is moved to a cutting position after printing by moving the print head relative to the recording medium. The printing method for an inkjet printer according to claim 11, wherein the printing is continued until after the rear end of the medium has passed the printing position by the print head.