JP2013223990A - Image recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A means for quickly recording an image on a sheet and quickly confirming the recorded image is provided.
A printer unit (11) includes a supply tray (20) on which a rectangular sheet (100) is placed along a short direction along a conveyance direction (105), and a sheet (100) placed on the supply tray (20) in a short direction. A recording head for recording an image by ejecting ink with a longitudinal direction as a scanning direction to a conveyance roller 23 that conveys the first conveyance path 21 as a conveyance direction 105 and a sheet 100 conveyed through the first conveyance path 21. 37. The recording head 37 records information in the longitudinal direction of the sheet 100 and the recording information in the horizontal direction along the short direction of the sheet.
[Selection] Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that records an image on a sheet, and a multifunction peripheral including the image recording apparatus.

  An image recording apparatus is known in which a pair of conveying rollers conveys a sheet and a platen supports it, a recording head discharges ink droplets on the sheet to record an image, and a pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet after image recording. ing.

  For example, as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3, in image recording, a carriage mounted with a recording head is positioned at the left end or right end of the sheet, and then the ink is transferred from the recording head while moving the carriage in one direction. To discharge. Although the contents of the image to be recorded are various, generally, in the case of a horizontally written document, the image is sequentially recorded on the sheet from the top side of the document with the horizontal writing direction as the moving direction of the recording head, that is, the main scanning direction.

JP 2002-103720 A JP 2005-212232 A JP 2011-143556 A

  However, for example, a document that is written horizontally along the A4 size short direction in JIS standards is transported along an A4 size sheet with the longitudinal direction along the transport direction, and image recording is performed with the short direction as the main scanning direction. In this case, the number of times of scanning the recording head with respect to the sheet is large, and the time required for image recording tends to be long.

  Further, there is a demand for the user to check the content of the image recorded on the sheet even during the image recording.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide means capable of quickly recording an image on a sheet and quickly confirming the recorded image. There is to do.

  (1) An image recording apparatus according to the present invention transports a rectangular sheet placed in a short direction along a short direction and a sheet placed on the supply tray in the short direction. A conveyance unit that conveys the conveyance path as a direction; and a recording unit that records an image by ejecting ink with a longitudinal direction as a scanning direction with respect to a sheet conveyed through the conveyance path. The recording unit records the image in the horizontal direction along the short direction of the sheet, which is the recording information with the left end at the end in the longitudinal direction of the sheet and the downstream side in the conveyance direction.

  Since image recording is performed with the longitudinal direction as the scanning direction, image recording can be performed quickly. In addition, since the recording information is recorded in the longitudinal direction of the sheet and the downstream end in the transport direction is the left end, and the horizontal recording information along the short direction is image-recorded, the amount of information is from the transport path. The left end side of a relatively large amount of recorded information is discharged first. Therefore, it is possible to quickly confirm the recording information on the sheet discharged from the conveyance path.

  (2) The transport unit includes a pair of transport rollers disposed upstream in the transport direction from the recording unit. The transport roller pair is inclined by contacting the downstream end of the transport direction and the length of the sheet in the downstream direction. It may be one that corrects the line.

  Since the end of the sheet, which is the left end of the horizontally written recording information, is brought into contact with the roller pair and skew correction is performed, an image in which the left end of the recording information is aligned is recorded on the sheet.

  (3) The transport unit may include a discharge roller pair disposed downstream in the transport direction from the recording unit.

  When the sheet passes through the pair of conveying rollers and is conveyed only by the pair of discharge rollers, the right end side of the recording information with a relatively small amount of information is image-recorded, so the amount of ink ejected on the sheet is relatively small, It is difficult for the sheet to lift up due to the ink.

  (4) The conveyance unit switches back and conveys the sheet on which the image is recorded on the first surface by the recording unit, and starts the upstream end in the conveyance direction of the sheet toward the upstream in the conveyance direction of the recording unit. Supplying again, the recording unit may perform image recording on the second surface of the sheet transported back.

  The upstream end in the sheet conveyance direction in the first-side recording, which is the head when switchback conveyance is performed, is the side where the amount of recording information is relatively small. Paper jam is unlikely to occur on the leading side of the sheet.

  (5) In a state in which the sheet is supplied from the supply tray, the maximum size sheet that can be placed on the supply tray may be placed with its short direction along the conveying direction. .

  (6) The A4 size sheet may be placed on the supply tray with its short direction along the conveying direction.

  (7) A multifunction machine according to the present invention includes the image recording apparatus and a rectangular document placement surface, wherein the short side direction of the document placement surface is a main scanning direction, and the longitudinal direction is sub-scanning. As the direction, the image reading device that reads the image of the document placed on the document placement surface and the information of the image read by the image reading device are rotated with the sub-scanning direction as the scanning direction of the recording unit. And an arithmetic device for recording information.

  According to the present invention, since image recording is performed with the longitudinal direction as the scanning direction, image recording can be performed quickly. In addition, since the left end side of the recording information having a relatively large amount of information is discharged first from the conveyance path, it is possible to quickly confirm the recording information on the discharged sheet.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a multifunction machine 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the internal structure of the printer unit 11. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a planar structure of the scanner unit 12. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a planar structure of the scanner unit 12 on which the document 110 is placed. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the control unit 50. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the skew correction is performed in the printer unit 11. FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which the skew correction is performed in the printer unit 11. FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which image recording is performed in the printer unit 11. FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which image recording is performed on the first surface in the printer unit 11. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state where the switchback conveyance is performed in the printer unit 11. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which borderless printing is performed in the printer unit 11. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing the second transport path 62 in the modified example.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described. The embodiment described below is an example of the present invention, and the embodiment may be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[Outline of MFP 10]
As shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction machine 10 includes a printer unit 11 that records an image on a sheet, and a scanner unit 12 that reads an image recorded on a document. The multifunction device 10 can execute printing, scanning, copying, and the like. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the front-rear direction 101, the left-right direction 102, and the up-down direction 103 are defined with reference to a state where the multifunction device 10 is installed with the operation panel 16 as the front side. . The printer unit 11 corresponds to an image recording apparatus. The scanner unit 12 corresponds to an image reading device.

[Outline of Printer 11]
The printer unit 11 records an image by selectively ejecting ink droplets onto the sheet 100 based on an ink jet recording method.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a supply tray 20 is provided below the printer unit 11. The supply tray 20 has a tray shape that can accommodate a plurality of sheets 100 in a stacked state. In the supply tray 20, for example, if it is the maximum size sheet 100 on which A4 size paper in Japanese Industrial Standard can be placed, the rectangular A4 size sheet 100 has a long side along the left-right direction 102, and In the state where the short side is along the front-rear direction 101, the first surface on which image recording is first performed in double-sided printing is placed with the first surface facing downward. That is, in the supply tray 20, the rectangular sheet 100 is placed horizontally with respect to the feeding direction 104. The sheet 100 that can be placed on the supply tray 20 may be, for example, a maximum size of A4 size or letter size, or the maximum size that can be placed is A3 size, and the A4 size sheet 100 may be It may be placed horizontally.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a first transport path 21 is formed upward from the back side of the supply tray 20 attached to the printer unit 11. Although not shown in the figure, the first conveyance path 21 is a space defined by a guide member having a guide surface that expands facing the first surface and the second surface of the sheet 100. The first conveyance path 21 is curved upward in a U shape from the back side of the supply tray 20 and extends to the front side of the printer unit 11.

  A paper feed roller 25 is provided on the upper side of the supply tray 20. The paper feed roller 25 is arranged along the left-right direction 102 in the axial direction. The paper feed roller 25 is rotatably supported at the tip of an arm 26 extending in the paper feed direction 102. The arm 26 is rotatable so that the paper feed roller 25 moves in the vertical direction 103. The arm 26 is rotated to the supply tray 20 side by the weight of the paper feed roller 25, so that the paper feed roller 25 contacts the sheet 100 on the supply tray 20. The paper feed roller 25 is driven by the conveyance motor 51 (see FIG. 5) and rotates. When the paper feed roller 25 rotates, the uppermost sheet 100 in contact with the paper feed roller 25 is fed in the feeding direction 104 and enters the first conveyance path 21.

  A conveyance roller 23 and a driven roller 24 are provided downstream of the curved portion of the first conveyance path 21 in the conveyance direction 104 of the printer unit 11. The transport roller 23 and the driven roller 24 are disposed so as to face each other generally along the vertical direction 103, and the transport roller 23 is disposed on the upper side. The transport roller 23 is arranged along the left-right direction 102 in the axial direction, and is rotated by driving transmission from the transport motor 51 (see FIG. 5). Although not shown in detail in each figure, a plurality of the driven rollers 24 are arranged along the left-right direction 102. Therefore, a plurality of driven rollers 24 are opposed to one transport roller 23. The driven roller 24 is also disposed so that the axial direction is substantially along the left-right direction 102. The driven roller 24 can move in the vertical direction 103 so as to be in contact with and away from the transport roller 23, and is elastically biased upward so as to contact the transport roller 23. When the sheet 100 enters between the conveying roller 23 and the driven roller 24, the driven roller 24 moves downward by the thickness of the sheet 100. As a result, the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the conveying roller 23 and the driven roller 24. In this state, the conveyance roller 23 rotates, so that the sheet 100 is fed in the conveyance direction 105. The conveyance roller 21 and the driven roller 24 correspond to a conveyance unit and a conveyance roller pair.

  A carriage 27 and a platen 28 are disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction 105 from the transport roller 23. The carriage 27 is equipped with an ink jet recording head 37. The recording head 37 and the platen 28 are arranged facing the up-down direction 103 with the recording head 37 on the upper side. The platen 28 has a length along the left-right direction 102 longer than the long side of the sheet 100 and a length along the front-rear direction 101 shorter than the short side of the sheet 100. A part of the sheet 100 conveyed through the first conveyance path 21 is supported by the platen 28.

  The carriage 27 is driven by a carriage motor 53 (see FIG. 5) and moves in the left-right direction 102 so as to face the platen 28. As the carriage 27 moves, the recording head 37 also moves in the left-right direction 102. The recording head 37 selectively ejects ink droplets from each nozzle while moving in the left-right direction 102 with respect to the sheet 100 supported by the platen 28. When ink droplets ejected from the nozzles of the recording head 37 land on the sheet 100, a desired image is recorded on the first surface or the second surface of the sheet 100. Although not shown in each figure, the printer unit 11 is provided with an ink tank, and ink is supplied from the ink tank to the recording head 37 through a tube. The horizontal direction 102 in which the carriage 27 moves corresponds to the scanning direction.

  In the first conveyance path 21, a discharge roller 29 and a spur 30 are provided downstream of the carriage 27 and the platen 28 in the conveyance direction 104. The discharge roller 29 and the spur 30 are disposed so as to face each other generally along the vertical direction 103, and the discharge roller 29 is disposed on the lower side. A plurality of discharge rollers 29 are arranged on a single shaft 31 so as to be spaced apart in the left-right direction 102. When the shaft 31 rotates as a result of driving being transmitted from a transport motor 51 (see FIG. 5), the plurality of discharge rollers 29. Rotate at the same time. A plurality of spurs 30 are arranged facing the respective discharge rollers 29 and separated along the left-right direction 102. The spur 30 is also disposed so that the axial direction is substantially along the left-right direction 102. The spur 30 can move in the vertical direction 103 so as to be in contact with and away from the discharge roller 29, and is elastically biased downward so as to contact the discharge roller 29. When the sheet 100 enters between the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30, the spur 30 moves upward by the thickness of the sheet 100. Thereby, the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30. When the discharge roller 29 rotates in this state, the sheet 100 is sent in the conveyance direction 105. The discharge roller 29 and the spur 30 correspond to a conveyance unit and a discharge roller pair.

  A switchback roller (hereinafter also referred to as SB roller) 32 and a spur 33 are provided downstream of the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30 in the transport direction 104 in the first transport path 21. The SB roller 32 and the spur 33 are disposed to face each other generally along the vertical direction 103, and the SB roller 32 is disposed on the lower side. A plurality of the SB rollers 32 are arranged on one shaft 34 so as to be separated from each other in the left-right direction 102, and when the shaft 34 rotates as a result of being driven and transmitted from the transport motor 51 (see FIG. 5), Rotate at the same time. A plurality of spurs 33 are arranged facing the respective SB rollers 32 and separated along the left-right direction 102. The spur 33 is also arranged with the axial direction approximately along the left-right direction 102. The spur 33 can move in the vertical direction 103 so as to be in contact with and away from the SB roller 32, and is elastically biased downward so as to contact the SB roller 32. When the sheet 100 enters between the SB roller 32 and the spur 33, the spur 33 moves upward by the thickness of the sheet 100. As a result, the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the SB roller 32 and the spur 33. When the SB roller 32 rotates in this state, the sheet 100 is fed in the conveyance direction 105. The SB roller 32 and the spur 33 correspond to a transport unit.

  Further, a second conveyance path 21 is formed that connects a position between the discharge roller 29 and the SB roller 32 in the first conveyance path 21 and a curved portion on the upstream side of the conveyance roller 23. Similarly to the first conveyance path 21, the second conveyance path 21 is a space defined by a guide member having a guide surface that expands facing the first surface and the second surface of the sheet 100. The second conveyance path 22 switches back and conveys the sheet 100 on which the image is recorded on the first surface side and conveyed to the SB roller 32 so that the leading edge and the trailing edge are reversed, and again the conveyance direction of the conveyance roller 23 105 is a route for transporting upstream.

  A guide flap 35 is provided at a connection position between the discharge roller 29 and the SB roller 32 in the first conveyance path 21 and the second conveyance path 22. The guide flap 35 is rotatable on the upper side of the first conveyance path 21 with the upstream side in the conveyance direction 105 as a rotation axis and the downstream side in the conveyance direction 105. The downstream end of the guide flap 35 is rotated to the lower side of the first conveyance path 21. When the sheet 100 is transported in the transport direction 105 in the first transport path 21, the leading edge of the sheet 100 abuts so that the guide flap 35 is lifted upward. As a result, the leading edge of the sheet 100 passes below the guide flap 35 and reaches the SB roller 32. When the rear end of the sheet 100 passes the downstream end portion of the guide flap 35, the guide flap 35 rotates until the downstream end portion reaches the lower side of the first conveyance path 21. As a result, the rear end of the sheet 100 is directed to the second conveyance path 22 side. In this state, by performing the switchback conveyance by the SB roller 32, the sheet 100 is guided to the second conveyance path 22 with the trailing edge as the head.

  A discharge tray 36 is provided on the terminal end side of the first transport path 21. The sheet 100 discharged from the first conveyance path 21 is supported by the discharge tray 36. The supply tray 20 and the discharge tray 36 are arranged in two upper and lower stages with the discharge tray 36 on the upper side. As shown in FIG. 1, the printer unit 11 of the multifunction machine 10 has a space having an opening 13 on the front side. A supply tray 20 and a discharge tray 36 are disposed in this space. That is, the printer unit 11 is an in-body discharge type in which the sheet 100 after image recording is discharged into the apparatus.

[Overview of the scanner unit 12]
The scanner unit 12 is a flat bed scanner. As shown in FIG. 3, the scanner base 40 is a thin, hollow rectangular parallelepiped. The scanner base 40 is a rectangle whose front-rear direction 101 is shorter than the left-right direction 102 in plan view. A platen glass 41 is provided on the upper surface of the scanner base 40. A document 110 whose image is to be read is placed on the upper surface of the platen glass 41 with the reading surface facing downward. The reading area of the platen glass 41 exposed on the upper surface of the scanner base 40 is also a rectangle in which the front-rear direction 101 is shorter than the left-right direction 102.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the rectangular document 110 is left-justified with respect to the platen glass 41 with the long side along the left-right direction 102 and the short side along the front-rear direction 101. Placed on top. The rectangular manuscript 110 is, for example, A4 size paper in Japanese Industrial Standard. A document 110 in which text is horizontally written in A4 size is a platen glass in which the short side on the head side is left-justified and the line direction (horizontal writing direction, the direction indicated by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 41 is placed on the upper surface.

  As shown in FIG. 3, an image sensor 42 and a carriage 43 are provided inside the scanner base 40. The image sensor 42 is a contact image sensor and is an elongated member in the reading line direction. The image sensor 42 is arranged with the reading line direction along the front-rear direction 101. The image sensor 42 is mounted on a carriage 43 that can move in the left-right direction 102, and moves in the left-right direction 102 in a posture in which the reading line direction is along the front-rear direction 101. The reading line direction (front-rear direction 101) corresponds to the main scanning direction, and the moving direction (left-right direction 102) corresponds to the sub-scanning direction. Accordingly, the horizontally written document 110 placed on the upper surface of the platen glass 41 is read by the image sensor 42 with the row direction as the main scanning direction.

[Control unit 50]
The control unit 50 controls the overall operation of the multifunction machine 10. Hereinafter, the configuration of the control unit 50 will be described with reference to FIG. For example, the control unit 50 controls driving of the conveyance motor 51, the carriage motor 52, and the recording head 37 of the printer unit 11. The control unit 50 controls driving of the carriage motor 53 and the image sensor 42 of the scanner unit 12. The control unit 50 corresponds to an arithmetic device.

  The control unit 50 includes a CPU 54, a ROM 55, a RAM 56, an EEPROM 57, an ASIC 58, and an internal bus 59 that interconnects them.

  The ROM 55 stores a program for the CPU 54 to control various operations. The RAM 56 is used as a storage area for temporarily recording data, signals, and the like used when the CPU 54 executes the program. The EEPROM 57 stores settings, flags, and the like that should be retained even after the power is turned off.

  A transport motor 51 and carriage motors 52 and 53 are connected to the ASIC 58. When a driving signal for rotating each motor is input from the CPU 54 to a driving circuit corresponding to a predetermined motor, a driving current corresponding to the driving signal is output from the driving circuit to the corresponding motor, thereby corresponding The motor rotates forward or reverse at a predetermined rotational speed.

  The ASIC 58 generates a drive signal for driving the recording head 37 and a drive signal for driving the image sensor 42. A read signal from the image sensor 42 is output to the ASIC.

[Operation of MFP 10]
The operation of the multifunction machine 10 will be described below.

[Copy operation]
As shown in FIG. 4, the rectangular document 110 is left-justified with respect to the platen glass 41 with the long side along the left-right direction 102 and the short side along the front-rear direction 101. Placed on top. In FIG. 4, the line of characters written on the document 110 is indicated by a straight line. In the drawing, for convenience of explanation, a straight line indicating a line of characters is written on the surface of the document 110 opposite to the surface facing the platen glass 41, but the surface on which characters are written in the document 110, That is, the reading surface is opposed to the platen glass 41. Accordingly, the document 110 includes a left-justified horizontal writing with the long side of the rectangle as the vertical direction. The document 110 is placed on the platen glass 41 with the surface on which the sentence is written facing the platen glass 41. It is placed on the glass 41. When the operation panel 16 is operated and copy start is input, the scanner unit 12 reads the image of the document 110.

  As the carriage 43 moves, the image sensor 42 moves in the left-right direction 102 with the reading line direction along the front-rear direction 101 with respect to the platen glass 41, and is placed on the upper surface of the platen glass 41. The horizontally-written original 110 is read with the row direction as the main scanning direction.

  Image data output from the image sensor 42 is input to the control unit 50. In the control unit 50, the image data is stored in the RAM 56, and calculation for rotation processing is performed. The rotation process is a process of rotating the sub-scanning direction (column direction of the original 110) in the image data as the scanning direction of the recording head 37 in the printer unit 11. That is, the image data read from the beginning of the document 110 with the row direction as the reading line direction is rotated 90 ° clockwise. Thereafter, print data is generated based on the rotated image data. The print data indicates the timing at which ink droplets are ejected from each nozzle of the recording head 37.

  The control unit 50 operates the printer unit 11 when print data is generated. As shown in FIG. 6, when the conveyance motor 51 is driven to rotate the paper feed roller 25, the sheet 100 is sent from the supply tray 20 in the supply direction 104 and is supplied to the first conveyance path 21. Since the sheet 100 is placed on the supply tray 20 such that the short side of the sheet 100 is along the feeding direction 104, the sheet 100 is fed with the short side along the feeding direction 104.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the leading edge of the sheet 100 supplied to the first conveyance path 21 abuts on the conveyance roller 23. The leading edge of the sheet 100 in contact with the conveying roller 23 is a long side. At this time, the transport roller 23 is rotated in the direction opposite to the transport direction 105 or stopped. Therefore, the leading edge of the sheet 100 that is in contact with the conveyance roller 23 is maintained in a state of being in contact with the conveyance roller 23 without being sandwiched between the conveyance roller 23 and the driven roller 24. Since the rear end side of the sheet 100 is fed in the feeding direction 104 by the paper feeding roller 25, the leading edge of the sheet 100 is pressed against the conveying roller 23 by this force. As a result, the leading edge of the sheet 100 is pressed against the roller surface of the conveying roller 23, and the skew of the sheet 100 is corrected. Thereafter, when the conveyance roller 23 is rotated in the conveyance direction 105, the leading end side of the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the conveyance roller 23 and the driven roller 24 and conveyed toward the platen 28.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the leading edge of the sheet 100 is supported by the platen 28 and the cueing of the sheet 100 is finished, the control unit 50 stops the conveying motor 51 to stop the sheet 100, Then, the carriage motor 52 is driven to move the carriage 27 backward in the scanning direction (left-right direction 102). Then, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 37 that moves together with the carriage 27 based on the print data.

  After moving the carriage 27 in the scanning direction, the control unit 50 stops the carriage motor 52 and then drives the conveyance motor 51 by a predetermined line feed to rotate the conveyance roller 23. As a result, the sheet 100 is conveyed in the conveyance direction 105 by a line feed. Then, the control unit 50 drives the carriage motor 53 again to eject ink droplets from the recording head 37 based on the print data.

  By repeating the conveyance for a predetermined line feed, the leading end of the sheet 100 reaches the discharge roller 29, the leading end side of the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30, and the trailing end side of the sheet 100 is the conveying roller 23. And it will be in the state pinched | interposed into the driven roller 24. FIG. Similarly, conveyance for a predetermined line feed and ejection of ink droplets from the recording head 37 are repeated to form an image of the original 110 read by the scanner unit 12 on the first surface of the sheet 100.

  As described above, the print data is obtained by rotating the image data read from the head of the document 110 with the line direction as the reading line direction by 90 ° in the clockwise direction. Is printed on the left end side of the original 110. On the sheet 100, printing is performed in the row direction of the horizontally-written document 110 along the conveyance direction 105. When all the images of the original 110 are recorded on the sheet 100 in this way, the control unit 50 continuously drives the transport motor 51 to rotate the discharge roller 29 and the SB roller 32 in the transport direction 105. Then, the sheet 100 after image recording is discharged onto the discharge tray 36.

  Similar to the above-described copying operation, for example, when the print function is used, instead of reading an image by the scanner unit 12, an image recording is performed based on print data output from a driver of an external information device such as a computer. Is done.

[Double-sided printing]
The control unit 50 operates the printer unit 11 when receiving a duplex printing command. As shown in FIG. 9, when the conveyance motor 51 is driven and the paper feed roller 25 rotates, the sheet 100 is sent from the supply tray 20 in the supply direction 104 and is supplied to the first conveyance path 21. Since the sheet 100 is placed on the supply tray 20 such that the short side of the sheet 100 is along the feeding direction 104, the sheet 100 is fed with the short side along the feeding direction 104.

  The leading edge of the sheet 100 supplied to the first conveyance path 21 contacts the conveyance roller 23. The leading edge of the sheet 100 in contact with the conveying roller 23 is a long side. At this time, the transport roller 23 is rotated in the direction opposite to the transport direction 105 or stopped. That is, the skew correction may be a so-called reverse resist or a stationary resist. Therefore, the leading edge of the sheet 100 that is in contact with the conveyance roller 23 is maintained in a state of being in contact with the conveyance roller 23 without being sandwiched between the conveyance roller 23 and the driven roller 24. Since the rear end side of the sheet 100 is fed in the feeding direction 104 by the paper feeding roller 25, the leading edge of the sheet 100 is pressed against the conveying roller 23 by this force. As a result, the leading edge of the sheet 100 is pressed against the roller surface of the conveying roller 23, and the skew of the sheet 100 is corrected. Thereafter, when the conveyance roller 23 is rotated in the conveyance direction 105, the leading end side of the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the conveyance roller 23 and the driven roller 24 and conveyed toward the platen 28. Note that the roller with which the sheet 100 abuts for skew correction may be either the transport roller 23 or the driven roller 24, or may be a sandwiching position between the transport roller 23 and the driven roller 24. Good.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when the leading edge of the sheet 100 is supported by the platen 28 and the cueing of the sheet 100 is completed, the control unit 50 stops the conveying motor 51 to stop the sheet 100, Then, the carriage motor 52 is driven to move the carriage 27 backward in the scanning direction (left-right direction 102). Then, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 37 that moves together with the carriage 27 onto the first surface of the sheet 100 based on the print data.

  After moving the carriage 27 in the scanning direction, the control unit 50 stops the carriage motor 52 and then drives the conveyance motor 51 by a predetermined line feed to rotate the conveyance roller 23. As a result, the sheet 100 is conveyed in the conveyance direction 105 by a line feed. Then, the control unit 50 drives the carriage motor 53 again to eject ink droplets from the recording head 37 based on the print data.

  By repeating the conveyance for a predetermined line feed, the leading end of the sheet 100 reaches the discharge roller 29, the leading end side of the sheet 100 is sandwiched between the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30, and the trailing end side of the sheet 100 is the conveying roller 23. And it will be in the state pinched | interposed into the driven roller 24. FIG. Similarly, conveyance for a predetermined line feed and ejection of ink droplets from the recording head 37 are repeated to form an image based on print data on the first surface of the sheet 100.

  The print data is a document in which a document is horizontally written along a row direction, with a rectangular document having a short direction as a row direction and a long direction as a column direction. The left end side of the original is printed on the leading side in the conveyance direction 105 of the sheet 100. On the sheet 100, printing is performed in the row direction of the horizontally-written document 110 along the conveyance direction 105. When all the images of the document are recorded on the first surface of the sheet 100 in this way, the control unit 50 continuously drives the transport motor 51 to move the discharge roller 29 and the SB roller 32 in the transport direction 105. , And the sheet 100 on which the image has been recorded on the first surface is conveyed in the conveying direction 105.

  The front end of the sheet 100 abuts on the guide flap 35 and rotates so that the guide flap 35 can be lifted upward. As a result, the leading edge of the sheet 100 passes below the guide flap 35 and reaches the SB roller 32. When the rear end of the sheet 100 passes the downstream end portion of the guide flap 35, the guide flap 35 rotates until the downstream end portion reaches the lower side of the first conveyance path 21.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the control unit 50 includes a conveyance motor 51 before the trailing end of the sheet 100 passes through the connection position between the first conveyance path 21 and the second conveyance path 22 and exits the SB roller 32. And the rotation of the SB roller 32 is stopped. Subsequently, the control unit 50 rotates the transport motor 51 in the reverse direction. As a result, the sheet 100 in which the vicinity of the rear end is sandwiched between the SB rollers 32 is transported in the direction opposite to the transport direction 105 through the first transport path 21 with the rear end as the head. Since the leading end (the rear end of the conveying direction 105) of the sheet 100 that is switched back and conveyed by the SB roller 32 is directed toward the second conveying path 22 by the guide flap 35, the sheet 100 is moved to the second conveying path 22. Guided.

  The sheet 100 conveyed through the second conveyance path 22 enters the first conveyance path 21 again from the curved portion of the first conveyance path 21 and heads toward the conveyance roller 23. The leading edge of the sheet 100 that has entered the first conveyance path 21 again contacts the conveyance roller 23. The leading edge of the sheet 100 that is in contact with the conveying roller 23 is the trailing edge when image recording is performed on the first surface, and the right edge of the document is the edge of the sheet 100 on the printed side. In general, since the right end of a horizontally written document has a small amount of information, the ink droplet ejection amount is also small. Accordingly, when the image recording is performed on the second surface after the image recording on the first surface, the ink droplets adhere to the front end side that is in contact with the transport roller 23 for skew correction. And the waist of the seat 100 is relatively strong. Then, skew correction is performed in the same manner as image recording on the first surface, and then image recording is performed on the second surface of the sheet 100.

[Borderless printing]
Borderless printing may be performed on the sheet 100 in the above-described copying operation, duplex printing operation, and single-side printing operation. Borderless printing is a printing method in which ink is ejected to the edge of the sheet 100 without creating a margin that does not eject ink droplets on the edge of the sheet 100. Borderless printing is realized by ejecting ink droplets from the recording head 37 to the outside of the edge of the sheet 100 as shown in FIG. A region 106 of ink droplets ejected to the outside of the edge of the sheet 100 (portion indicated by hatching in the same figure) does not land on the sheet 100 but land on the upper surface of the platen 28. Although not shown in detail in each drawing, a configuration is formed on the upper surface of the platen 28 to remove the ink that has landed on the upper surface by means of a minute ink flow path or a member that sucks ink. Borderless printing is mainly useful when performing image recording by ejecting ink droplets onto the front surface of the sheet 100 as in a photograph.

  As described above, since the sheet 100 is placed on the supply tray 20 so that the short side of the sheet 100 is along the feeding direction 104, the sheet 100 has the short side along the feeding direction 104. Are sent. On the platen 28, the long side of the sheet 100 is the moving direction of the carriage 27, that is, the scanning direction, and the short side of the sheet 100 is along the conveyance direction 105.

  Image recording by the recording head 37 is performed by, for example, an interlace method. Therefore, the line feed of the sheet 100 is shorter than the length along the conveyance direction 105 of the recording head 37. Image recording is performed by the interlace method while repeating such a line feed a plurality of times. At this time, the operation in which the carriage 27 is scanned once and ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 37 is generally referred to as one pass. (Region surrounded by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 11). Accordingly, when image recording is performed on the sheet 100, the carriage 27 is moved by a plurality of passes and ink droplets are ejected from the recording head 37.

  In borderless printing, the amount of ink droplets ejected outside the edge of the sheet 100 and landing on the platen 28 increases in proportion to the number of passes when image recording is performed on the sheet 100. That is, in FIG. 11A, the region 106 exists while overlapping along the short side of the sheet 100. If borderless printing is performed on the entire sheet 100, ink droplets are discarded in the area corresponding to the sum of the areas 106 for a plurality of passes and land on the platen 28.

  As shown in FIG. 11B, when the sheet 100 is conveyed so that the long side of the sheet 100 is along the conveying direction 105, the number of passes when performing image recording on the sheet 100 is the short side of the sheet 100. Is larger than the image recording when the sheet 100 is conveyed so as to be along the conveying direction 105. Accordingly, since the total of the areas 107 for the passes is larger than the total of the areas 106, the amount of ink droplets that land on the platen 28 also increases. As described above, when the sheet 100 is conveyed so that the short side of the sheet 100 is along the conveying direction 105 and borderless printing is performed, the amount of ink droplets that land on the platen 28 is minimized.

[Operational effects of this embodiment]
According to the present embodiment, since image recording is performed with the long side of the sheet 100 as the scanning direction of the recording head 37, image recording can be performed quickly. In addition, since the horizontal recording information along the short side is image-recorded with the long side downstream of the conveyance direction 105 of the sheet 100 as the left end, when the sheet 100 after image recording is discharged from the first conveyance path 21 In addition, the left end side of the recorded information having a relatively large amount of information is discharged first. Accordingly, it is possible to quickly confirm the recording information on the sheet 100 discharged from the first conveyance path 21.

  Further, since the long side on the downstream side in the conveyance direction 105 of the sheet 100 which is the left end of the horizontally written recording information is brought into contact with the conveyance roller 23 and skew correction is performed, an image in which the left ends of the recording information are aligned is formed on the sheet 100. To be recorded.

  Further, when the sheet 100 passes through the transport roller 23 and is transported by the discharge roller 29 and the spur 30, the right end side of the recording information having a relatively small amount of information is image-recorded on the sheet 100. The amount of ink ejected is relatively small, and the sheet 100 is unlikely to float due to the influence of ink. Therefore, the possibility that the sheet 100 curls due to the influence of ink and contacts the recording head 37 or the like is suppressed.

  Also, in duplex printing, skew correction before image recording is performed on the second surface of the sheet 100 is such that the long side of the sheet 100 near the right end side of the recorded information with a relatively small amount of information on the first surface is a conveying roller. 23, the sheet 100 comes into contact with the conveying roller 23, so that the waist of the sheet 100 is broken and paper jamming is less likely to occur.

  In marginless printing, the amount of ink droplets that land on the platen 28 is minimized by conveying the sheet 100 so that the short side of the sheet 100 is along the conveying direction 105 and performing marginless printing. The amount of ink that is discarded outside the sheet 100 can be minimized.

[Modification]
In the present invention, the path for switchback conveyance of the sheet 100 is not limited to the second conveyance path 22 described above. For example, as shown in FIG. 12, the second conveyance path 62 connected at two locations in the curved portion of the first conveyance path 21 may be formed in a loop shape behind the first conveyance path 21. According to such a second conveyance path 62, after image recording is performed on the first surface of the sheet 100, the discharge roller 29 is reversed and the sheet 100 is opposite to the conveyance direction 105 below the recording head 37. The sheet 100 enters the second conveyance path 62 from the first conveyance path 21. The sheet 100 conveyed in the conveyance direction 108 through the second conveyance path 62 enters the curved portion of the first conveyance path 21 again, and the first surface is opposed to the recording head 37 with the second surface opposite to the first surface. The transport path 21 is transported in the transport direction 105.

  In the present invention, the recording unit is not limited to the recording unit mounted on the carriage 27 and moved like the recording head 37 shown in the embodiment. For example, a line type recording head having a length in the longitudinal direction of the sheet 100 without the carriage 27 may be mounted on the printer unit 11. In such a line type recording head, the direction along the left-right direction 102 is the scanning direction.

10: Multifunction machine 11: Printer unit (image recording device)
12 ... Scanner unit (image reading device)
20 ... Supply tray 23 ... Conveying roller (conveying unit, conveying roller pair)
24 .. Followed roller (conveying unit, conveying roller pair)
25... Paper feed roller (conveyance unit)
29 ... discharge roller (conveying unit, discharge roller pair)
30 ... spur (conveyance unit, discharge roller pair)
32 ... SB roller (conveying section)
33 ... Spur (conveyance unit)
37... Recording head (recording unit)
50 .. Control part (arithmetic unit)
100 ... sheet

Claims (7)

A supply tray on which a rectangular sheet is placed along the short direction along the conveying direction;
A transport unit configured to transport the sheet placed on the supply tray along the transport path with the short direction as the transport direction;
A recording unit that records an image by ejecting ink with the longitudinal direction as a scanning direction with respect to the sheet conveyed through the conveyance path;
The image recording apparatus is an image recording apparatus for recording an image of horizontally-recorded recording information along a short direction of a sheet, which is recording information having a longitudinal end of the sheet and a downstream end in a conveyance direction as a left end.   The conveyance unit includes a conveyance roller pair disposed upstream in the conveyance direction from the recording unit, and the skew correction is performed by bringing the conveyance roller pair into contact with the end of the sheet that is the length of the sheet and downstream in the conveyance direction. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transport unit includes a pair of discharge rollers disposed downstream in the transport direction from the recording unit. The transport unit switches back the sheet on which the image has been recorded on the first surface by the recording unit, and supplies the sheet again to the upstream side in the transport direction of the recording unit with the upstream end in the transport direction of the sheet as the head. ,
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is configured to record an image on a second surface of the sheet that has been transported back.   5. The sheet according to claim 1, wherein, in a state in which the sheet is supplied from the supply tray, a maximum-size sheet that can be placed on the supply tray is placed with its short direction along the conveying direction. The image recording apparatus described.   The image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the A4 size sheet is placed on the supply tray with a short side direction thereof along a conveying direction. An image recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
An image of a document placed on the document placement surface has a rectangular document placement surface, with the short side direction of the document placement surface as the main scanning direction and the long direction as the sub-scanning direction. An image reading device for reading;
A multi-function apparatus comprising: an arithmetic device that rotates the sub-scanning direction as the scanning direction of the recording unit to obtain the recording information by reading the image information read by the image reading device.

Images