JPH03218852A - Method and device for ink jet recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the quality of a superimposed recorded image and a high-density recorded image by recording an image formed by the first ink droplets on a recording medium using the first recording head in the upstream side and an image formed by the second ink droplets on the recording medium using the second recording head so that both images are superimposed to the other. CONSTITUTION:Data is recorded only by a K head in the first head scan. A material in which data is recorded 8 is transported by paired transport rollers 9 and a suction transport belt 11. In the second scan, an area where data is recorded, in accordance with a recording signal K1 moves to a B recording area, and recording is performed by a head 3 to a recording signal B1. In the meantime, data is recorded in a part transported anew to a K recording area by a head 4 in response to a recording signal K2. In the third scan, data is recorded by a head 2 in response to a recording signal G1, and a part where data is recorded in response to a recording signal K2 is used for recording data by the head 3 in response to a recording signal B2. In addition, the recording signal K2 is recorded in the K recording area using a head 4. In the fourth scan, data is recorded by a head 1 in accordance with a recording signal R1 into a part where data is recorded in response to recording signals K1, B1, G1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording method and an inkjet recording apparatus that are applied to copying machines, facsimile I/image processing printers, and other general printers. The present invention relates to a scanning inkjet recording device equipped with a plurality of recording heads each having a plurality of ejection ports, and a recording method for the device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in order to improve the gradation and density of recorded images, multiple pixels forming an image on a recording material are formed by multiple overlapping ink droplets, or adjacent pixel densities are increased. In order to improve the performance, a plurality of ink droplets are fired at high density. Applying this to color has the advantage of improving color reproducibility.

Furthermore, if the recording material is a transparent film for a transmission-type 0}fP (overhead projector), the image recorded on it needs to have an increased transmission density as a whole, and in this case, the above method is also not suitable. It is valid.

In these methods, ink droplets are ejected into one pixel by scanning the print head multiple times while keeping the recording material fixed. Therefore, a recording range per scan in scanning type recording requires multiple scans corresponding to higher density or multiple scans corresponding to the ink colors to be mixed, making it impossible to perform high-speed recording. In other words, when a high-density image or a color image is formed compared to normal printing, the printing time is required to be twice to four times that of normal printing.

Therefore, in order to speed up the recording speed even a little, it is effective to increase the size of the recording head by using multi-nozzles to increase the recording range per scan, but there is also a limit to increasing the length of the print head. The rate of time reduction is small in scanning inkjet recording.

In contrast, U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,406 divides the nozzles (ejection openings) of a single multi-nozzle recording head into four nozzle units predetermined for each different ink. discloses a configuration that miniaturizes the head configuration itself of a color device, but since the recording speed depends on only one recording head, the ink ejection range for one color is significantly reduced, resulting in a multi-nozzle recording head. lose the advantage of

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present inventors investigated the prior art and found the following problems.

When scanning multiple times in succession for a recording area recorded in one scan to increase image density or coloring, pixels are formed by multiple ink ejections, so the amount of ink per pixel increases. If the amount of ink that can be absorbed is limited, such as OHP film, or recording materials with poor ink absorption, the amount or speed of ink absorption is limited, and ink overflows from the pixels. , which may result in deterioration of image quality.

In particular, since multiple recording heads corresponding to each ink color were arranged in the scanning direction, if different inks were to be used overlappingly, the printing density per unit time would increase, resulting in the above-mentioned ink overflow. The problem became obvious.

Recording paper with increased ink absorption is generally known, but it is only possible to record on expensive and specific processed paper, but if the user uses another paper or sheet, This may lead to recording defects, and in the worst case, the user may decide that the recording head is defective and end up wasting the recording head.

In any case, even if a multi-nozzle head is used, the recording speed will continue to decrease because paper feeding of the recording material is stopped and scanning is performed multiple times, and only recording materials with excellent ink absorption properties are used. When using this method, the user is disadvantaged due to the limited number of recording materials, such as not being able to use a variety of recording materials.

Furthermore, the following facts were discovered regarding the problems of fixability and boundary areas, and it was found that the difference in recording characteristics becomes significant when different recording media are used.

That is, in overlapping recording, there is a large difference in ink absorption capacity at the boundary between scanning lines, and density unevenness is likely to occur due to non-uniform absorption of ink.

Furthermore, in a configuration in which the same pixel is recorded multiple times using the same ejection port, unevenness in density and landing accuracy between the ejection ports may be accentuated, resulting in a pixel drop.

Furthermore, since the ink density changes simultaneously over the entire width of the ejection port (scanning area), the recording material expands and contracts simultaneously over a wide range due to ink absorption, and the amount of change becomes large. .

In addition, split recording is a method used for recording materials with poor absorption characteristics, and the final head scan (ink injection)
Even after , the recording surface cannot be touched until a predetermined period of time has elapsed. Therefore, members such as the discharge roller and the press roller must be separated from the recording area by at least the width of the head in order to provide fixing time, which leads to an increase in the size of the apparatus and a decrease in paper feeding accuracy.

Furthermore, the above problem of expansion and contraction of the recording material also occurs in divided recording.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ideal inkjet recording apparatus that solves the above-mentioned problems when using a plurality of recording heads having a plurality of ejection ports (also referred to as multi-nozzle heads).

A first object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that can print at a higher recording speed than conventional inkjet recording apparatuses and can produce good overlapping images or high-density recording images using a so-called multi-nozzle inkjet recording head.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a recording method with improved fixing properties, which can reduce the size of the entire apparatus even though it is large in size due to the use of a plurality of recording heads.

A further object of the present invention in solving the above-mentioned problems is to prevent deterioration of image quality due to the ink absorbency of the recording material without reducing the recording speed, and at the same time, to An object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording device that can perform good recording on a recording material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that can perform high-speed, high-quality recording that takes full advantage of the advantages of a multi-nozzle recording head, depending on the type of recording medium.

[Means for Solving the Problems] To this end, the present invention has a plurality of print heads provided with ejection ports for ejecting ink, and ink is ejected from the ejection ports as the plurality of print heads scan. In an inkjet recording device that records images by ejecting water, the ejection ports are provided adjacent to each other on the upstream and downstream sides relative to the conveying direction of the recording medium, and the respective ejection ports overlap each other in the upstream and downstream areas. A first recording head and a second recording head are arranged in a positional relationship that does not correspond to the image of the first ink droplet on the recording medium by the first recording head located relatively upstream, and the second recording head located relatively downstream. The present invention is characterized by having a recording mode in which recording is performed so that the image of the second ink droplet on the recording medium by the head at least overlaps with the image.

More preferably, an inkjet recording device has a plurality of printheads provided with ejection ports for ejecting ink, and records an image by ejecting ink from the ejection ports as the plurality of printheads scans. In this case, each of the plurality of printheads and at least one of the other printheads are arranged such that their ejection ports do not overlap with each other in the scanning direction, and the ejection ports of each of the plurality of printheads and at least one of the other printheads are arranged so that they do not overlap each other in the scanning direction, and A paper feeding means that feeds the paper by the width of the recording area by the scanning movement of the head every scanning movement, and a recording device that supplies a printing signal for ejection to each of a plurality of printing heads in accordance with the paper feeding by the paper feeding means. The present invention is characterized by comprising a signal supply means.

In another aspect of the present invention, a plurality of printheads each having a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink arranged in the sub-scanning direction or a direction different from the scanning direction are arranged in the scanning direction, and the scanning movement of the plurality of printheads is In an inkjet recording device that records an image by ejecting ink from an ejection port, a conveying means conveys a recording medium by the width of an equally divided recording area by scanning a plurality of recording heads for each scanning movement. and a recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal only to predetermined ejection ports corresponding to the equally divided areas according to the conveyance by the conveyance means.

Also, an inkjet that performs recording by ejecting ink from the ejection ports as the print head scans and moves, and is composed of ejection ports for ejecting ink arranged in the sub-scanning direction or in a direction different from the scanning direction. In the recording device,
A conveying means transports the recording medium by the width of the equally divided area of the recording area by the scanning of the recording head for each scanning movement, and a conveyance means that conveys the recording medium by the width of the equally divided area by the scanning of the recording head, and a predetermined width that corresponds to the equally divided area according to the conveyance by the conveying means The apparatus is characterized by comprising a recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal only to the ejection ports.

[Function] In any of the present inventions, when multiple recording heads having multiple ejection ports are used, the rate of movement of the recording medium can be increased compared to the conventional method, so the recording speed is improved and excellent images can be produced in multiple locations. Since all or a portion of the ejection ports or a portion defined according to the material of the recording medium can be used, the image quality can also be made more stable.

In addition to reducing the recording time when performing overlapping recording,
It is possible to create good seams between images.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the main parts of an inkjet recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 to
Reference numeral 4 denotes a recording head each having 64 ink ejection ports, and an electrothermal transducer that generates energy for ejecting ink is disposed in an ink liquid path communicating with these ejection ports. Also, recording heads 1, 2, 3, and 4 are red (R), green (G), blue (B), and black (K), respectively.
Each of the recording heads is a recording head that discharges ink, and each is held on the carriage 5 by a head support section 12 that forms a part of the carriage 5. As a result, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 3(A), the direction of the ejection port arrangement in each recording head is in the sub-scanning direction, and the ejection ports are arranged so that they do not overlap in the scanning direction.

The carriage 5 is slidably engaged with a pair of guide shafts 50, and can be moved in the scanning direction (direction perpendicular to the figure) by a carriage motor, which will be described later.

The recording heads 1 to 4 are electrically connected via a carriage 5 to a main body control section, which will be described later in FIG.
The ink tube bundle 6, which flexibly responds to the movement of the carriage 5, is connected to the ink tanks of the respective colors in the ink tank section 7 to supply ink. On the other hand, the recording material 8 is sequentially transported to the recording section in the direction of the arrow in the figure at a predetermined timing by a pair of transport rollers 9 via a paper feed guide 10. In the recording section, the recording material 8 is attracted by the electrostatic attraction force of the attraction conveyance belt 1l.
As the belt 11 moves, it is suctioned, supported, and transported in synchronization with the pair of transport rollers 9, and is sequentially stopped at predetermined positions to perform recording.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of printing control in the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 5A is a carriage motor 2 that drives the carriage 5 via a carriage drive mechanism such as a belt or a boob.
0 is a head driver that generates ejection signals for each ejection port based on print data supplied from the control section. Reference numeral 30 denotes a paper feed drive unit for driving the conveyance roller 9 and the suction conveyance belt l1, and is mainly composed of a motor and the like.

The control unit shown in the figure is CPUIOO, which executes processing related to device control while exchanging data with the host device and each part of the recording device, RAMIOOA, which is a work area for CPUIOO processing, and Figure 3 (A).
and ROMIOOB that stores processing procedures such as recording operations as shown in (B).

FIGS. 3A and 3B are conceptual diagrams explaining the recording method in the embodiment shown in FIG. Figure 3 (A)
As described above, the recording heads 1 to 4 that discharge ink of each color of R, G, B, and K, respectively, have their respective discharge port arrays 3 on both sides of the head support portion 12 of the carriage 5 in the head scanning direction. It is supported and fixed in the vertical direction (sub-scanning direction).

In the figure, although the ejection port array I3 cannot normally be seen, the recording head is shown as seen through from the rear. That is, the radius of the ejection port array of the print head (RL=GI in the figure)
=BL=KL) are arranged so that they are connected without any gaps, and each recording area (R, G,
B, K) are continuous with the same width. When the recording material 8 is conveyed to this recording area (R, G, B, K) as described above, the carriage 5 scans and recording is started.

The recording material 8 is conveyed by a pair of conveyance rollers 9 and an adsorption conveyance belt 1
1, it stops at the position (first scan) in FIG. 3(A). At this position, the leading end of the recording material 8 is in the K recording area, and the recording material has not reached the other recording areas R, G, and B. Therefore, in the first head scan, recording is performed only by the K head.

After the first scan, the recording material 8 is transported again by the transport roller pair 9 and the suction transport belt l1.

As is clear from FIG. 3(A), the conveyance distance PL is set to be the same as the width (RL, GL, BL, KL) of the discharge port array. In the second scan, the area where the K ink head 4 printed in accordance with the print signal K1 in the first scan has moved to the B print area, and the B ink head 3 prints in accordance with the print signal B1. It will be done.

On the other hand, the portion newly conveyed to the K recording area is recorded by the K ink head 4 in accordance with the next recording signal K2. Here, since the recording material 8 has not yet reached the R and G recording areas, recording is not yet performed by the R ink head 1 and the G ink head 2.

After the second scan, the recording material 8 is conveyed again by the width PL. In the third scan, the G ink head 2 prints in accordance with the print signal G1 on the portions printed with the B+ and K1 print signals. The portion recorded by the K2 recording signal is recorded by the B ink head 3 in accordance with the recording signal B2. Also, in the K recording area, K
A recording signal K3 is recorded by the ink head 4.

After the third scan, it is similarly conveyed by the PL width, and a fourth scan is performed. In the fourth scan, K, ,
The R ink head 1 performs recording in accordance with the recording signal R1 on the portions recorded in accordance with the B+ and G+ recording signals. In this way, the recording material is sequentially recorded with black, blue, green, and red ink for each PL width.

Figure 3 (B) shows the recording signals of each head for each head scan when A4 size recording is performed using the recording head of this example. I've lost the recording signal. After the recording of the final scan is completed, the recording material 8 is discharged from the machine.

By the way, Figure 4 shows the ink absorption characteristics of the recording material, with the horizontal axis showing the square root of absorption time (JS) and the vertical axis showing the amount of ink (aqueous) absorbed (r+42/mm2). . Coated paper with an ink-receiving layer on its surface can absorb a large amount of ink in a short period of time, whereas the uncoated paper used in this example has a low initial absorption and It turns out that it takes a long time.

Furthermore, FIG. 5 is a table showing the results of examining the degree of image blurring (sharpness of the boundary between two colors of ink) when two colors of ink are injected onto a recording material almost simultaneously. In this table, marks 0 indicate those judged to be of practical use, marks △ indicate those of slightly inferior image quality, and marks marked X indicate those judged to be of no practical use at all.

From this experiment, the amount of ink that can be recorded in a short time is
It can be seen that for uncoated paper it is 20 r+j2/mm'' or less, and for coated paper it is 25 nβ/mm'' or less. It can be inferred that this phenomenon is caused by the mechanism shown in FIG.

That is, absorption of ink into paper is thought to occur in the order of contact, collision, dot formation, permeation, and drying, as shown in FIG. 6(A). As shown in Figure 4, in the case of uncoated paper, at a time of 0.2 Js or less, 11-12 nj
Since it is not possible to absorb ink larger than 27 mm2, if more ink is applied almost simultaneously, the ink overflows, and as shown in Figure 6 (B), this overflowing ink reaches the paper first. It is thought that the ink is attracted to adjacent ink, causing smearing at the boundary.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, in one scan, the recording area of each recording head is divided and the head scanning is performed sequentially, so that the blurring at the boundary is reduced as shown in FIG. 7.

In order to verify the effects of this example, a recording test was conducted under the following recording conditions, and a good recorded image with little blurring at the boundary was obtained. On the other hand, when the heads were arranged so that the recording areas of the heads overlapped like in a conventional inkjet recording apparatus and were simultaneously recorded, an image that was not durable for practical use was obtained.

In other words, this example uses R, G, B, and K four-color inks.
Capable of color recording, recording density 360DPI, drive frequency 5. Recording was performed on an A4 size recording material at 4kHz. This recording material used was double paper in which the diameter of the ink droplet was doubled.

In this case, since the recording density is 360DPI, the pixel size is 70. The size of the dot is 56 μm square, and the dot diameter that fills the entire pixel is 100 μm. Therefore, the diameter of the droplet shot into the double paper is 50 μm, that is, its volume is 65. It becomes spβ.

When recording is performed under these conditions, the areal density of monochrome ink (one time ejection) is 13.2 nn/mm2, the areal density of two color ink (two ejections) is 26.3nβ/mff12, and the fifth As shown in the figure, if two color inks are applied overlappingly or adjacently on uncoated paper at the same time, the image will be defective.

As is clear from the above explanation, this example has a structure that prevents two-color ink from overlapping or adjoining in a short period of time, so it is effective even for recording materials with poor water absorption such as uncoated paper. becomes.

Furthermore, according to the above printing conditions, in this embodiment, the printing area in one scan is divided into four, so it takes 68 scans to print an A4 size sheet.

This increases the number of scans by only three times compared to the conventional device configuration, and it can be said that there is almost no decrease in recording speed.

On the other hand, when printing the same A4 size, as in the conventional case where the recording area is the same and the border blur is prevented by four repeated scans at the same position, it takes four times as many scans, 260 times. is necessary.

For example, in the case of recording only with K ink, 66 to 68
The recording material may be discharged without performing the second scan, and if this is done, there will be no decrease in recording speed at all in the case of monochrome recording.

Note that this example is also effective when the recording material is PET or a transparent film formed by coating PET with a water-absorbing material.

Furthermore, this embodiment is effective in obtaining higher quality recording even when recording materials with excellent ink absorption properties such as coated paper are used.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a recording head showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and the recording head of this embodiment has a configuration compatible with full-color recording. That is, the recording heads IA, 2A. 3A and 4
Includes A.

Each of these recording heads has 128 ejection ports arranged in the sub-scanning direction. In addition, it is a cartridge type recording head that integrates ink tanks for each color, and therefore,
When the ink runs out, the entire recording head is replaced with another cartridge.

When performing high-resolution printing as in this example, it is necessary to have high positional accuracy between the heads. This makes it possible to perform high-quality recording that fully brings out the performance of the head, even in head-replaceable devices.

9(A) and 9(B) are conceptual diagrams showing a recording method using the recording head shown in FIG. 8, and are similar to FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B), respectively.

This example shows a configuration in which recording is performed on double paper at a recording density of 600 DPI. That is, since the recording density is 6000 PI, the pixel size is 42. A 33 μm square is determined, and the droplet diameter is 30 μm and its volume is 14 μm in the same way as above.
．． 2 pρ.

As a result, the areal densities when single-color, two-color, three-color, and four-color ink are applied overlappingly or adjacently are 7.9r+I2/mtn2 and 15.8nI2/mm2, respectively.
, 23. 7n 12. /mm2, and 31.6
nj2/mm''. Again, as is clear from FIG. 5, in this example, the allowable range without causing ink bleeding is up to two color inks.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, it is possible for print heads corresponding to two ink colors to print in the same area. In the case of the figure, the recording heads 2A and 4A for M ink and C ink and the recording heads IA and 3A for Y ink and K ink have the same recording area, respectively, as shown in Figure (A). The data format shown in B) is scanned 77 times and recorded in A3 size.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus capable of mounting the recording head shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in which the carriage 5 is slidably engaged with a pair of guide shafts 50, and the carriage motor 5A By driving the recording heads IA, 2A. Enables scanning of the recording area with 3A and 4A.

FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) are conceptual diagrams showing a recording method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. As is clear from FIG. 5A, in the recording head of this example, each of the recording heads I and 4 corresponding to P ink and K ink has their ejection port arrays spaced apart by the amount of paper feed. arranged in the scanning direction.

That is, the recording condition of this example is a recording density of 300 DPI, and in this case, the droplet body is determined to be 113 pI2 in the same process as in the previous two examples. At this time, the areal density of the monochromatic ink is 15.8 nβ/mm''.As shown in Figure 5, this is a range in which the image does not bleed even on uncoated paper, but it is at the limit of smearing. Bleeding may occur because the values are close to each other.

Therefore, an interval corresponding to the amount of paper feed is provided between each recording head, thereby promoting ink absorption by the time of one scan and paper feed. In this way, ink bleeding can be reliably eliminated.

In the configuration of this example, each recording head has 50 ejection ports,
A4 size recording is performed at a head drive frequency of 4 kHz.

In this case, scanning is performed 72 times as shown in FIG. 11(B).

In each of the above-described embodiments, ink is ejected using thermal energy from an electrothermal converter or the like, but the ejection energy generating means is of course not limited to this.

(Left below) In the previous embodiment, a recording method and a recording device were explained in which the arrangement of a plurality of recording heads was changed to take full advantage of the advantages of a multi-nozzle head. In addition to the above-mentioned modifications, an apparatus and a recording method that can obtain the effects of the present invention while using a normal arrangement of multiple recording heads will be described. The following embodiments have the advantage that the recording head can be made smaller than the previous embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a side sectional view showing the main parts of an ink jet recording apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 12, the explanation of the same structure as that in FIG. 1 will not be explained here because it overlaps with the explanation in FIG. Below, only the characteristic configuration will be explained.

In FIG. 12, recording heads 1 to 4 are arranged in parallel in the scanning direction.
It is placed on a carriage as shown in Figure 4.

Further, a control section shown in FIG. 13 is connected to the recording heads 1 to 4.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of printing control in the inkjet printing apparatus shown in FIG. 12. In the figure, 5A is a carriage motor that drives the carriage 5 via a carriage drive mechanism such as a belt or pulley, and 200 is a head driver that generates ejection signals for each ejection port based on print data supplied from the control section. It is. 30
0 is a paper feed drive unit in which the conveyance roller 9 and the belt 11 drive the paper discharge roller pair l6.

The control unit shown in the figure is CPUIOO, which executes processing related to device control while exchanging data with the host device and each part of the recording device, RAMIOOA, which is a work area for CPUIOO processing, and RAMIOOA, which is a work area for CPUIOO processing, and
) and CB), which store processing procedures such as recording operations, etc., are constituent elements.

FIGS. 14(A) and 14(B) are diagrams for explaining the recording method in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12. Figure 14 (A
), the recording heads 1 to 4 that eject ink of each color of R, G, B, and K are fixedly supported by the carriage 5 so that the respective recording areas by scanning of the carriage 5 are the same. In the same figure, originally discharge port rows 12 to 15
cannot be seen, but for convenience of explanation, it is shown transparently from above.

The recording heads 1 to 4 eject ink from ejection ports 12 to 15 to record on a recording material in accordance with a recording signal inputted in synchronization with the movement of the carriage 5.

In this embodiment, each of the ejection port arrays 12 to 15 is divided into four recording areas for printing. Four recording areas (1) to (
4) has a width equal to four equal parts of the width L of the ejection port array, and is configured so that only one head performs printing in each printing area. The recording area (1) is the L/4 width on the paper feed side of the K ink head 4, the recording area (2) is the B ink head 3, the recording area (3) is the G ink head 2, and the recording area (4) is the width of the paper feed side of the K ink head 4. ) are recorded using the L/4 width of the R ink head 1 on the paper ejection side. The recording material 8 is recorded in the order of K, B, G, and H while being conveyed by the pair of conveyance rollers 9 and the suction conveyance belt l1 with the same width as each equally divided recording area for each scan of the carriage 5. go. FIG. 14(B) shows only the recording signal of the portion corresponding to the aforementioned recording area. Furthermore, 0 is manually input as a non-recording signal to the portions that do not correspond to the recording areas of each head.

Based on the above configuration, in the first scan, the K ink head 4 in the recording area (1) performs recording corresponding to the recording signal Kl (signal corresponding to L/4 width). Thereafter, the paper is fed by a width of L/4, and the portion where the signal Kl was recorded in the first scan advances to the recording area (2), where the B ink head 3
Then, the recording signal Bl (B component on the same line as Kl) is recorded in an overlapping manner.

At the same time, the recording signal K2 is output by the head in the recording area (1).
(K component of the line following Kl) is recorded. Second
After the scanning, the recording material is fed by a width of L/4, and then moves to the third scanning. In the third scan, K3, B2, and Gl are similarly recorded in the respective recording areas. Furthermore, in the fourth scan, K4, B3, G2, R
2 is recorded, and the first line of the recording material is marked with K.
A color image is formed using recording signals of 1, Bl, Gl, and Rl. In this way, color images are sequentially formed by carriage scanning (color recording according to the recording signal) and paper feeding of L/4 width.

In this embodiment, the recording area is divided into four parts, which requires three additional scans compared to the conventional method. After all scanning is completed, the recording material 8 is moved to the paper ejection roller pair 1.
6, it is ejected from the machine. Note that the paper ejection roller pair l6
Its functions are to stabilize the recording material in the recording section (assist the suction conveyor belt and protect it from unnecessary force applied from outside the machine) and to discharge the end portion.

Now, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the amount of ink absorption varies greatly depending on the recording medium. Therefore, it is preferable to change the amount of ink ejected to the recording medium depending on the recording medium, but this is something that has not been done in the past. In the present invention, from this experiment, the amount of ink that can be recorded in a short time is 20 rl/mm2 on uncoated paper.
Hereinafter, for coated paper, the divided use ratio of the recording head is determined to be 25 rl/mm2 or less.

To restate, absorption of ink into paper is thought to occur in the order of contact, collision, dot formation, permeation, and drying, as shown in FIG. 6(A). As shown in Fig. 4, in the case of uncoated paper, at a time of O-2JS or less, 11 to 12 n
Since it is not possible to absorb ink of 47 mm' or more, ink is ejected below this range. Therefore, when ink is applied, the ink overflows, and as shown in Figure 6 (B), this overflowing ink is attracted to the adjacent ink that reached the paper first, causing smearing at the boundary. The problem can be prevented with the present invention.

In other words, in this embodiment, the recording area of each recording head is properly divided according to the recording medium in one scan zero, and the head scanning is performed sequentially. The bleeding could be reduced to a dog's width.

In order to verify the effects of this example, a recording test was conducted under the following recording conditions, and a good recorded image with little blurring at the boundary was obtained. On the other hand, when the heads were arranged in a conventional inkjet recording apparatus such that the recording areas of the heads overlapped and they were simultaneously recorded, an image was obtained that was completely unsuitable for practical use.

In other words, this example uses R, G, B, and K four-color inks.
Color recording is possible, and recording was performed on an A4 size recording material at a recording density of 36 (IDPI) and a driving frequency of 5.4kHz. I used 2x paper that spreads.

In this case, since the recording density is 360DPI, the pixel size is 70. The size of the dot is 56 μm square, and the dot diameter that fills the entire pixel is 100 μm. Therefore, the diameter of the droplet that is shot into the double paper is 50 μm, that is, its volume is 65.5 p°C.

When recording under these conditions, the areal density of monochrome ink (one time ejection) is 13.2 nj2/mm2, and the areal density of two color ink (two times ejection) is 26.3 nj2/I! lm
2, and as shown in FIG. 5, if two color inks are applied overlapping or adjacent to each other on uncoated paper, the image will be defective.

Furthermore, if the conventional configuration shown in FIGS. 15(A) and 15(B) does not divide the printing area and prints by feeding the paper every four carriage scans, it is possible to print ink for the fourth color. Immediately after this, the recording material 8 comes into contact with the pair of paper ejection rollers 16, so that image disturbance occurs due to contact with the paper ejection rollers. For this reason, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, it is necessary to configure the paper ejection roller pair to be separated from the recording section by more than the width L of the ejection port array, which increases the size of the apparatus and increases the
The auxiliary effect (stabilization of the recording material) is reduced, and it becomes necessary to widen the facing distance between the head and the recording material, resulting in deterioration of ink landing accuracy.

In contrast, in this example, the configuration is such that the paper reaches the pair of ejection rollers after scanning three times after the entire recording of the first part of the recording material is completed, so the image fixation has already stabilized during this time and the image is No disturbance occurs.

Furthermore, in the case of single-color recording such as K ink only, recording may be performed in the entire head area and the paper may be fed by L width, thereby increasing the recording speed in the case of single-color recording. .

Note that this example is also effective when the recording material is PET or a transparent film formed by coating PET with a water-absorbing material.

Further, this embodiment is effective in obtaining higher quality recording even when using a recording material with excellent ink absorbency such as coated paper.

Furthermore, even when monochromatic recording is performed using one multi-nozzle head, it is effective in improving image quality as in this embodiment. That is, by using a head whose ejection amount is set small in advance so that the same pixel is formed by two ink picks, and by dividing the nozzle and recording ink of the same color, the nozzle Image deterioration due to ink connections in the column direction can be reduced. That is, under the same conditions as in this example, the droplet volume was reduced to about half, and 6. Even higher image quality can be achieved by applying ink of the same color in 6rl/mm increments.Also, by applying twice the amount of ink of the same color without bleeding, keeping the ejection amount the same as in this example. , high-density recording becomes possible.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a recording head showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and the recording head of this embodiment has a configuration compatible with full-color recording. That is, it includes recording heads IA, 2A, 3A, and 4A corresponding to each color ink of yellow (Y), magenta (M), black (K), and cyan (C).

Each of these recording heads has 128 ejection ports arranged in the sub-scanning direction. In addition, it is a cartridge type recording head that integrates ink tanks for each color, and therefore,
When the ink runs out, the entire recording head is replaced with another cartridge.

When performing high-resolution recording as in this example, high positional accuracy between the heads is required, but by replacing the heads as one unit for four colors as in this example, precise positioning can be achieved at the time of shipment. This makes it possible to perform high-quality recording that fully brings out the performance of the head even in a head-replaceable device.

FIGS. 17A and 17B are conceptual diagrams showing a printing method using the printhead shown in FIG. 16, and are similar to FIGS. 14A and 14B, respectively.

This example shows a configuration in which recording is performed on double paper at a recording density of 600 DPI. That is, since the recording density is 600DPI, the pixel size is 42. A 33 μm square is determined, and the drop red diameter is 30 μm and its volume is 14 μm in the same manner as above.
．． It becomes 2pc.

As a result, the areal densities when ink of one color, two colors, three colors, and four colors are injected overlappingly or adjacently are 7.9r+j2/mm2, 15.8nρ/mm'', respectively.
23. 7n (1/mm2, and 31.6 nj
2/mm2. As is clear from FIG. 5 again, in this example, the allowable range without ink bleeding is up to two color inks.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17(A), it becomes possible for print heads corresponding to two ink colors to print in the same area. That is, the recording heads 2A and 4A for M ink and C ink and the recording heads IA and 3A for Y ink and K ink have the same recording area, respectively, and the data format shown in FIG. Scan and record A3 size.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus capable of mounting the recording heads shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, in which the carriage 5 is slidably engaged with a pair of guide shafts 50, and the carriage motor 5A By driving the recording heads IA, 2A, 3A, and 4A, the recording area can be scanned.

In this way, the number of divided recording areas can be set arbitrarily, and this setting is performed by changing the paper feed amount and the recording signal supplied to the recording head in the control configuration shown in FIG. . This makes it possible to use plain paper and transparent OHP films, which have poor ink absorption characteristics, for example, and to diversify recording materials.

Note that some plain paper has poor ink color development, so it may be necessary to increase the density, especially when recording with monochromatic ink. In this case, for example, the ejection opening of the K ink recording head is divided into two, and recording is performed in the same manner as the configuration shown in FIG. 17(A). The recording signal at this time is shown below.

? Head scan 123...150 151 1
52 153K (2) area OK, κ2”””
Kl49 K150 K+61 K+szK (1) region KI K2 K3”””K+5oK+s+ K+5
(2)0 According to this example, it is possible to diversify recording materials by diversifying recording modes. In addition, image deterioration due to differences in landing accuracy, ejection amount, etc. that exist between ejection ports is emphasized by duplicate recording using the same ejection port, but it is not emphasized and may be reduced by duplicate recording by using ejection ports separately. There are many.

FIG. 19 is a conceptual diagram of a recording method according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

This example is a configuration taken in the case of low recording density, and in this case, since the density of monochromatic ink is high, there is a high possibility that bleeding between scanning lines will occur.

The recording material used in this example is a transmission type OHP film, and in this case, since the projection light passes through the transparent film only once, the absorption by the dye is small, making it difficult to obtain contrast in the projected image. For this reason, a thick ink-receiving layer (opaque) is provided on a film such as PET.
This improves ink absorption, so if the recording area is divided into four parts and recorded, high-density, bleeding-free recording becomes possible.

The recording in this example uses two colors of ink, R and K, and
Two heads each having two ejection ports were arranged in the scanning direction. The recording density is 300DPI and the drive frequency is 4kHz.
Four sizes were recorded.

As a result, the pixel size is 84. 67um square, pixel dot diameter 120nm, droplet diameter 60nm,
Drop red volume 113 pβ, monochrome ink areal density 1
5.8n°C/+nn+”, two-color ink surface density 31.
It became 6nβ/mm2.

Recording signals in the recording method shown in FIG. 19 are shown in the table below.

(Margin below) Head scan 123456789 K (4 areas oooooooooo K(3) area 0 0 K1K2 K3 K4
K5 K6 K7K (2 areas ooooooooo K (1) area KI K2 K3 K4 K5 K6
K7 K8 K9R (4 areas 0 0 0
RI R2 R3 R4 R5 R6R (3) region
ooooooooooo R (2 areas O RI R2 R3 R4 R5
R6 R7 R8R (l area oooooooooo) As mentioned above, when multiple colors of ink are used for overlapping printing, the amount of ink applied becomes very high density, so the paper is In the method of advancing and starting recording the next line, the difference in the amount of ink received between lines becomes large.As a result, this is caused by a change in the absorption phenomenon of the next line's ink at the boundary of the scanning line. Possible joint image deterioration (density non-uniformity) is likely to occur, and bleeding of the previous line in the paper feeding direction is large.

On the other hand, in the fourth embodiment described above, since the amount of ink received gradually changes from line to line, such problems are less likely to occur.

In addition, as a problem caused by an increase in the amount of ink, the paper may swell and expand and contract due to ink reception, causing the paper to wave, but in this example, the area where the ink density is maximum at the same time is Since it is smaller than the conventional example, it also has the effect of suppressing waving. Therefore, there is no need to particularly widen the distance between the head and the recording material.
The landing accuracy is superior to the conventional example, and the image quality is improved.

FIG. 20 shows a basic schematic diagram of an apparatus for obtaining an optimum recording speed improvement rate while increasing the density or obtaining high image quality by partially using each recording head of the present invention described above.

400 indicates the material of the recording medium (paper, resin sheet, processed paper, semi-processed paper, plain paper A, B, and C in descending order of ink absorption; see Figure 21)
This is a means for automatically or manually detecting the material, and various known discriminating means can be used for automatic discrimination, such as one that uses light transmittance or a different mark for each material. 500 is a means for determining the number of ejection ports to be used with respect to the total number M of ejection ports of each recording head, and in this example, the division ratio n of the total number M
Determine. Specifically, the means 500 selects groups Gl to Gg (Gl to G8 are groups each having eight ejection ports) suitable for printing with print heads l, 2, and 3.4 that are suitable for the material of the print medium. The decision has been made as to which one to use.

For a specific example of this example, if you also refer to FIG. 21, the processed paper with a large ink absorption capacity is so large that it does not need to be divided and used, so there is no need to perform division drive. , the recording speed will decrease. Therefore, in order to utilize the effects of the present invention, it is desirable that n be 2 or more.

As the ratio n, n=2 is adopted as a result of the discrimination between semi-processed paper and plain paper A, and the recording shown in FIGS. 17(A) and 17(B) of the above-mentioned embodiment is executed. Also, in the discrimination result for plain paper B, n=4
is adopted, and the recording of the embodiment shown in FIG. 19 is performed. Furthermore, n = 8 is adopted for plain paper C or OHP sheet,
Group 61 units each having one scanning width of eight ejection ports are executed as in the embodiment described above.

Reference numeral 600 denotes a recording head driving means, which drives the recording heads 1, 2,
The recording signal applying means, which is the ejection port to be used for 3.4, is determined and driven. Reference numeral 700 denotes a recording medium conveyance means, which determines the conveyance amount x/n in one scanning unit for the printable area X of all ejection ports of the recording head based on the ratio n determined by the determination means 500, and The pitch in the printing medium conveying direction, which is sub-scanning in the printing mode set, continues to be fed by x/n.

With the configuration shown in FIG. 20, high-quality, high-speed inkjet recording can be reliably performed regardless of the type of recording medium.

FIG. 21 shows a display panel 80 for determining the division ratio n for transporting the recording head according to the recording medium used by the operator.
It indicates 0. 80l is the key for processed paper,
By turning on this key, the recording mode explained in FIG. 21 is determined. Similarly, 802 is a key for semi-processed paper or plain paper A, 803 is a key for plain paper B, and 8RO4 is a key for plain paper C or 0.
1 {P seat key. 805 is for displaying the total number M of ejection ports of the recording head, and in this example, 64 is displayed. Reference numeral 806 indicates a print switch for displaying or operating printing.

The effects of the present invention can be sufficiently obtained even with a configuration such as the operation panel shown in FIG. 21 that allows the operator to easily determine and adopt the recording mode of the present invention. It goes without saying that the all-ejection port use mode of the key 801 is not required in practice, but it may be provided for executing various recording methods.

It goes without saying that the numerical values in the above embodiments are not limiting requirements for the present invention, and the accuracy of the present invention is sufficient even if the number of discharge ports to be used is determined without determining the proportion of the total number of discharge ports. It is something.

The present invention brings about excellent effects particularly in bubble jet recording heads and recording apparatuses among ink jet recording systems.

As for typical configurations and principles thereof, it is preferable to use the basic principles disclosed in, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and US Pat. No. 4,740,796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type, but especially in the case of the on-demand type, it is necessary to arrange the liquid (ink) in accordance with the sheet and liquid path that hold it. The electrothermal converter that is
Generating thermal energy in the electrothermal transducer and producing film boiling on the thermally active surface of the recording head by applying at least one drive signal that corresponds to recorded information and provides a rapid temperature rise above nucleate boiling. As a result, bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. The growth and contraction of the bubble causes liquid (ink) to be ejected through the ejection opening, thereby forming at least one bubble. If this drive signal is in the form of a pulse, bubble growth and contraction will occur immediately and appropriately.
Particularly responsive liquid (ink) ejection can be achieved,
More preferred. This pulse-shaped drive signal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,359 and U.S. Pat.
Those described in the specification are suitable. Furthermore, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 concerning the invention regarding the temperature increase rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, even more excellent recording can be performed.

The configuration of the recording head includes ejection ports and liquid channels as disclosed in the above-mentioned specifications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600 disclose a configuration in which a heat acting part is arranged in a bending region in addition to a combination configuration of electrothermal converters (straight liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path). The present invention also includes a configuration using the specification of the above specification. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1989-5 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge part of a plurality of electrothermal converters.
No. 9-123670 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59/1989 which discloses a configuration in which a discharge portion is made to correspond to an opening that absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy.
- The effects of the present invention are also effective even with a configuration based on Publication No. 138461.

In addition, a replaceable chip-type recording head that is attached to the device body enables electrical connection to the device body and ink supply from the device body, or a chip-type recording head that is installed integrally with the recording head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge type recording head is used.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head, preliminary auxiliary means, etc., which are provided as a configuration of the recording apparatus, to the present invention, because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specifically, these include capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element, or a combination thereof; It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing in order to perform stable printing.

Furthermore, the recording mode of the recording device is not limited to a recording mode for only mainstream colors such as black, but may also include a recording head that is configured integrally or a combination of multiple heads, or a full-color recording mode using multiple colors of different colors or mixed colors. The present invention is also extremely effective for devices equipped with at least one of the following.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to one aspect of the present invention, the print area of each print head in one scan is divided.

This makes it possible to feed the paper every 1 scans and to perform printing according to each printing area.

As a result, it is possible to perform overlapping recording at time intervals without reducing the overall recording speed, which not only prevents deterioration of image quality such as blurring due to overlapping recording, but also enables support for a variety of recording materials. became.

Further, according to the plurality of recording heads according to another aspect of the present invention, the recording medium is conveyed by the width of the divided recording area for each scan, and according to this conveyance, the recording medium is conveyed in advance by the width of the divided recording area. Recording is performed only through the determined ejection ports.

As a result, compared to recording separately for each color across the entire head width without dividing the recording area, the number of scans is hardly increased. It has become possible to reduce cockling, which is a phenomenon in which the recording material waves. Additionally, since the paper ejection section could be shortened, the main body could be made more compact.

Furthermore, compared to overlapping printing over the entire width of the head, the area that reaches the maximum ink density at the same time can be made narrower without increasing the number of scans.
Cockling can be reduced, and the difference in ink receiving ability during printing between scanning lines can be reduced, and density uniformity at line boundaries can be improved. In addition, since overlapping printing is performed using separate ejection ports, density unevenness caused by differences in ejection port accuracy is reduced. In addition, when performing overlapping recording, the recording time can be reduced and the joint between images can be improved.

In addition, it is now possible to provide the user with a variety of desired recording modes, thereby making it possible to perform good recording on a variety of recording materials.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration related to recording of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 (A) and (B) are conceptual diagrams of the recording method in the first embodiment, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the ink absorption characteristics of the recording material, and Figure 5 shows image evaluation according to the ink density of the recording material. Explanatory diagram, Figure 6 (Al and (B) is an explanatory diagram of image blurring, Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram of how to overlap ink in the embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 8 is an illustration of 4 heads integrated in the second embodiment) A perspective view showing an inkjet cartridge, FIGS. 9A, 8 and 9B are conceptual diagrams of a recording method in a second embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 11(A) and 11(B) are conceptual diagrams of a recording method according to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 12 is a side sectional view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the control configuration for recording in the apparatus shown in FIG. 12, FIGS. 14(A) and (B) are conceptual diagrams of the recording method in the fourth embodiment, and FIG. ) and (B) are conceptual diagrams showing a recording mode that is a conventional recording method but can be applied to the seventh embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a four-head integrated inkjet cartridge in the fifth embodiment; 17(A) and (B) are conceptual diagrams of a recording method in a fifth embodiment, FIG. 18 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 19 is a conceptual diagram of a recording method according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. 20 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of the seventh embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of the operation panel used in the seventh embodiment of the present invention. It is a diagram.... Recording head, 1, 2, 3, 4, IA, 2A, 3A, 4A5... Carriage, 5A... Carriage mode, 8... Recording material, 9... Conveyance roller, 11...Adsorption conveyance belt, 12...Head support section, 20...Head driver, 30...Paper feed drive section, 50...Guide shaft, 100...CPU, 100A・...RAM, 100B...ROM. 400... Recording medium material determining means, 500... Division ratio determining means, 600... Recording head driving means, 700... Recording medium conveying means, 800...・Display panel. Fig. 4 ↓ ``=:] ↓ Inspection No. 6 ● ↓ 12 18 ←. l=Figure 8 Figure 8 Figure 10 Figure 16 Figure 50 Figure 18

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A carriage on which a plurality of inkjet recording heads each having a plurality of ejection ports are mounted, and all of the plurality of ejection ports of each of the plurality of printheads,
or a means for applying a recording signal to an ink ejection energy generating element corresponding to a part; and a means used for recording a recordable area formed by the sum of all ejection areas of the plurality of print heads from the time of starting recording on the recording medium. The number of recording heads used to record the recordable area in the recording end area of the recording medium is increased, and the number of recording heads used when recording the recordable area in the recording end area of the recording medium is decreased. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a control means for setting a feed pitch to . 2) The control means includes means for determining the number of ejection ports that are part of the plurality of ejection ports of each of the plurality of print heads according to the material of the print medium. inkjet recording device. 3) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink ejection energy generating element is an electrothermal converter of a thermal energy generating element that causes film boiling in the ink. 4) An inkjet recording device that has a plurality of recording heads provided with ejection ports for ejecting ink, and records an image by ejecting ink from the ejection ports as the plurality of printheads scans. In the first recording head, the first recording head is provided adjacent to the upstream side and the downstream side with respect to the conveying direction of the recording medium, and the respective ejection ports are arranged in a positional relationship that does not overlap with each other in the upstream side area and the downstream side area. , an image of the first ink droplet on the recording medium by the first recording head relatively upstream, and a second ink droplet on the recording medium by the second recording head relatively downstream. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: a recording mode in which images are recorded so as to at least overlap with the images of the inkjet recording apparatus. 5) An inkjet recording device that has a plurality of recording heads provided with ejection ports for ejecting ink, and records an image by ejecting ink from the ejection ports as the plurality of printheads scans. Each of the plurality of printheads and at least one of the other printheads are arranged so that the ejection ports thereof do not overlap with each other in the scanning direction, a paper feeding means that feeds the paper by the width of the printing area by the scanning movement of the arranged printing heads for each scanning movement; An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal for. 6) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the recording areas formed by the scanning movement of the recording heads arranged so as not to overlap each other are continuous with each other. 7) The inkjet recording according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the recording areas formed by the scanning movement of the recording heads arranged so as not to overlap each other have an interval that is an integral multiple of the width of the recording areas. Device. 8) The ejection ports provided in each of the plurality of recording heads are:
8. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a plurality of ejection ports arranged in the sub-scanning direction. 9) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads has an electrothermal transducer as an ejection energy generating element for ejecting ink. 10) The first recording head has the same recordable area as the first recording area in the transport direction, and further includes a third recording head disposed in the upstream region where the first recording head is located. Claim 4 characterized in that
The inkjet recording device described in . 11) The second recording head further includes a fourth recording head arranged in the downstream area where the second recording head is located, the second recording area in which the second recording head can record in the transport direction to be the same recording area. Claim 4 characterized in that
The inkjet recording device described in . 12) The second recording head further includes a fourth recording head arranged in the downstream region where the second recording head is located, the second recording area in which the second recording head can record in the transport direction to be the same recording area. Claim 1 characterized in that
0. The inkjet recording device according to 0. 13) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the first recording area and the second recording area have the same width. 14) The first to fourth recording heads eject ink of different colors, and the recording mode is such that the second recording head to the fourth recording head eject ink of different colors, and the recording mode is such that after the second and fourth recording heads perform recording in the second recording area, the second recording head 13. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 12, wherein overlapping recording is performed by the first and third recording heads with the area as the first recording area. 15) A plurality of printheads configured by arranging a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink in the sub-scanning direction or a direction different from the scanning direction are arranged in the scanning direction, and as the plurality of printheads move in the scanning direction, In an inkjet recording apparatus that records an image by ejecting ink from the ejection ports, the recording medium is transported by the width of the recording area equally divided by the scanning of the plurality of recording heads for each scanning movement. and recording signal supply means for supplying recording signals only to predetermined ejection ports corresponding to the equally divided areas in accordance with the conveyance by the conveyance means. Inkjet recording device. 16) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads has an electrothermal transducer as an ejection energy generating element for ejecting ink. 17) A plurality of printheads configured by arranging a plurality of ejection ports for ejecting ink in the sub-scanning direction or a direction different from the scanning direction are arranged in the scanning direction, and as the plurality of printheads move in the scanning direction, In the recording method of the inkjet recording apparatus, in which an image is recorded by ejecting ink from the ejection ports, the recording medium is conveyed by the width of the equally divided area of the recording area by the scanning of the plurality of recording heads for each scanning movement. A recording method for an inkjet recording apparatus, characterized in that the recording signal is supplied only to predetermined ejection ports corresponding to the equally divided areas according to the conveyance by the conveyance means. 18) The recording method according to claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads has an electrothermal transducer as an ejection energy generating element for ejecting ink. 19) Recording is performed by ejecting ink from the ejection ports as the print head moves in a scanning direction, which is configured by arranging ejection ports for ejecting ink in the sub-scanning direction or in a direction different from the scanning direction. In the inkjet recording apparatus, a conveying means for conveying a recording medium by the width of an area equally divided by the scanning of the recording head for each scanning movement; 1. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising: recording signal supply means for supplying a recording signal only to predetermined ejection ports corresponding to a region. 20) The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 19, wherein each of the plurality of recording heads has an electrothermal transducer as an ejection energy generating element for ejecting ink.