JPH04122649A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect a plurality of pieces of information by a simplified detecting system easily by selecting the plurality of pieces of information in time sharing by switching sequentially and converting the switched analog information into a digital information. CONSTITUTION:An MPU 7 accesses a selection circuit 6 at first and designates selection combination order of outputs QA, QB, QC of the selection circuit 6. A switch circuit 5 fetches input information from record heads 1-4 in accordance with the selection order in time sharing so as to input to an A/D converter 8. The MPU 7 reads data corresponding to each level from the record heads 1-4 and recognizes the information of each of the record heads 1-4. Since the information in the record heads 1-4 is detected in time sharing by using an input/output port which is used in common with the single A/D converter 8, numerous pieces of information can be detected easily by limited signal lines and with a simple structure of the input/ output port.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording device such as an inkjet printer, and more particularly to a recording device that can easily detect a plurality of pieces of information such as its recording head.

[Conventional technology]

An inkjet printer, which is a recording device, includes a plurality of recording heads, and is configured to perform printing by ejecting ink particles onto a recording medium (paper) from the nozzles of the recording heads.

Here, for example, when detecting the information of each recording head, conventionally, a large number of input/output ports are provided corresponding to each recording head, and the status information of each head is transmitted through these human output ports. Detected individually.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in conventional recording devices such as those mentioned above, information detection for multiple recording heads is performed individually, which requires a large number of signal lines and input/output ports, making the information detection system complicated. There was a problem with becoming.

The present invention has been made with attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording device that can easily detect a plurality of pieces of information using a simple detection system.

(Means for Solving the Problem) The recording device of the present invention includes a switching circuit that sequentially switches a plurality of input information in a time-sharing manner, a selection circuit that sequentially selects the switched information, and an analog output of the selected switching circuit. It is equipped with an A-D converter that converts information into digital information.

[Effect]

In the recording apparatus of the present invention, a plurality of input terminals 1° are sequentially switched and selected in a time-sharing manner, and the switched analog information is converted into digital information, so that a common A-D (analog digital) Multiple pieces of information can be read using a shared detection system connected to the converter.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a t-information detection system of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1
-4 is a recording head that performs recording by ejecting 122 particles onto the recording medium, and 5 is a switching circuit that inputs a plurality of h signals that can be sensed in time division for each M1 recording head 1 to 4 and sequentially switches them in time division. , E is a selection circuit that sequentially selects the switched information according to commands from the MPU 7, 8 is an A-D converter that converts the analog output information (selection information) of the selected switching Dokei 5 into digital 0 information, -D-converted recording head 1~
Information No. 4 (MSB-LSB) is input to the MPU 7. Reference numerals 9, 10, and 11 denote a drive circuit, a control circuit, and an interface circuit for controlling a carriage (not shown) to move the recording heads 1 to 4.

The recording head information includes, for example, head temperature control data, data for correcting printing unevenness due to variations in output characteristics of each nozzle of the head, and the like.

Next, an explanation will be given of the operation when detecting information about each recording head 1 to 4 in the above configuration.

In this case, the MPU 7 first accesses the selection circuit 6 and specifies the combination order of selection of the outputs QA, Qa, and Qc of the selection circuit 6. Then, the switching circuit 5 takes in the input information from the recording heads 1 to 4 in the selected order in a time-division manner and inputs it to the AD converter 8. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, information on recording heads 1 to 4 having different levels is sequentially time-divisionally divided into information on head 1,
The information on the head 2 is switched during the period T2, the information on the head 3 during the period T3, and the information on the head 4 during the period T4 are respectively switched and input to the A-D converter 8. Then, the MPU 7 reads data corresponding to each level from each of the recording heads 1 to 4 and recognizes information about each of the recording heads 1 to 4. Note that FIG. 2 shows input and output waveforms of each part in FIG. 1.

In the information detection system shown in FIG. Since each piece of information is detected in a time-division manner using ports, a large amount of information can be easily detected with a simple configuration of limited signal lines and input/output ports.

Note that the above detection operation has been described for the case where information of each of the recording heads 1 to 4 is detected, but the detection target may be other than this, for example, information of each sensor, or multiple pieces of information of the same recording head. It's okay. At that time, the number of channels of the switching circuit 5 and the number of selection signals of the selection circuit 6 may be increased in accordance with the number of information.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an inkjet printer equipped with the detection system shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 12 is a carriage on which each of the recording heads 1 to 4 is mounted, and 13 to 15 are the first and second carriages.
A circuit board on which each of the circuits 9 to 11 shown in the figure is constructed, 16 a CR motor for driving the carriage 12, 17 a feed roller, and 18 an LF motor.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of pieces of input information are sequentially switched and selected in a time-sharing manner, and the analog information is sequentially A-
Since the data is D-converted and imported, there is an effect that a plurality of pieces of information can be easily detected using a simple detection system.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an input/output waveform diagram of each part shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows a schematic configuration of an inkjet printer equipped with the detection system shown in Fig. 1. FIG. 1 to 4... Recording head 5... Switching circuit 6... Selection port path 7... MPU 8... A-D conversion vessel

Claims (1)

[Claims] A switching circuit that sequentially switches a plurality of input information in a time-sharing manner, a selection circuit that sequentially selects the switched information, and an A-D converter that converts analog output information of the selected switching circuit into digital information. A recording device characterized by: