JPH08244253A - Recorder and recording method, and information processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent white stripes and concentration irregularity from occurring at a boundary between bands and check a decrease in image formation speed by making a recording material transport distance smaller than recording width when an image to be recorded on a recording material consists of multiple bands. CONSTITUTION: If the length of a recording head 203 in a subsidiary scanning direction is A, the length A is equal to a recording width which is recorded in one scanning. That is, each head has 512 nozzles which discharges ink, arranged at a density of 400 dots per inch in a subsidiary scanning direction and can record 32mm wide at a time. The recording head 203 moves in the direction of an arrow X, repeating discharge and non-discharge of ink in accordance with image signals from an image processing section. Therefore, one band of recording is made on the recording paper 204 as a result of the movement.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and method for recording image information such as characters, pictures, photographs and symbols on a recording material, and a copying machine, a facsimile, and the like having the apparatus as an output means. The present invention relates to an information processing system such as a printer, a word processor and a personal computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, paper, cloth, plastic sheet, O
There are various known recording apparatuses that perform recording on a recording medium such as an HP sheet (hereinafter also simply referred to as recording paper). Among them, the inkjet recording device is
Since a high-density and high-speed recording operation is possible, output means of an information processing system, for example, a printer as an output terminal such as a copying machine, a facsimile, an electronic typewriter, a word processor, a workstation, or a personal computer, a host computer, It is used and commercialized as a handy or portable printer provided in an optical disc device, a video device, and the like.
In this case, the inkjet recording apparatus has a configuration corresponding to the function, usage pattern, etc. peculiar to these apparatuses.

Generally, an ink jet recording apparatus comprises a recording means (recording head), a carriage on which an ink tank is mounted, a conveying means for conveying recording paper, and a control means for controlling these. Then, the recording head for ejecting ink droplets from the plurality of ejection ports is serially scanned in the direction (main scanning direction) orthogonal to the recording paper conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction), while the recording paper is set to the recording width when not recording. The same amount is intermittently conveyed. This recording method is
Ink is ejected onto recording paper in accordance with a recording signal to perform recording, and is widely used as a quiet recording method with low running cost. In addition, by using a recording head in which a large number of nozzles for ejecting ink are arranged in a straight line in the sub-scanning direction, a width corresponding to the number of nozzles (hereinafter referred to as recording width) can be obtained by the recording head scanning the recording paper once. (Also referred to as a recording), and one band is formed. Further, by repeating the same recording, an image composed of a plurality of bands is recorded.

[0004]

However, in the conventional recording apparatus, if the diameters of a plurality of nozzles are not uniform or if the recording width is not equal to the recording width during the intermittent conveyance, the distance between the adjacent bands is reduced. Streaks may occur in the boundary area, or density unevenness may occur. Therefore, these defects will be repeatedly observed in the recorded image. In order to solve such a problem, means for correcting the density in each nozzle alone or in units of several nozzles, 1
A method has been proposed in which a line is printed by a plurality of nozzles to make unevenness due to a nozzle-specific cause inconspicuous. However, with these methods, it is difficult to correct density unevenness that occurs at the boundary between bands. Further, the method of printing one line forming a band with a plurality of nozzles has a problem that it takes time to record the entire image.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems and prevents the occurrence of white stripes and density unevenness at the boundary between bands and prevents the image forming speed from slowing down. An object is to provide a recording device to which the recording method is applied, and an information processing system using the device as an output unit.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a recording apparatus according to the present invention has a nozzle row composed of a plurality of nozzles arranged in the sub-scanning direction, and is orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction. Recording means for recording a band having a recording width corresponding to the length of the nozzle row on the recording material based on an input image signal by ejecting ink from a plurality of nozzles along the main scanning direction, In a recording apparatus having a conveying means for intermittently conveying the recording material in the sub-scanning direction and a control means for controlling the driving of the recording means and the conveying means, the control means records on the recording material. When the image to be recorded is composed of a plurality of bands, the transporting distance of the recording material by the transporting means is set to a distance shorter than the recording width, and each band extends in the sub-scanning direction. Has at least one end portion on which a pixel pattern complementary to the end portion pixel pattern of another adjacent band is formed, and further, the length of the end portion in the sub-scanning direction is the recording width and the above It is characterized in that it is equal to the difference with the transport distance.

[0007] Preferably, the entire boundary area where the ends of two bands adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction overlap each other is recorded by the recording means scanning at least twice.

Preferably, the control means counts at least one of the width of the boundary area, the pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area as the input image signal or the count of the input image signal. Make a decision based on the value.

Preferably, the recording means is compatible with color recording and has a recording head corresponding to each of a plurality of colors, and the control means further comprises: a width of the boundary area;
At least one of the pixel pattern printed in one scan and the boundary region density is determined based on the color of the band to be printed.

Preferably, the control means determines at least one of the width of the boundary area, the pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area based on the type of the recording material.

Preferably, the boundary region concentration has a concentration gradient in a predetermined direction from the end of the band on the boundary region side.

Preferably, the recording means uses an electrothermal converting element for causing film boiling in the ink as an energy generating means for ejecting the ink.

An information processing system according to the present invention is characterized in that the above recording device is used as an output means.

Preferably, the information processing system is a copying machine having a reading unit for reading a document and an image processing unit for processing the image data read by the reading unit.

Further, the recording method according to the present invention has a nozzle row composed of a plurality of nozzles arranged in the sub-scanning direction, and ink is ejected from the plurality of nozzles in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction. And a recording means for recording a band having a recording width corresponding to the length of the nozzle row on the recording material based on the input image signal, and intermittently conveying the recording material in the sub-scanning direction. In a recording method applied to a recording device having a conveying means and a control means for controlling the driving of the recording means and the conveying means, when the image to be recorded on the recording material is composed of a plurality of bands, And a step of setting a transporting distance of the recording material by the transporting means to a distance shorter than the recording width, in which each band has a pixel pattern at an end of another band adjacent in the sub-scanning direction. And a length in the sub-scanning direction of the end portion is equal to the difference between the recording width and the transport distance. And a setting step as described above.

Preferably, there is a step of recording the entire boundary area in which the ends of two bands adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction overlap each other by scanning the entire boundary area at least twice.

Preferably, at least one of the width of the boundary area, the pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area is determined based on the input image signal or the count value of the input image signal. There is a step to do.

Preferably, the recording means has a recording head compatible with color recording and corresponding to each of a plurality of colors, and further, the width of the boundary region, a pixel pattern recorded by one scanning, And determining at least one of the border area densities based on the color of the band to be recorded.

Preferably, there is a step of determining at least one of the width of the boundary area, the pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area based on the type of the recording material.

Preferably, the boundary region concentration has a concentration gradient in a predetermined direction from the end of the band on the boundary region side.

Preferably, the recording means uses an electrothermal converting element for causing film boiling in the ink as an energy generating means for ejecting the ink.

[0022]

According to the present invention, when the image to be recorded on the recording material is composed of a plurality of bands, the conveying distance of the recording material by the conveying means is set to a distance shorter than the recording width. In addition, each band has at least one end on which a pixel pattern complementary to the pixel pattern of the end of another band adjacent in the sub-scanning direction is formed. The length in the direction is equal to the difference between the recording width and the transport distance. Therefore, it is possible to perform image recording without causing white stripes or density unevenness at the boundary between bands and without slowing the image forming speed.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A recording method of the present invention, a recording apparatus to which the recording method is applied, and an information processing system using the apparatus as an output means will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. The term "recording" as used herein includes the application of ink (printing, image formation, printing, dyeing, etc.) to all the ink supports that receive application of ink, such as cloth, thread, paper, and sheet materials. Can be applied not only in the field of information processing but also in a wide range of industrial fields such as the apparel industry which uses an ink support for receiving ink such as cloth, thread, paper and sheet material.
The image is used in a broad sense and represents characters, pictures, photographs, patterns, symbols, and the like.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a recording operation in a copying machine to which the present invention is applied. In this figure, the recording head 203 is compatible with color recording and is composed of four types of heads corresponding to yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (B). Further, the length of the print head 203 in the sub-scanning direction is A, and this length A is equal to the print width A ′ printed by one scan. That is, in each head, 512 nozzles for ejecting ink are lined up at a density of 400 dots / inch along the sub-scanning direction, and recording with a width of 32 mm can be performed at a time (therefore, recording width A ′). = 32 mm).

The recording head 203 moves in the direction of arrow X while repeatedly ejecting and not ejecting ink according to the image signal sent from the image processing section. Therefore, along with this movement, one band (indicated by arrow A in the figure)
Is recorded on the recording paper 204.

In this embodiment, each of a plurality of lines positioned at the end of one band is recorded by a plurality of nozzles (hereinafter referred to as a multi-scan system). Therefore, the lower end of the first band (portion indicated by arrow A in the figure) is at the recording head 203.
The lower 3 nozzles along the sub-scanning direction are grouped every 9 pixels, and ink ejection and non-ejection are repeated for each group to perform recording in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a staggered pattern.

That is, when recording the first band (portion indicated by arrow A in the figure), the nozzles (512-3 = 509 nozzles) in the range corresponding to arrow C in the figure record based on the image signal. (That is, if recording is requested, all of them are recorded). However, even if there is a recording request, the three nozzles at the lower end are formed so as to form a staggered pattern (portion indicated by arrow D in the figure) as shown in the figure.

Subsequently, the recording head 203 is returned to the original position, and the recording paper is moved in the sub-scanning direction (the direction of the arrow Y in the drawing) by the recording width A '= 32 mm minus the width corresponding to the above-mentioned three nozzles. The sheet is conveyed by (a distance corresponding to the width of arrow C in the figure). Then, after the conveyance, recording of a new band is started again.

When recording the second band, the transport distance is the recording width A '= 32 mm minus the width corresponding to the three nozzles (the distance corresponding to the width of arrow C in the figure).
Therefore, a portion that overlaps with the first band occurs. This overlapping portion is a portion (a portion indicated by an arrow B in the figure) corresponding to the upper 3 nozzles of the second band. When recording this portion, as shown in the figure, a staggered pattern (in the figure, arrow D '
Part) is recorded to form an unrecorded part of the first band. Further, the lower end portion of the second band (portion indicated by arrow D in the figure) is formed by grouping the lower three nozzles along the sub-scanning direction of the recording head 203 every 9 pixels, similarly to the first band. Ink ejection and non-ejection are repeated for each group to perform staggered recording. In the second band recorded in this way, the pixels arrayed in the sub-scanning direction form a portion in which the first to third pixels form a staggered pattern, and the pixels from the fourth to 509th pixels. Form a portion forming a region recorded by normal image recording, and the 510th to 512th pixels form a zigzag pattern.

After the recording of the second band is completed, the recording head 200 is returned to the original position and the recording width A ′ of the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction (the direction of the arrow Y in the drawing) is set, similarly to the first band. = 32 mm and the width corresponding to the above-mentioned three nozzles is subtracted (a distance corresponding to the width of arrow C'in the figure).

Next, when recording the third and subsequent bands, the same recording and recording paper conveyance as in the second band are performed.

In the case of recording the final band, staggered recording is performed only when recording the portion corresponding to the three nozzles at the upper end (the portion indicated by arrow D in the figure), and corresponds to the three nozzles at the lower end. The part is recorded normally.

By recording each band constituting an image as described above, one image can be obtained.

The recording head uses an electrothermal conversion element that causes film boiling of the ink as an energy generating means for ejecting the ink.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining a schematic structure of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

In the copying machine 200, an original is placed on the original placing glass 202 for placing the original, and an illumination lamp (not shown) is used to illuminate the original from below the glass, and the reflected light is reflected by the photoelectric conversion sensor 20.
Received by 1 and converted into an electric signal.

The photoelectric conversion sensor 201 has the same resolution (400 dots / inch) as that of the recording head.
512 pixels corresponding to the width of one band forming an image can be read at a time (therefore, the reading width is 512 pixels). To read an image, after reading one band along the main scanning direction, This is repeated by moving the sensor 201 in the sub-scanning direction by a distance equal to the reading width and restarting the reading.

The read image data is processed by an image processing unit, which will be described later, converted into a recording signal, and sent to the recording head 203. The recording operation method of the recording head 203 and the conveyance method of the recording paper 204 are the same as in the first embodiment. Further, the recording paper 204 is fed by the paper feeding mechanism by the recording paper cassette located under the copying machine 200.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the configurations of the control section (controller) and the image processing section of the copying machine of this embodiment.

A full-color photoelectric conversion sensor (full-color sensor) 201 is composed of a CCD sensor (charge-coupled device image sensor), and a red, green, or blue filter is provided on the sensor to provide red, green, and blue. Corresponding to 3
It consists of two sensors. Therefore, three signals corresponding to red, green, and blue are output. That is, one pixel is represented by three output signals.

First, the image signal is a full color sensor 201.
Is converted into a digital signal by the A / D conversion circuit 302. Further, the digitized image signal is subjected to shading correction 303 for correcting unevenness of sensor sensitivity, luminance density conversion 304 for converting luminance to density, and black extraction 3 for creating a black signal from a color signal.
05, and the reading area 306 for controlling the reading area of the document, are sequentially sent to each process for processing.

In this embodiment, coordinates can be designated by an editor (not shown) and the original area can be recognized by detecting the original. Therefore, the reading area is controlled by the reading control circuit 306 to flow the image signal further downstream. It is possible to stop or stop.

The area-controlled image signal has a variable magnification circuit 307 in accordance with a magnification designated by an operation unit (not shown).
Is digitally scaled by.

In the head shading 308, various density patterns generated in the image processing circuit are first recorded on a recording paper. Next, the recording paper is placed on the document table, and the density pattern recorded on the recording paper is read by the sensor 201.
When the density of the read pattern is low, the density is converted so that the density is high, and when the density of the pattern is high, the density is converted so that the density is low, and the image data is corrected. Make sure that the recording looks uniform. Also, when performing multi-scan,
Read the pattern recorded using multi-scan,
Create correction data.

When the head shading is completed, the density correction circuit 309 performs density correction suitable for the characteristics of the printer. The density-corrected image signal is output to the binarization circuit 310.
Are binarized by the error diffusion method and stored in the image memories 311 to 312 of each color. The recorded image signals are sequentially read by the recording control circuit 315 in synchronization with each other. At this time, the recording pattern is controlled by the control circuit 315, and it is determined whether the recording is performed in the zigzag pattern shown in FIG. The recording control circuit 315 drives the heads 203-1 to 203-4 corresponding to each color on the basis of the sent image signal to cause the ink to be ejected and non-ejected, thereby recording an image (that is, an image on the recording paper). , A reproduced image of the read original image) is recorded.

The control of the flow of the image signal and the control of each part of the copying machine are performed by a memory (ROM 327, RAM 32).
8) is performed by the microprocessor (CPU 320) based on the control program stored in
Through the input / output circuits 321 and 323, the motor 32
4, the drive of the sensor 326 and the other output means 325 is controlled.

Various settings (recording paper selection, magnification, continuous copying, etc.) when using the copying machine, start of copying operation, and the like are performed by the operation unit 32 connected to the CPU 320.
It can be set manually on the second operation panel.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of a series of operations from the start of the copying operation to obtaining the reproduced image.

The operator sets the original on the original table,
An instruction to start the copy operation is issued via the operation panel (S-4
01). As a result, the operation of each part of the copying machine starts (S-40
2) At the same time, the lamp for illuminating the original is turned on, the correction plate is read, and the shading correction data of the sensor is taken in (S-402). Subsequently, the recording paper is conveyed from the recording paper cassette and fed to the recording unit (S-403). The recording pattern data is written in the recording control circuit 315 in consideration of which band the recorded data corresponds to (S-404). Here, the reason why the band is taken into consideration is that, as described above, the nozzle used in the first band or the last band is different when performing the multi-scan. After writing the data, the storage start positions of the memories 311 to 314 are calculated. This is because when performing a multi-scan in which each of a plurality of lines positioned at the end of one band is recorded by a plurality of nozzles,
This is because when staggered recording is performed on the upper end portion (first nozzle side) of the band, staggered recording is also performed on the portion corresponding to the three nozzles at the lower end portion of the image data read and recorded last time (S-405). ).

When the storage start positions of the memories 311 to 314 are calculated, the storage positions are instructed to the storage circuits of the memories (S-406). Then, reading of one band by the sensor and recording by the recording head are started (S-4).
07).

Further, in this embodiment, the image signal read from the sensor and binarized is output as follows for synchronization. That is, first, recording is performed by storing a few pixels in the memory and then starting reading, while writing and reading new pixels in the memory.

After the reading and recording are executed, the sensor and the head are returned to the reading and recording starting positions, respectively (S-408).

Next, the distance obtained by subtracting the width (multi-scan amount) corresponding to the above end from the recording width of the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction is calculated as the recording paper conveyance amount. Also,
The start position of the next reading is calculated depending on how much of the read data is recorded (S-409).

Based on the calculation result in step S-409, the recording paper is conveyed and the recording head is conveyed (S-
410).

Here, it is checked whether the printing of one recording sheet is completed (S-411). In the case of NO (not completed), the process returns to step S-404 to write the recording pattern data. On the other hand, if YES (finished),
The optical system including the sensor is returned to the home position and the recording paper is ejected outside the machine (S-412 to S-41).
3).

After passing through the above steps, the operation of each part of the copying machine is stopped and the operation is completed (S-414).

In the above embodiment, the method of multi-scanning each color of cyan, magenta, yellow and black with the same recording pattern by one recording control circuit is adopted. However, it is also possible to provide a plurality of print control circuits corresponding to the respective colors and perform multi-scan with different print patterns for each.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example in which multi-scanning is performed with different recording patterns.
In this figure, the cyan print pattern and the magenta print pattern are different from each other. That is, the number of nozzles to be multi-scanned is different, and the grid interval when printing in a staggered pattern is also different.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining various multi-scan patterns. The rectangular pixels that make up each pattern correspond to each nozzle, the pixels represented by the mesh are the patterns recorded in the first scan, and the pixels represented by the diagonal lines are the second scan. This is the pattern to be recorded. Further, the size of these patterns and the number of repetitions are not limited to those shown in FIG. 5 or 6.

In FIG. 6, each pattern is recorded as follows.

Pattern A is a pattern in which short dotted lines are alternately recorded.

In the pattern B, the dotted line of the pattern A is slightly overlapped so that the broken line is difficult to see.

The pattern C is a pattern in which the boundary area between the portion where the entire image is recorded at once without multi-scanning and the portion where the multi-scanning is performed is performed stepwise.

The pattern D is for performing multi-scan in a triangular shape.

The pattern E has a saw-tooth shape.

Pattern F is the reverse of the recording method of the multi-scan portion of pattern A.

The pattern G is obtained by reducing the multi-scan portion of the pattern F.

The pattern H is a recording pattern when the multi-scan is not performed.

Pattern I is a pattern to be recorded every two lines. Of course, it is not limited to every two lines.

The pattern K is a pattern for gradually decreasing or increasing the printing amount in the boundary area.

The pattern L is a pattern in which the boundary portion is wedge-shaped.

Pattern J is a modification of pattern I.

The recording patterns A to L can be changed for each color to be recorded. For example, cyan is recorded as pattern A and magenta is recorded as pattern F.

The number of lines to be multi-scanned may be changed depending on the color to be recorded. For example, for cyan recording, pattern C is subjected to multi-scan for 9 lines, while yellow is not subjected to multi-scan for pattern H, and black is for pattern G, multi-scan for 3 lines. In such a case, the number of lines to be multi-scanned may be changed without changing the pattern.
Of course, the number of lines is not limited to a predetermined number.

The multi-scan pattern may be changed depending on the recording amount. For example, when the recording amount is large, for example, the pattern A is adopted, and when the recording amount is small, the pattern G or the pattern H is adopted. In the latter case, the recording speed is higher than in the former case.

The recording pattern may be selected in consideration of the properties of the ink. For example, when an ink that is easily influenced by another ink is used, the print pattern of another color is changed according to the count value of the ink.

Further, whether or not to perform the multi-scan may be determined by the ratio of the count value to the total number of pixels. For example, when the count value is below a predetermined value, multi-scan is not performed.

Furthermore, a switch for performing multi-scan may be provided in the operation section. For example, if the original has many fine patterns and is not noticeably uneven, the multi-scan is not performed. If the original has many uniform images, the user can specify to perform multi-scan.

In the above-described embodiment, the recording of the multi-scan area is completed by two scans. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the scan may be performed three or more times. Good. Further, the area to be multi-scanned may be divided into a part to be scanned twice, a part to be scanned three times, and the like.

By the way, in the case of band printing, ink gathers at the boundary between the bands and the boundary between the bands looks dark. Therefore, in order to correct it, there has been proposed a technique called edge correction for performing density conversion in which the density is gradually decreased toward the boundary of the band and vice versa. By combining this technique with multi-scan, it is possible to make the unevenness less noticeable (the circuit configuration therefor is shown in FIG. 7).

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the configuration of the image processing section in which the edge correction circuit is incorporated.

The image data which has been subjected to the processes of the head shading 308 and the density correction 309 is input to the edge correction circuit 700. In this circuit, the correction amount is changed according to the density of the image, so that the density calculation circuit 703 calculates the image density by matrix calculation. Based on the calculation result, a table is selected from the table circuits 703 and 704 containing a plurality of conversion tables. Then, the density conversion of the image is performed by the selected table.

The switch 701 determines whether to move toward the boundary of the band or to move away from the boundary depending on how many nozzles the image signal is recorded. The table is switched based on this judgment. That is, it is determined whether to use the table 703 having the density gradient in which the density becomes thinner or the table 704 having the density gradient opposite thereto. Further, in the case of an image signal corresponding to a nozzle having no boundary, such a conversion table is not passed. further,
In this case, the density is set to 10 nozzles at the band boundary. The image signal that has passed through the edge correction circuit is binarized by the binarization circuit 310 and temporarily stored in the synchronization memories 705 to 708 for each color. The synchronization memory is a memory for correcting the head-to-head distance and the like to establish synchronization. Also, this memory has a smaller storage capacity than that shown in FIG. This is because, in the case of FIG. 3, the image signal that has not been recorded by the recording control circuit is read from the memory and recorded in the next band recording, so it is necessary to store one band extra. However, in the case of FIG. 7, since the multi-scan is performed at the end portion, the correction table already described is different between the recording in the first band and the recording in the second band. Therefore, the multi-scan portion needs to be read again and passed through the correction table. Therefore, it is not necessary to store one band, and it is not necessary to increase the memory capacity. However, in the image reading control, it is necessary to change the control such as the movement of the sensor so that the multi-scan portion is read again.

Furthermore, it is possible not to perform edge correction. It is also possible to change the switch for switching the number of nozzles to start edge correction and the correction table according to the multi-scan pattern. Further, it may be changed in pairs with the multi-scan pattern depending on the type of recording paper.

Furthermore, depending on the type of recording paper, when only edge correction is applied, when only multi-scan is performed,
It is also possible to switch between the case where both edge correction and multi-scan are performed. Further, in that case, the switch and the correction table may be changed depending on whether or not the multi-scan is performed at the same time as the switch for switching from which nozzle the edge correction is started.

[0086]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the image to be recorded on the recording material is composed of a plurality of bands, the conveying distance of the recording material by the conveying means is made shorter than the recording width. It is possible to set, and each band has at least one end portion on which a pixel pattern complementary to the pixel pattern of the end portion of another band adjacent in the sub-scanning direction is formed, and By making the length of the end portion in the sub-scanning direction equal to the difference between the recording width and the transport distance, white stripes at the boundary between the bands and density unevenness do not occur, and the image forming speed is slow. It is possible to provide a recording device and an information processing system capable of recording an image without causing such a situation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a recording operation in a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view for explaining a schematic configuration of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a controller and an image processing unit of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of a series of operations from the start of a copying operation to obtaining a reproduced image in a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining an example of multi-scanning with different recording patterns in a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining various multi-scan patterns.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining a configuration of an image processing unit in which an end correction circuit is incorporated in a copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 200 Copier 201 Photoelectric Conversion Sensor 203 Recording Head 204 Recording Paper 302 A / D Conversion 303 Sewing Correction 304 Luminance Density Conversion 305 Black Extraction 306 Area Control 307 Magnification 308 Head Shooting 309 Density Correction 310 Binary 311 Cyan Image Memory 312 Image memory for magenta 313 Image memory for yellow 314 Image memory for black 315 Print control circuit 320 CPU 321 Input / output circuit 322 Operation part 323 Input / output circuit 324 Motor 325 Other output 326 Sensor 327 ROM 328 RAM 700 Edge correction circuit 701 Switch 702 Density calculation 703 Conversion table 704 Conversion table 705 Cyan synchronization memory 706 Magenta synchronization memory 707 Yellow synchronization memory 708 Black The period for memory

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Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. A nozzle array having a plurality of nozzles arranged along the sub-scanning direction, and ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles along a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction, the nozzle array Recording means for recording a band having a recording width matching the length of the recording material on the recording material based on an input image signal; a conveying means for intermittently conveying the recording material in the sub-scanning direction; A recording device having a control means for controlling driving of the conveying means, wherein the control means conveys the recording material by the conveying means when an image to be recorded on the recording material is composed of a plurality of bands. The distance is set to be shorter than the recording width, and each band has a pixel pattern complementary to the pixel pattern at the end of another band adjacent in the sub-scanning direction. At least one end has been made, further, the length in the sub-scanning direction of the end portion, the recording apparatus characterized by equal to the difference between the recording width and the transport distance. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the entire area where the ends of two bands adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction overlap each other is set by the printing unit scanning at least twice. A recording device characterized by being recorded. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit sets at least one of a width of the boundary area, a pixel pattern printed by one scan, and a density of the boundary area. A recording apparatus, which is determined based on an input image signal or a count value of the input image signal. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is compatible with color recording, and has a recording head corresponding to each of a plurality of colors. The control means sets at least one of the width of the boundary region, a pixel pattern printed by one scan, and a boundary region density.
A recording device characterized by making a decision based on the color of a band to be recorded. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a width of the boundary area, a pixel pattern printed by one scan, and a density of the boundary area. A recording apparatus, wherein at least one is determined based on the type of the recording material. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the boundary area density has a density gradient in a predetermined direction from an end of the band on the boundary area side. Recording device. 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is an electrothermal converter that causes film boiling in the ink, as an energy generating unit for ejecting the ink. A recording device characterized by using an element. 8. An information processing system using the recording device according to claim 1 as output means. 9. The information processing system according to claim 8, which is a copier having a reading unit for reading a document and an image processing unit for processing image data read by the reading unit. A characteristic information processing system. 10. A nozzle array having a plurality of nozzles arranged along the sub-scanning direction, and ejecting ink from the plurality of nozzles along a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction, the nozzle array. Recording means for recording a band having a recording width matching the length of the recording material on the recording material based on an input image signal; a conveying means for intermittently conveying the recording material in the sub-scanning direction; In a recording method applied to a recording device having a control means for controlling the driving of the conveying means, when the image to be recorded on the recording material is composed of a plurality of bands, the recording material by the conveying means is used. Setting a transporting distance of the band shorter than the recording width, and forming a pixel pattern in which each band is complementary to the pixel pattern at the end of another band adjacent in the sub-scanning direction. And at least one end of the recording width and the conveyance distance is set so that the length of the end in the sub-scanning direction is equal to the difference between the recording width and the transport distance. Recording method characterized by. 11. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein the entire boundary area where the ends of two bands adjacent to each other in the sub-scanning direction overlap each other is scanned at least twice by the recording unit. A recording method comprising the step of recording by. 12. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein at least one of the width of the boundary area, the pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area is set to the input image signal or the A recording method comprising a step of determining based on a count value of an input image signal. 13. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein the recording unit has a recording head that is compatible with color recording and that is compatible with each of a plurality of colors. A recording method comprising: determining at least one of the width of the boundary area, a pixel pattern printed by one scan, and the density of the boundary area based on the color of the band to be printed. 14. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein at least one of a width of the boundary area, a pixel pattern printed by one scan, and a density of the boundary area is defined by: A recording method comprising a step of determining based on the type of the recording material. 15. The recording method according to claim 12, wherein the boundary area density forms a density gradient in a predetermined direction from an end of the band on the boundary area side. How to record. 16. The recording method according to claim 10, wherein the recording unit serves as an energy generation unit for ejecting ink, and is an electric device that causes film boiling in the ink. A recording method using a heat conversion element.