Image recording apparatus

• US 20050073541A1
• Filed: 08/13/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kimura, Masahiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,131,712 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/15
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2056 by ink density change
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40012 Conversion of colour to monochrome
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40087 Multi-toning, i.e. converting a continuous-tone signal for reproduction with more than two discrete brightnesses or optical densities, e.g. dots of grey and black inks on white paper
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/407 Control or modification of tonal gradation or of extreme levels, e.g. background level

Abstract

Provided is an ink type image recording apparatus capable of recording high gradation monotone images of high quality at low cost by establishing a certain relationship between a lightness order in a color ink set, which is employed when the image recording apparatus is used as a color image recording apparatus, and a density order in a monotone ink set, which is employed when the image recording apparatus is used as a monochrome image recording apparatus, a control apparatus thereof, and a recording apparatus.

Claims

1. An image recording apparatus comprising:

a recording nozzle group capable of discharging three or more types of ink;

a driving means for moving the recording nozzle group relatively with respect to a recording medium;

an image brightness signal inputting means for inputting three or more types of image brightness signals; and

a recording and controlling means for recording an image onto the recording medium by causing the three or more types of monochrome ink to be discharged from the recording nozzle group based on the image brightness signals that are input by the image brightness signal input means.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

2. An image recording apparatus comprising:

a recording nozzle group capable of discharging three or more types of ink;

a driving means for moving the recording nozzle group relatively with respect to a recording medium;

an image brightness signal inputting means for inputting input image information as three or more types of image brightness signals;

a ink type distribution process means for sorting the image brightness signals, which are input by the image brightness signal inputting means, into image density signals that correspond to each of the inks; and

a recording and controlling means for recording an image onto the recording medium by causing the three or more types of ink to be discharged from the recording nozzle group based on the image density signals for each ink which are sorted by the ink type distribution process means;

wherein the three or more types of ink have a certain relationship between a lightness organization for each color ink in a color ink set when the recording apparatus is used as a color printer, and a density organization for each monotone ink of a monotone ink set when the recording apparatus is used as a monotone printer.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the density of each monotone ink of the monotone ink set is placed in a decreasing order so that the lightness of each color ink of the color ink set is placed in an increasing order.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the density organization of the monotone ink set is proportional to the lightness organization of the color ink set.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the three or more types of ink have a certain relationship between a lightness ratio of each color ink in the ink set when the image recording apparatus is used as a color printer, and a density ratio of each monotone ink of the monotone ink set when the image recording apparatus is used as a monotone printer.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink type distribution process means performs sorting of the image density signals corresponding to each of the inks of the color ink set for cases in which the image recording apparatus is used as a color printer when the input image is a color image.

7. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink type distribution process means performs:

in the case of the input image is a color image, sorting of the image density signals corresponding to each of the inks of the color ink set for cases in which the image recording apparatus is used as a color printer; and

in the case of the input image is a monochrome image, sorting of the image density signals corresponding to each of the inks of the monotone ink set for cases in which the image recording apparatus is used as a monochrome printer.

14. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

15. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

16. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

17. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

18. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

19. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the ink set is configured to be detachably attachable as an ink cartridge filled with ink.

20. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

21. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

22. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

23. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

24. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

25. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image recording apparatus is used in recording medical images.

10. A recording apparatus that records a monotone image by using a recording engine of a color image recording apparatus and discharging a plurality of monotone inks having different densities,

the recording engine of the color image recording apparatus being provided with a recording nozzle group capable of discharging at least three of more types of ink to record a color image by moving the recording nozzle group relatively with respect to a recording medium and discharging color inks onto the recording medium,

wherein a density order of the monotone inks is made to be the same as a lightness order of the color inks.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the density of each monotone ink becomes lower as the lightness of each color ink becomes higher.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image recording apparatus records a monotone image by implementing image processing that is completely identical to that used when performing color printing using color inks on a color input image.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image recording apparatus records a monotone image by implementing image processing that does not include process black generation processing of mixing three primary colors with respect to a monochrome input image.