Information recording apparatus

• US 5,589,858 A
• Filed: 03/15/1994
• Issued: 12/31/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takamiya, Makoto, Sugiyama, Hiroshi, Ishida, Yasuhiko, Kadowaki, Hidejiro
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMIREZ, NESTOR R
• Application Number:
  US08/213,998
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 Days
• Field of Search: 346/140 PD, 250/561, 356/28.5, 347/133, 347/117, 347/14
• US Class Current: 347/14
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/42 Controlling printing material conveyance for accurate alignment of the printing material with the printhead; Print registering
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/125 Sensors, e.g. deflection sensors nozzle clogging detection for cleaning reasons B41J2/16579; detection for compensation for failed nozzles B41J2/2139

Abstract

In an apparatus wherein a recording medium is conveyed by a conveying system with the front surface of the recording medium opposed to recording heads and information is recorded on the recording medium by liquid droplet jet, a first speed meter is provided on the back side of the recording medium and further, a second speed meter for detecting liquid droplet jet speed together with the first speed meter is provided at a predetermined location, whereby the recording position is adjusted. The first and second speed meters may preferably be optical Doppler velocimeters which will not cause any speed detection error with fluctuation of the wavelength of a light source.

Claims

1. An information recording apparatus having:

recording means for recording information on a recording medium having a front surface, on the basis of recording information data, said recording means effecting recording by discharging a liquid for recording onto said recording medium;

conveying means for conveying said recording medium with the front surface thereof opposed to said recording means so that said recording means records information on the front surface of the recording medium;

photodetection speed detecting means for photodetecting light from a back side of the front surface of the recording medium to detect a conveyance speed condition of the recording medium, said photodetection speed detecting means including a light source for generating said light and a detector for photodetecting said light, said light source and said detector being arranged in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium, a position where the conveyance speed is detected by said photodetection speed detecting means being located at substantially a back side of a position where said recording means discharges said liquid onto said recording medium; and

control means for adjusting a recording position on the basis of conveyance speed information detected by said speed detecting means.

2. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means adjusts the recording timing of said recording means.

3. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means adjusts the recording position, by keeping the conveyance speed of said recording medium constant.

4. An information recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control means is provided with calculating means for counting a pulse number output as a frequency proportional to the speed on the basis of the output of said speed detecting means and calculating movement distance information, and adjusts the recording timing of said recording means when the pulse number counted by said calculating means reaches a predetermined pulse number.

5. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said speed detecting means is an optical Doppler velocimeter.

6. An information recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said speed detecting means is provided, in succession along an optical path, with a light source, a diffraction grating, an optical system for varying the angle of incidence θ

of ±

nth-order light (n being an integer ) diffracted by said diffraction grating onto said conveying means in conformity with the wavelength λ

of the light from said light source and making sin θ

/λ

substantially constant, and a light detector for detecting Doppler-shifted scattered light from the speed-detected position of said conveying means.

7. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveying means comprises an endless carrier having a thickness and wound with said recording medium being placed on the outer peripheral side of said endless carrier, and said speed detecting means is provided in opposed relationship with a predetermined location on the inner peripheral side of said endless carrier.

8. An information recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a plurality of recording densities can be selected, and when a high recording density is selected, said control means selects a small set pulse number so as to shorten said movement distance which adjusts the recording timing.

9. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means applies light in a direction intersecting the direction of conveyance of the recording medium and effects recording.

11. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means effects recording by discharging liquid by a heat generating member, and said control means controls the timing of the liquid discharge of said recording means.

12. An information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said recording means is provided with a plurality of recording heads corresponding to respective colors in the direction of conveyance of said conveying means, each of said recording heads discharges liquid by a heat generating member, and said control means controls the timing of the liquid discharge of each of said recording heads.

13. An information recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said light source is a semiconductor laser.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveying means has a belt for conveyance, and said speed detecting means photo-detects light from said belt which exists in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium.

10. An information recording apparatus having:

recording means for recording information on a recording medium having a front surface, said front surface having a back side, on the basis of recording information data;

conveying means for conveying said recording medium with the front surface thereof opposed to said recording means so that said recording means records information on the front surface of the recording medium;

photodetection speed detecting means for photodetecting light from the back side of the front surface of the recording medium to detect a conveyance speed condition of the recording medium, said photodetection speed detecting means including a light source for generating said light and a detector for photodetecting said light, said light source and said detector being arranged in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium; and

control means for adjusting a recording position on the basis of conveyance speed information detected by said speed detecting means,

wherein said recording means applies light in a direction intersecting the direction of conveyance of the recording medium and effects recording, and

wherein said recording medium is silver halide film, and said speed detecting means applies light to the non-emulsion surface of said silver halide film which is the back surface of said silver halide film and detects the conveyance speed condition.

14. An information recording apparatus comprising:

a recording head for recording information on a recording medium on the basis of recording information data, said recording head effecting recording by discharging a liquid for recording on said recording medium;

a conveying system for conveying the recording medium with the front surface thereof opposed to said recording head so that said recording head records information on the front surface of the recording medium;

a velocity detecting system for photodetecting light from the back side of the front surface of the recording medium to detect the conveyance speed condition of the recording medium, said velocity detecting system including a light source for generating said light and a detector for photodetecting said light, said light source and said detector being arranged in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium, a position where the velocity is detected by said velocity detecting system being located at substantially a back side of a position where said recording head discharges said liquid for recording onto said recording medium; and

a controller for adjusting the recording position on the basis of conveyance velocity information detected by said velocity detecting system.

17. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said conveying system comprises a belt for conveyance, and said velocity detecting system photo-detects light from Said belt which exists in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium.

15. An information recording apparatus comprising:

a recording system for causing recording liquid to be discharged therefrom onto a recording medium based on recording information data to effect recording, said recording system having a plurality of heads each for discharging liquid droplets;

a conveying system for conveying the recording medium;

a first speed detecting system for detecting the discharge speed condition of the liquid droplet discharged from said recording system, said first speed detecting system having at least one detecting unit for detecting the discharge speed condition of the liquid droplet discharged from respective one of said plurality of heads;

a second speed detecting system for detecting the conveyance speed condition of the recording medium, said second speed detecting system including a light source for generating a light for speed detection and a detector for photodetecting said light for speed detection, said light source and said detector being arranged in the back side of the front surface of the recording medium, a position where the speed is detected by said second speed detecting system being located at substantially a back side of a position where said recording system discharges said liquid for recording onto said recording medium; and

control means for adjusting an adhering position of the liquid droplet discharged from said recording head onto the recording medium on the basis of the outputs of said first and second speed detecting systems so that recording is performed at a preferred position on the recording medium.