Printing apparatus and processing method thereof

• US 8,814,296 B2
• Filed: 09/05/2012
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Ayutthaya Limited (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Yazawa, Takeshi, Konno, Yuji, Ojiro, Hinako, Chikuma, Toshiyuki, Tanaka, Hirokazu, Hayashi, Masashi
• Primary Examiner(s): JACKSON, JUANITA DIONNE
• Application Number:
  US13/604,253
• Publication Number:
  US 20130088537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 720 Days
• Field of Search: 347/5, 347/9, 347/12, 347/13, 347/14, 347/40, 347/42, 347/56, 347/57
• US Class Current: 347/9
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 19/96 Variable-spacing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/01 Ink jet
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/2135 Alignment of dots
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 25/001 Mechanisms for bodily moving print heads or carriages parallel to the paper surface

Abstract

A printing apparatus comprising, a printhead including an element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, scanning unit configured to reciprocally scan the printhead, driving unit configured to time-divisionally drive the printing elements, conveyance unit configured to convey a printing medium, and setting unit configured to set a driving order, wherein the conveyance unit performs a first conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount which is an integer multiple of a width of the group of the time-divisional driving, and a second conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount which is not an integer multiple of the width of the group, and the setting unit sets the driving order in the time-divisional driving for each scan based on the conveyance amount by the conveyance unit.

Claims

1. A printing apparatus comprising:

a printhead including an element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed;

a scanning unit configured to reciprocally scan said printhead in a direction perpendicular to an array direction of the printing elements;

a driving unit configured to divide the element array into a plurality of groups, each including consecutive printing elements, and time-divisionally drive the printing elements in each group;

a conveyance unit configured to convey a printing medium in the array direction of the printing elements; and

a setting unit configured to set a driving order in the time divisional driving,

wherein said conveyance unit performs a first conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is an integer multiple of a width of the group, and a second conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is not an integer multiple of the width of the group, and

wherein said setting unit sets the driving order in the time divisional driving for each scan based on the conveyance amount by said conveyance unit.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said setting unit sets the driving order to make driving orders in the time divisional driving in respective scans of a same printing region coincide with each other, when performing multi-pass printing in the same printing region on the printing medium.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said setting unit sets the driving order in each scan by changing driving order patterns for determining the driving order, to shift in the array direction of the printing elements.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a calculation unit configured to calculate a cumulative conveyance amount of one printing medium conveyed by said conveyance unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said setting unit sets the driving order based on a result obtained by dividing the cumulative conveyance amount calculated by said calculation unit by the width of the group.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said conveyance unit includes:

a first conveyance unit, arranged upstream of said printhead in a conveyance direction, for conveying a printing medium, and

a second conveyance unit, arranged downstream of said printhead in the conveyance direction, for conveying a printing medium.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said conveyance unit makes different a printing medium conveyance amount when said first conveyance unit and said second conveyance unit are used, and a printing medium conveyance amount when one of said first conveyance unit and said second conveyance unit is used.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing element includes an electrothermal transducer which discharges ink using thermal energy.

9. A printing apparatus comprising:

a printhead including an element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed;

a scanning unit configured to reciprocally scan said printhead in a direction perpendicular to an array direction of the printing elements;

a driving unit configured to divide the element array into a plurality of groups, each including consecutive printing elements, and time-divisionally drive the printing elements in each group;

a conveyance unit configured to convey a printing medium in the array direction of the printing elements; and

a setting unit configured to set a driving order in the time divisional driving,

wherein said conveyance unit performs a first conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is an integer multiple of a width of the group, and a second conveyance operation of conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is not an integer multiple of the width of the group, and

wherein said setting unit sets the driving order to make driving orders in the time divisional driving in respective scans of a same printing region coincide with each other, when performing multi-pass printing in the same printing region on the printing medium.

10. A method of controlling a printing apparatus including a printhead including an element array in which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, and a scanning unit configured to reciprocally scan the printhead on a printing medium, the element array being divided into a plurality of groups, each including consecutive printing elements, and the printing elements in each group being time-divisionally driven, comprising:

a conveyance step of conveying the printing medium based on a printing position on a printing medium; and

a setting step of setting a driving order in the time divisional driving based on a conveyance amount of the printing medium conveyed in the conveyance step,

wherein in the conveyance step, the printing medium can be conveyed by a conveyance amount, which is an integer multiple of a width of the group, and a conveyance amount, which is not an integer multiple of the width of the group, and

wherein in the setting step, the driving order is set to make driving orders in the time divisional driving in respective scans of a same printing region coincide with each other, when performing multi-pass printing in the same printing region on the printing medium.

11. A printing apparatus comprising a printhead on which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, the plurality of printing elements being divided into a plurality of groups, and the apparatus being configured to print an image on a printing medium by time-divisionally driving the printing elements in each group, and performing a plurality of printing-scannings of the printhead to the printing medium, in a direction intersecting with the array direction of the printing elements, comprising:

a conveyance unit configured to convey the printing medium in the array direction of the printing elements;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain information which relates to a cumulative conveyance amount within a page of the printing medium;

a setting unit configured to set, for each printing-scanning, for the printing elements in each group, driving order patterns for determining a driving order of the printing elements according to the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information; and

a controlling driving unit configured to control driving of the plurality of printing elements so as to be driven time-divisionally, based on the set driving order patterns,

wherein, when performing multi-pass printing in a same printing region on the printing medium, the setting unit sets the driving order patterns based on the cumulative conveyance amount, so as to match the driving order of the printing elements to be used in each printing-scanning for the same printing region.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the setting unit sets the driving order patterns for the printing elements in each group by shifting the driving order patterns in the array direction of the printing elements according to the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the conveyance unit is configured to be able to change the conveyance amount of the printing medium, using a distance between the adjacent printing elements in the array direction of the printing elements as a unit, and uses a conveyance pail em for conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is not an integer multiple of the number of the driving order determined by the driving order patterns.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the obtaining unit obtains the cumulative conveyance amount using a distance between the adjacent printing elements in the array direction of the printing elements as a unit, and

wherein the setting unit sets the driving order patterns for the printing elements in each group by shifting the driving order patterns in the array direction of the printing elements by an amount of a remainder obtained by dividing the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information by the number of the driving order determined by the driving order pail ems.

15. A method for driving a printhead on which a plurality of printing elements are arrayed, the plurality of printing elements being divided into a plurality of groups, for printing an image on a printing medium by time-divisionally driving the printing elements in each group, and performing a plurality of printing-scannings of the printhead to the printing medium, in a direction intersecting with the array direction of the printing elements, the method including:

conveying the printing medium in the array direction of the printing elements;

obtaining information which relates to a cumulative conveyance amount within a page of the printing medium;

setting, for each printing-scanning, for the printing elements in each group, driving order patterns for determining a driving order of the printing elements according to the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information; and

controlling driving of the plurality of printing elements so as to be driven time-divisionally, based on the set driving order patterns,

wherein, when performing multi-pass printing in a same printing region on the printing medium, in the setting, the driving order patterns is set based on the cumulative conveyance amount, so as to match the driving order of the printing elements to be used in each printing-scanning for the same printing region.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein in the setting, the driving order pattern is set for the printing elements in each group by shifting the driving order patterns in the array direction of the printing elements according to the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein in the conveying, the conveyance amount of the printing medium is changeable, using a distance between the adjacent printing elements in the array direction of the printing elements as a unit, and a conveyance pattern for conveying the printing medium by a conveyance amount, which is not an integer multiple of the number of the driving order determined by the driving order patterns is used.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the obtaining, the cumulative conveyance amount is obtained, using a distance between the adjacent printing elements in the array direction of the printing elements as a unit, and

wherein in the setting, the driving order pattern is set for the printing elements in each group, by shifting the driving order patterns in the array direction of the printing elements by an amount of a remainder obtained by dividing the cumulative conveyance amount corresponding to the obtained information by the number of the driving order determined by the driving order patterns.