Printing apparatus, control method therefor and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10513407-B2
Application number	US-201715413902-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2017
Priority date	Mar 10, 2014
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

A printing apparatus includes a feeding roller configured to feed a printing sheet stacked on a stacking unit, a conveyance roller configured to convey the printing sheet fed by the feeding roller, a printing unit configured to print the printing sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller, a conveyance control unit configured to control conveyance of printing sheets so that the trailing edge of a preceding sheet as a printing sheet precedingly fed from the stacking unit and the leading edge of a succeeding sheet as a printing sheet succeedingly fed from the stacking unit overlap each other, and a determination unit configured to determine whether to convey the succeeding sheet to a position facing the printing unit while keeping an overlap state between the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A printing apparatus comprising:
a feeding roller configured to feed a sheet;
a conveyance roller configured to convey the sheet fed by the feeding roller;
a printing unit configured to print an image on the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller; and
a conveyance control unit configured to form an overlap state in which a leading edge of a succeeding sheet is overlapping with a preceding sheet,
wherein the conveyance control unit, after forming the overlap state, performs a first conveyance operation in which the succeeding sheet is conveyed to a printing start position at which a printing operation is started by the printing unit while keeping the overlap state or a second conveyance operation in which the succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing start position with an interval between a trailing edge of the preceding sheet and the leading edge of the succeeding sheet.

2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case that an overlap amount of the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet is smaller than a threshold value, the conveyance control unit performs the second conveyance operation.

3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein in a case that the leading edge of the succeeding sheet has reached a predetermined position when the succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing start position, the conveyance control unit performs the second conveyance operation.

4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a carriage configured to mount the printing unit and to move so as to print an image by the printing unit,
wherein in a case that, in printing image data for the preceding sheet, there is no gap between a printing image that is printed by a last movement of the carriage and a printing image that is printed by a movement immediately before the last movement of the carriage, the conveyance control unit performs the second conveyance operation.

5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit, when performing the second conveyance operation, conveys the succeeding sheet to the printing start position by the conveyance roller after the trailing edge of the preceding sheet passes the conveyance roller.

6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein if the conveyance control unit does not form the overlap state, the conveyance control unit conveys the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet so as to have the interval between the trailing edge of the preceding sheet and the leading edge of the succeeding sheet.

7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit causes the feeding roller to start to feed the succeeding sheet while having the interval between the trailing edge of the preceding sheet and the leading edge of the succeeding sheet.

8. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit forms the overlap state between the feeding roller and the conveyance roller.

9. The printing apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit causes the feeding roller which feeds the succeeding sheet to rotate continuously when the conveyance roller which conveys the preceding sheet rotates intermittently so that the succeeding sheet catches up with the preceding sheet.

10. The printing apparatus according to claim 8 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit causes the feeding roller which feeds the succeeding sheet to rotate at a rotation speed higher than that of the conveyance roller which conveys the preceding sheet so that the succeeding sheet catches up with the preceding sheet.

11. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit forms the overlap state in which a leading portion including the leading edge of the succeeding sheet is overlapping with a trailing portion of the preceding sheet.

12. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit determines whether to perform the first conveyance operation or the second conveyance operation before the printing operation of the preceding sheet by the printing unit has completed.

13. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the printing unit is an inkjet printhead which prints an image on the sheet by discharging ink.

14. A printing apparatus comprising:
a feeding roller configured to feed a sheet;
a conveyance roller configured to convey the sheet fed by the feeding roller;
a printing unit configured to print an image at a printing position on the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller;
a conveyance control unit configured to be able to perform a first conveyance operation in which a succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing position in an overlap state in which a leading edge of the succeeding sheet is overlapping with a preceding sheet, and a second conveyance operation in which the succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing position in a state in which the leading edge of the succeeding sheet is not overlapping with the preceding sheet; and
a selection unit configured to select whether to perform the first conveyance operation or the second conveyance operation based on information regarding a position of the leading edge of the succeeding sheet if the succeeding sheet is conveyed to a printing start position at which a printing operation is started by the printing unit.

15. The printing apparatus according to claim 14 ,
wherein the conveyance control unit, when performing the second conveyance operation, conveys the succeeding sheet to the printing position with an interval between a trailing edge of the preceding sheet and the leading edge of the succeeding sheet.

16. The printing apparatus according to claim 14 ,
wherein the selection unit selects whether to perform the first conveyance operation or the second conveyance operation based on overlap amount of the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet.

17. The printing apparatus according to claim 16 ,
wherein in a case that the overlap amount is longer than a threshold value, the selection unit selects to perform the first conveyance operation, and in a case that the overlap amount is shorter than the threshold value, the selection unit selects to perform the second conveyance operation.

18. The printing apparatus according to claim 14 ,
wherein in a case that the leading edge of the succeeding sheet will reach a predetermined position if the succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing start position, the selection unit selects to perform the first conveyance operation, and in a case that the leading edge of the succeeding sheet will not reach the predetermined position if the succeeding sheet is conveyed to the printing start position, the selection unit selects to perform the second conveyance operation.

19. The printing apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising a carriage configured to mount the printing unit and move so as to print an image by the printing unit,
wherein the selection unit selects whether to perform the first conveyance operation or the second conveyance operation based on whether or not, in printing image data for the preceding sheet, there is a gap between a printing image that is printed by a last movement of the carriage and a printing image that is printed by a movement immediately before the last movement of the carriage.

20. The printing apparatus according to claim 19 ,
wherein in a case that there is a gap between the printing image that is pr

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Nishida Tomofumi
• Sugiyama Noriyuki
• Asai Yasuyuki
• Taguchi Motoyuki
• Saito Tetsuya
• Suzuki Yoshiaki
• Kunihiro Syunichi

Classifications

• B65H2701/1313

  trailing edge · CPC title

• B65H29/669

  ending an overlapping stream · CPC title

• B41J11/42

  Controlling {printing material conveyance for accurate alignment of the printing material with the printhead; Print registering} · CPC title

• B65H2513/50

  Timing · CPC title

• B65H7/02

  by feelers or detectors · CPC title