Image recording apparatus, image recording method, and recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11203201-B2
Application number	US-202016777913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2020
Priority date	Feb 5, 2019
Publication date	Dec 21, 2021
Grant date	Dec 21, 2021

Abstract

An image recording apparatus includes a recording head including a plurality of nozzles from which ink is ejected, a memory, and one or more hardware processors coupled to the recording head and the memory. The one or more hardware processors are configured to: determine, for each of the plurality of nozzles, whether a position of the corresponding nozzle is a position to eject ink; determine whether a successive ejection operation is necessary for a nozzle out of the plurality of nozzles, whose position is determined as the position to eject ink; and cause ink to be successively ejected at the position to eject ink at a predetermined successive ejection frequency from the nozzle that is determined to have the necessity of the successive ejection operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image recording apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium, the image recording apparatus comprising:
a recording head including a plurality of nozzles from which ink is ejected;
a memory; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the recording head and the memory, the one or more processors being configured to:
determine, for each of the plurality of nozzles, whether a position of the corresponding nozzle is a position to eject ink;
determine whether a successive ejection operation is necessary for a nozzle out of the plurality of nozzles, whose position is determined as the position to eject ink; and
control the recording head so that ink is successively ejected at the position to eject ink at a successive ejection frequency from the nozzle that is determined to have the necessity of the successive ejection operation, wherein

the one or more hardware processors determine that the successive ejection operation is necessary in a case that a number of times of ejection of ink from the nozzle, whose position is the position to eject ink, is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors repeat the successive ejection operation for the nozzle, whose position is the position to eject ink, until the number of times of ejection of ink reaches the predetermined threshold.

3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined threshold is configurable.

4. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the successive ejection frequency to be applied to the successive ejection operation is variable.

5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the one or more hardware processors determine the successive ejection frequency to be applied to the successive ejection operation, based on elapsed time from a point of time when a print operation by the recording head is finished.

6. The image recording apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors
detect whether the plurality of nozzles are capped with a cap, and
determine the successive ejection frequency based further on elapsed time of the detected state of capping.

7. The image recording apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors
acquire information on temperature and humidity from a temperature humidity sensor detecting temperature and humidity of an environment in which the image recording apparatus is used, and
determine the successive ejection frequency based further on the acquired information on temperature and humidity.

8. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the one or more hardware processors
acquire print data from an external device, and
determine the successive ejection frequency to be applied to the successive ejection operation, based on elapsed time from a point of time when the print data is acquired.

9. An image recording method implemented by a computer provided in an image recording apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium by ejecting ink from a plurality of nozzles of a recording head of the image recording apparatus, the image recording method comprising:
first determining, for each of the plurality of nozzles, whether a position of the corresponding nozzle is a position to eject ink;
second determining whether a successive ejection operation is necessary for a nozzle out of the plurality of nozzles, whose position is determined as the position to eject ink; and
controlling the recording head so that ink is successively ejected at the position to eject ink at a successive ejection frequency from the nozzle that is determined to have the necessity of the successive ejection operation, wherein
the second determining determines that the successive ejection operation is necessary in a case that a number of times of ejection of ink from the nozzle, whose position is the position to eject ink, is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

10. The image recording apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising repeating the successive ejection operation for the nozzle, whose position is the position to eject ink, until the number of times of ejection of ink reaches the predetermined threshold.

11. The image recording apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the predetermined threshold is configurable.

12. The image recording apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the successive ejection frequency to be applied to the successive ejection operation is variable.

13. The image recording apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising third determining the successive ejection frequency, to be applied to the successive ejection operation, based on elapsed time from a point of time when a print operation by the recording head is finished.

14. The image recording apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising:
detecting whether the plurality of nozzles are capped with a cap, wherein
the third determining the successive ejection frequency is further based on elapsed time of the detected state of capping.

15. The image recording apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising:
acquiring information on temperature and humidity from a temperature humidity sensor detecting temperature and humidity of an environment in which the image recording apparatus is used, wherein
the third determining the successive ejection frequency is further based on the acquired information on temperature and humidity.

16. The image recording apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising:
acquiring print data from an external device; and
third determining the successive ejection frequency, to be applied to the successive ejection operation, based on elapsed time from a point of time when the print data is acquired.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer executable program which, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a computer, cause the computer to:
determine, for each of a plurality of nozzles of a recording head of an image recording apparatus in which the computer is provided, whether a position of the corresponding nozzle is a position to eject ink;
determine whether a successive ejection operation is necessary for a nozzle out of the plurality of nozzles, whose position is determined as the position to eject ink; and
control the recording head so that ink is successively ejected at the position to eject ink at a successive ejection frequency from the nozzle that is determined to have the necessity of the successive ejection operation, wherein
the one or more hardware processors determine that the successive ejection operation is necessary in a case that a number of times of ejection of ink from the nozzle, whose position is the position to eject ink, is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

Assignees

• Shiori Jun
• Murata Takuya
• Koike Takahisa
• Kiguchi Hiroyuki
• Tokumaru Ko
• Tanaka Yuji
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shiori Jun
• Murata Takuya
• Koike Takahisa
• Kiguchi Hiroyuki
• Tokumaru Ko
• Tanaka Yuji

Classifications

• B41J2/16508

  connected with the printer frame · CPC title

• B41J2/04536

  using history data · CPC title

• B41J3/36 Primary

  for portability {, i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers (B41J3/4075 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B41J2/0454

  involving calculation of temperature · CPC title

• B41J2/0451

  for detecting failure, e.g. clogging, malfunctioning actuator · CPC title