Typewriting machines – Sheet or web – For feeding web record-medium
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-07
2004-05-11
Colilla, Daniel J. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Sheet or web
For feeding web record-medium
C400S621000, C400S635000, C347S102000, C347S104000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06733197
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus, and particularly to an image recording apparatus, which records a plurality of images on an elongated recording material by adhering thereto ink droplets for recording ejected from ejection orifices of a recording head, and cuts the recording material into units of recorded areas corresponding to the respective images.
2. Description of the Related Art
The most common method for recording a color image of a photographed object on a recording material, such as recording paper, uses a silver halide color photosensitive material. While this method has an advantage in that a large amount of images can be recorded at high speed, the method also has a drawback in that an apparatus is large and has a complicated structure, resulting in complex maintenance. Although various improvements have been devised to obtain an apparatus which is small and needs little maintenance, further improvements on the apparatus are demanded.
An ink jet recording method, in which an image is recorded on a recording material by ejecting ink droplets from ejection orifices of a recording head and adhering them onto the recording material, is known as another image recording method. The ink jet recording method is widely used in applications such as recording data, which has been outputted from a computer, on a recording material as an image. Since an image is recorded by directly adhering a pigment solution (i.e., ink) to the recording material, the ink jet recording method has an advantage in that variations in the density of an image due to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, are small. Further, the ink jet recording method is basically advantageous in maintenance in comparison to the image recording method using the silver halide color photosensitive material.
An example of an apparatus for recording an image at high speed in accordance with the ink jet recording method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-127550. An end of a roll of wide recording material is pulled out and conveyed in a first direction which is parallel to a direction in which the recording material is pulled out. Images are recorded in parallel with each other on the recording material along a transverse direction thereof. Thereafter, a portion of the recording material on which the images have been recorded is separated (cut) from a portion of the recording material on which no images are recorded, conveyed in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction (i.e., a direction parallel to the direction in which the images are arranged), and cut into the respective images.
However, in the above-described image recording apparatus, after the portion of the recording material, on which the images have been recorded in parallel with each other in the transverse direction, is separated, the separated portion is sequentially cut into the respective images while being conveyed frame by frame. Therefore, the apparatus has a drawback in that a processing time required for each image (i.e., a time required to record images onto the recording material, cut the recording material into the respective images, and output the cut recording materials) is long.
Further, the ink jet recording method may have malfunctions, such as improper ejection of ink droplets resulting from blockage of the ejection orifices of the recording head. When malfunctions occur, fatal flaws, which are easily observable, such as white streaks in an image, are formed. This drawback becomes particularly problematic when a large number of images are sequentially recorded on the recording material. When the above-mentioned defect is observed after sequential recording of a large number of images is completed, all the images need to be re-recorded, which leads to a substantial decrease in processing capacity (i.e., the number of images recorded per unit time) and the yield of output images having appropriate image quality. However, the above disclosure does not mention this drawback.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the aforementioned facts, an object of the present invention is to obtain an image recording apparatus which can shorten a processing time required for each image.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording images represented by image data on an elongated recording material using ink, the image recording apparatus comprising: recording means which includes a recording head, that has at least one ejection orifice and ejects ink droplets for recording from the ejection orifice so that the ink droplets adhere to the recording material, the recording means being able to record a plurality of images in parallel with each other along a transverse direction of the recording material; first cutting means which cuts the recording material, after images have been recorded thereon, into pieces along boundaries of the recorded images, the boundaries extending in the transverse direction of the recording material; conveyance means for conveying the pieces of the recording material, which pieces have been cut by the first cutting means, in a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction in which the pieces have been cut by the first cutting means; second cutting means for cutting the pieces of the recording material, which pieces have been conveyed by the conveyance means, along boundaries of the recorded images, the boundaries extending in the direction in which the pieces are conveyed; and control means for controlling the second cutting means so that the second cutting means cuts the pieces, each having a plurality of images recorded thereon, along the boundaries of the respective recorded images, the boundaries extending in the direction in which the pieces are conveyed.
The recording means can record images in parallel with each other along the transverse direction of the recording material by adhering ink droplets, which have been ejected from the ejection orifice of the recording head, to the elongated recording material. The recording means may record the images with a fixed size in a fixed recording format (i.e., a format in which the images are recorded in the transverse direction of the recording material), or in a recording format corresponding to the size of the images to be recorded, which format is selected from multiple recording formats which have been prepared to record images of multiple sizes. The multiple recording formats may include a recording format, in which a single image is recorded along the transverse direction of the recording material.
As a scanning method (image recording method) which is carried out by the recording head, one of the following methods may be used: a method in which an image is recorded on the recording material by moving the recording head in two directions intersecting each other while the recording material is conveyed in a fixed direction; and a method in which, while the recording material is conveyed in a fixed direction, an image is recorded on the recording material with a recording head that has a large number of ejection orifices successively arranged from one end of the recording material to the other, in a direction intersecting the direction in which the recording material is conveyed.
The recording material, on which images have been recorded by the recording means, is cut into pieces along boundaries of the recorded images, which boundaries extend in the transverse direction of the recording material. The pieces of the recording material are conveyed in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the pieces are cut by the first cutting means. As described above, by cutting the recording material into pieces with the first cutting means, the conveyance means can convey the pieces of the recording material, which have been cut by the first cutting means, downstream from a position at which the recording material is cut by the first cutting means, at h
Ishii Yoshio
Kito Eiichi
Koike Mitsuru
Yamada Makoto
Colilla Daniel J.
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Young & Thompson
LandOfFree
Image recording apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Image recording apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Image recording apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3206270