Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-02
2001-12-11
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S029000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328410
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more specifically relates to a method for processing at the time of a reset and to a head cleaning processing method for an ink jet printing apparatus.
2. Background Art
An ink jet printing apparatus which ejects ink from an ink jet head for printing typically requires regular maintenance or cleaning processing to maintain reliability of the ink jet head; regular maintenance prevents problems such as clogged nozzles due to increased viscosity within the nozzles due to drying of ink, which results in defective printing.
Such cleaning processing is generally managed based on a timer, etc., according to the time elapsed from the last cleaning operation and the capped state of the ink jet head.
Also, if a printing apparatus which is controlled by a host computer is installed in a remote location from the host computer, as is the case for a POS printer or a network-printer, it is necessary to perfectly control the printer by remote-control. Accordingly, it has been required to execute similar initialization processing as the initialization processing at the time the printer is powered on in response to a reset signal from the host computer, and in cleaning operations, an initialization level of cleaning has been executed, consuming large quantities of ink.
The reset signal can be issued at various times, including when the host computer is turned on, when the OS (operating system) boots up, when an application boots up, and when an application starts printing. As a result, multiple reset signals can be sent to the printer at relatively short time intervals depending upon the host computer type, application, and printer driver, etc., (hereinafter, such a reset signal is referred to as an “unintentional reset signal”).
In such a case, a conventional printer executes initialization level cleaning each time, this consumes more ink than is really necessary. This results in higher operating costs, decreasing the quantity of ink actually used, and is not desirable in terms of resource conservation and environmental protection, producing increased numbers of expended ink cartridges due to more frequent changes of ink cartridges.
Also, in order to maintain printer reliability, it has been impossible to totally ignore reset signals supplied from the outside since reset signals may be generated for a variety of reasons.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and cleaning processing method which allow reduction in the quantity of ink consumed by avoiding excessive cleaning while maintaining reliability of the printing apparatus.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention takes into account the fact that in reset signals supplied to a printing apparatus, time intervals between supplied reset signals fall substantially within a predetermined range, if such a system configuration is determined as a model of the host computer, or applications operating on the host computer, etc., thus enabling determination of whether or not the reset signal supplied to the printing apparatus is intentional continuous reset (designed to execute an initialization level cleaning). Furthermore, in order to perform the determination by a control device such as a CPU, the reset signal is supplied in such a way that it is supplied not as a reset signal to forcibly initialize the control device by means of hardware, but as a reset signal to operate by means of software which can be recognized by the control device.
That is, the printing apparatus of the present invention is a printing apparatus which is operated based on data and control signals including reset signals from a host computer, characterized by comprising a time measuring means for measuring receiving time intervals between reset signals, a nonvolatile memory means for storing reset signal receiving intervals as reset time intervals, a control means for controlling operation of the printing apparatus including writing and reading of information into and out of the memory means, and a reset signal processing means for providing the control means with external reset signals which indicate receipt of reset signals, the control means setting a predetermined range based on a plurality of reset time intervals stored in the nonvolatile memory means for determining whether or not the nearest reset time interval falls within the predetermined range.
According to the present invention, the control device is not reset by means of hardware, even if a reset signal is supplied, so that the time interval with which the reset signal is supplied can be stored in a memory. Accordingly, it is possible to determine whether or not the reset signal is intentional, based on a plurality of past reset signal time intervals.
Also, the printing apparatus of the present invention is provided with an ink jet head and a cleaning means for cleaning the ink jet head, with the control means including cleaning control for operating the cleaning means at a plurality of processing levels involving a variety of ink consumption quantities, wherein it is characterized by causing cleaning means to perform an initialization level cleaning involving ink consumption at a predetermined quantity if it is determined that the reset time interval falls within a predetermined range. Further, the memory means stores status information of the printing apparatus to enable the control means to select one out of a plurality of cleaning processing levels based on the status information to have the cleaning means perform said selected cleaning if it is determined that the reset time interval does not fall within a predetermined range.
In the present invention, the initialization level cleaning is performed if a reset is determined to be intentional, and a cleaning in an appropriate processing level is performed if a reset is determined to be unintentional. Furthermore, it is possible to conduct determination adapted to the environment in which the printing apparatus is installed, since whether or not a reset signal is intentional is determined based on a plurality of past reset time intervals.
Also, the printing apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the reset signal processing means sends an external reset signal to the control means, and also sends an internal reset signal to the control means with delay of the predetermined time length from the external reset signal for initializing the control means by means of a hardware operation, wherein the control means sends a suppressing signal to the reset signal processing means for suppressing the internal reset signal if the reset time interval is determined not to fall within the predetermined range. In the present invention, if the reset is determined to not be intentional, the internal reset signal is suppressed to perform cleaning at an appropriate processing level. If the reset is determined to be intentional, the control means is initialized to perform cleaning at the initialization level. It is possible to maintain reliability as the control means can be initialized even if no suppressing signals is output when the control means is in an abnormal state.
Also, the printing apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that a control means stores at least the reset time interval into the nonvolatile memory means after receiving the external reset signal and before receiving the internal reset signal and sets a predetermined range based on a plurality of reset time intervals stored in the nonvolatile memory means after the internal reset signal is given and initialization process is performed and determines whether or not the nearest reset time interval falls within the predetermined range. By writing information once into the memory means before the control device is reset by means of hardware and reading it out of the memory means after the resetting to determine whether or not it is intentional, it is possible to maintain reliability of the control device, and at t
Kawase Yuji
Mochizuki Hidetake
Teradaira Mitsuaki
Hsieh Shih-Wen
Le N.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Watson Mark P.
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