Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-17
2001-04-03
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S043000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209985
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a recording apparatus, represented by a facsimile apparatus, and to a memory medium storing a computer program for controlling the recording apparatus, which solve problems associated with a recording head whose monochrome recording speed is lower than that of a monochrome recording-dedicated head, for example, a color recording-dedicated head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known facsimile apparatus has a color printer function to perform color recording on a recording sheet by using, for example, an ink jet head.
Such a facsimile apparatus employs a black recording-dedicated head for recording only in black ink and a color recording-dedicated head unit for recording in color inks, that is, cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. Either black recording using the black recording-dedicated head or color recording using the color recording-dedicated unit can be selected.
The aforementioned color recording-dedicated head unit has separate heads for the individual color inks, where each nozzle is allotted specifically to one of the color inks. Therefore, the color recording-dedicated head has fewer nozzles for ejecting black ink than the black recording-dedicated head, in which all the nozzles are provided for ejecting black ink.
As a result, the color recording-dedicated head has a lower recording speed in black recording than the black recording-dedicated head.
If the facsimile apparatus receives facsimile data when the color recording-dedicated head has been mounted, the facsimile data recording speed is naturally lower than the speed achievable when the black recording-dedicated head has been mounted, so that the recording may become unable to keep up with the communication speed, resulting in a transmission error in the sender facsimile apparatus. The cause of the transmission error is difficult to recognize by a person on the sender side.
The transmission error can be prevented by increasing the memory capacity for storing facsimile data. However, this measure considerably increases the production cost of the facsimile apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a recording apparatus and a memory medium that solve the aforementioned problem by determining whether a recording head having a low black recording speed has been set.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording apparatus including a first recording head capable of recording in black on a recording medium, and a second recording head capable of recording in black on the recording medium at a recording speed that is lower than a recording speed of the first recording head. The second recording head and the first recording head are interchangeably mountable in the recording apparatus. The recording apparatus further includes a detection device that detects which one of the first recording head and the second recording head is set, and an indication device that indicates a detection result provided by the detection device.
The detection device detects which one of the first recording head for recording in black on a recording medium and the second recording head for recording in black on a recording medium at a recording speed that is lower than a recording speed of the first recording head is set in the recording apparatus. The result of the detection performed by the detection device is indicated by the indication device.
Therefore, on the basis of the indication made by the indication device, a user of the recording apparatus can realize which one of the first recording head and the second recording head is mounted in the recording apparatus. If the second recording head is mounted in a facsimile apparatus to which the invention is applied, the indication device indicates to a user that the second recording head is mounted, so that when the facsimile apparatus is about to receive facsimile transmissions, the user can replace the second recording head to use the first recording head. In this manner, the recording apparatus of the invention avoids the problem that use of a recording head of a low recording speed to record received facsimile data causes the external device to have a transmission error, the cause of which is unknown to a user of the external device.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a memory medium storing a computer program for controlling a recording apparatus including a first recording head capable of recording in black on a recording medium, and a second recording head capable of recording in black on the recording medium at a recording speed that is lower than a recording speed of the first recording head, the second recording head and the first recording head being interchangeably mountable in the recording apparatus. The computer program stored in the memory medium includes a recording head detection program for detecting which one of the first recording head and the second recording head has been mounted and for indicating a result of detection.
Because the memory medium stores a computer program including the recording head detection program for detecting which one of the first recording head and the second recording head has been mounted and for indicating the detection result, the memory medium can realize the recording apparatus described above.
More specifically, the recording apparatus is controlled by a CPU provided in the recording apparatus or a computer connected to the recording apparatus as described later in conjunction with a preferred embodiment of the invention. Therefore, the recording apparatus can be realized by providing the above-described memory medium, in the form of a ROM or CD, for example for the CPU, or installing the computer program from the memory medium into the computer.
According to still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording apparatus including a first recording head capable of recording in black on a recording medium, and a second recording head capable of recording in black on the recording medium at a recording speed that is lower than the recording speed of the first recording head, the second recording head and the first recording head being interchangeably mountable in the recording apparatus. The recording apparatus further includes a reception device that receives information via a communication device, so that the information received is recorded on the recording medium by using one of the first recording head and the second recording head, a detection device that detects which one of the first recording head and the second recording head is mounted, and a storage device that, if the detection device detects that the second recording head is mounted, stores the information received by the reception device.
In the recording apparatus, the detection device detects which one of the first recording head and the second recording head is mounted in the recording apparatus. If the detection device detects that the second recording head has been mounted, the storage device stores the information received by the reception device.
Therefore, the recording apparatus does not record information received from the external device but stores the information into the storage device when the second recording head has been mounted. After the second recording head is replaced by the first recording head having a higher black recording speed, the recording apparatus can record the information, for example, facsimile data, stored in the storage device.
The recording apparatus may further include a recording device that, if the detection device detects that the first recording head is mounted, reads the information from the storage device and records the information by using the first recording head.
Therefore, if the information received by the reception device is not recorded but stored in the storage device because the second recording head has been mounted, the provision of the recording device avoids an undesired event that a user forgets to record the recei
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Le N.
Nguyen Lamson D.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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