Ink jet recording head, driving method for same and ink jet recording apparatus

Claim 2

A recording method for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, wherein after electric power enough to eject the ink for the recording on the recording material is supplied to recording means to effect the recording in a predetermined region, electric power not enough to eject the ink is supplied to the recording means.

Claim 3

A method according to Claim 1, wherein the recording means is a recording head for ejecting the ink using thermal energy, and is provided with an electrothermal transducer for producing the thermal energy.

Claim 4

A method according to Claim 1, wherein the recording means includes a full line type recording head having a number of ejection outlets disposed covering a predetermined recording region.

Claim 5

A method according to Claim 1, wherein the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied after completion of the recording on each recording line.

Claim 6

A method according to Claim 1, the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to the recording means, in the form of the data provided by reversing data to be recorded, after completion of the recording on each recording line.

Claim 7

A method according to Claim 1, wherein the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to the recording means after a main switch is closed and/or after rest of recording operation.

Claim 8

A recording apparatus for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, comprising: recording means for ejecting the ink to make the record on the recording material; conveying means for conveying the recording material; control means for applying electric power not enough to eject the ink to the recording means after applying electric power enough to eject the ink to the recording means to make the record in a predetermined region.

Claim 9

A recording apparatus for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, comprising: recording means for ejecting the ink to make the record on the recording material; conveying means for conveying the recording material; control means for applying electric power not enough to eject the ink to the recording means after applying electric power enough to eject the ink to the recording means to make the record in a predetermined region.

Claim 10

An apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein said recording means is a recording head for ejecting the ink by thermal energy and includes an electrothermal transducer for producing the thermal energy.

Claim 11

An apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein said recording means has a full-line type recording head having a number of ejection outlets disposed to cover a substantially entire width of a recording area.

Claim 12

An apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to said recording means after completion of the record on each recording line.

Claim 13

An apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied in the form of the data which are provided by reversing the data to be recorded, after completion of the record on each recording line.

Claim 14

An apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein the electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to the recording means after a main switch is closed and/or after rest of recording operation.

Claim 15

A recording method for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, wherein after the record is made in a predetermined region by ejection of ink from recording means, electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to the recording means in the form of the data which are provided by reversing the data to be recorded used in said record.

Claim 16

A recording method for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, wherein after the record is made in a predetermined region by ejection of ink from recording means, electric power not enough to eject the ink is applied to the recording means in the form of the data which are provided by reversing the data to be recorded used in said record.

Claim 17

A method according to Claim 13, wherein the recording means is a recording head for ejecting the ink by thermal energy and is provided with an electrothermal transducer for producing the thermal energy.

Claim 18

A recording apparatus for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, comprising: recording means for ejecting ink to make the record on the recording material; conveying means for conveying the recording material; control means for applying, after making the record in a predetermined region by ejection of the ink from said recording means, electric power not enough to eject the ink to said recording means using data provided by reversing data for said record.

Claim 19

A recording apparatus for making record on a recording material by ejection of ink, comprising: recording means for ejecting ink to make the record on the recording material; conveying means for conveying the recording material; control means for applying, after making the record in a predetermined region by ejection of the ink from said recording means, electric power not enough to eject the ink to said recording means using data provided by reversing data for said record.

Claim 20

An apparatus according to Claim 15, wherein said recording means is a recording head for ejecting the ink using the thermal energy and is provided with an electrothermal transducer for producing the thermal energy.

Claim 21

An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a recording head having a plurality of electrothermal transducer elements for producing thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; ejection drive means for ejecting the ink by applying a drive signal to the electrothermal transducer elements of the recording head in accordance with data to be recorded; and heating driving means for applying a heating driving signal not enough to eject the ink to the electrothermal transducer elements after each predetermined unit of ejection drive operations by said ejection driving means, to effect heating operation.

Claim 22

An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a recording head having a plurality of electrothermal transducer elements for producing thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; ejection drive means for ejecting the ink by applying a drive signal to the electrothermal transducer elements of the recording head in accordance with data to be recorded; and heating driving means for applying a heating driving signal not enough to eject the ink to the electrothermal transducer elements after each predetermined unit of ejection drive operations by said ejection driving means, to effect heating operation.

Claim 23

An apparatus according to Claim 17, said recording head has a number of ejection outlets covering a substantially entire width of the recording material, and wherein the predetermined unit corresponds to recording on one line of the recording material by the ejection of the ink from the ejection outlets, and said heating driving means being applied a group of data provided by reversing a group of data to be recorded corresponding to the one line.

Claim 24

An apparatus according to Claim 17, wherein said heating driving means applies the heating driving signals to all of the electrothermal transducers after a main switch of the apparatus is closed and/or after rest of recording operation of said apparatus.

Claim 25

An apparatus according to Claim 17, wherein said recording head has a number of ejection outlets disposed to cover a substantially entire width of the recording material, wherein said unit corresponds to sequential records on plural lines on the recording material by ejection of the ink from the ejection outlets, and said heating driving means applies heating driving signals to such electrothermal transducers which are not driven during recording operation for the plural lines.

Claim 26

A driving method for a recording head for an ink jet recording apparatus having electrothermal transducers for producing thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink, wherein the plural electrothermal transducers of the recording head are supplied alternately with driving signals corresponding to data to be recorded and heating driving signals not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 27

A driving method for a recording head for an ink jet recording apparatus having electrothermal transducers for producing thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink, wherein the plural electrothermal transducers of the recording head are supplied alternately with driving signals corresponding to data to be recorded and heating driving signals not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 28

A method according to Claim 21, wherein the recording head has a number of ejection outlets disposed to cover a substantially entire width of the recording medium, wherein after record is made on one line on the recording material by ejection of the ink from the ejection outlets, a group of data provided by reversing a group of data corresponding to the one line is applied as the heating driving signal.

Claim 29

A method according to Claim 21, wherein the heating driving signal is applied to all of the electrothermal transducers after a main switch is closed and/or after rest of recording operation.

Claim 30

A method according to Claim 21, wherein the recording head includes a number of ejection outlets disposed to cover an a substantially entire width of the recording material, wherein after sequential record is made on plural lines of the recording medium by ejection of the ink from the ejection outlets, the driving signal for the heating is applied to such electrothermal transducers not driven during the plural line recording.

Claim 31

An ink jet recording head, comprising: plural electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject the ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 32

An ink jet recording head, comprising: plural electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject the ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 33

A driving device for ink jet recording head, comprising: plural electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject time ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 34

A driving device for ink jet recording head, comprising: plural electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to ejection of ink; driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject time ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 35

An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein ink is discharged to a recording material to make record thereon, comprising: an ink jet recording head having outlets for discharging the inks and a plurality of electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to discharge the ink, and electrothermal transducer elements being provided for the outlets, respectively; and driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject the ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.

Claim 36

An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein ink is discharged to a recording material to make record thereon, comprising: an ink jet recording head having outlets for discharging the inks and a plurality of electrothermal transducer elements for generating thermal energy contributable to discharge the ink, and electrothermal transducer elements being provided for the outlets, respectively; and driving means having plural parallel current limiting elements connected to each of said electrothermal transducer elements, for selecting one or more of current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer elements electric energy enough to eject the ink or one or more current limiting elements to supply to the electrothermal transducer element electric energy not enough to eject the ink.