Method of controlling an ink-jet recording apparatus according to recording apparatus in which the method is implemented

An ink-jet recording apparatus for performing recording using an exchangeable ink-jet recording head portion having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink and an exchangeable ink tank for storing ink to be supplied to said ink-jet recording head portion, said ink-jet recording head portion and said ink tank being exchangeable separately from each other, said apparatus comprising:

• suction recovery means for performing suction recovery by sucking the ink from said plurality of discharge ports;
• preliminary discharge means for performing preliminary discharge recovery by discharging ink multiple times from said plurality of discharge ports;
• head replacement detecting means for detecting whether or not said ink-let recording head portion has been exchanged;
• recovery control means for controlling said suction recovery means to perform the suction recovery and said preliminary discharge means to perform the preliminary discharge recovery when an output of said head replacement detecting means indicates that said ink-let recording head portion has been exchanged;
• and
• timer means for measuring a time for which said ink tank has been unmounted, wherein when said head replacement detecting means does not detect exchange of said ink-jet recording head portion, both of the preliminary discharge recovery and the suction recovery are varied depending on the time indicated by said timer means.

An ink-jet recording apparatus for performing recording using an ink-jet cartridge in which an ink-jet recording head having a plurality of jet nozzles for jetting ink and a separable and detachable ink tank for storing the ink to be supplied to said ink-jet recording head are provided, said apparatus comprising:

• suction recovery means for performing suction recovery by sucking the ink from said plurality of jet nozzles;
• preliminary jet means for achieving preliminary jet recovery by jetting the ink multiple times from said plurality of jet nozzles;
• head replacement detecting means for detecting whether or not said ink-jet recording head has been replaced;
• recovery control means for varying recovery of said suction recovery means or of said preliminary jet means depending on an output of said head replacement detecting means;
• and
• memory means for storing a frequency of replacing said ink tank, wherein a number of times ink is jetted from said plurability of jet nozzles is changed in inverse proportion to the frequency of replacing said ink tank without replacing said ink-jet recording head.

A method of recovering an ink-jet recording apparatus that uses an ink-jet cartridge in which a head having a plurality of jet nozzles for jetting ink and a separable and detachable ink tank for storing the ink to be supplied to the head are provided, said method comprising:

• a replacement detecting step of detecting whether or not the head has been replaced;
• a first recovery step at which recovery is executed when it is detected at said replacement detecting step that the head has been replaced;
• a time detecting step at which time for which the ink tank has been separated is detected when replacement of the head is not detected at said replacement detecting step;
• and
• a second recovery step of executing recovery that has been varied depending on the time detected at said time detecting step.

A method of recovering an ink-jet recording apparatus that performs recording an exchangeable ink-jet recording head having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink and an exchangeable ink tank for storing the ink to be supplied to the recording head portion, said recording head portion and said ink tank being exchangeable separately from each other, and that includes suction recovery means for performing suction recovery by sucking ink from the plurality of discharge ports, and preliminary discharge means for performing preliminary discharge recovery by discharging the ink multiple times from the plurality of discharge ports, said method comprising:

• a detecting step of detecting exchange of ink-jet recording the head portion;
• a recovery step at which when the exchange of the ink-jet recording head portion is detected at said detecting step, the suction recovery means executes the suction recovery and the preliminary discharge means executes the preliminary discharge recovery;
• and
• an ink tank separated time detecting step at which, when the exchange of the ink-jet recording head portion is not detected at said detecting step, a time for which the ink tank has been separated is detected, both of the suction recovery and the preliminary discharge recovery being varied depending on the time detected at said ink tank separated time detecting step.

An ink-jet recording apparatus, recording by using a replaceably mountable ink-jet recording head having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink and an ink container replaceably mounted to said ink-jet recording head, the ink container storing ink to be supplied to said ink-jet recording head, the apparatus comprising:

• suction recovery means for sucking ink from said plurality of discharge ports in order to recover a discharging state of said ink-jet recording head;
• preliminary discharge control means for controlling an exhaust of ink by discharging from said ink-jet recording head during a period different from a recording operation in order to recover a discharging state of said ink-jet recording head;
• discriminating means for discriminating a type of ink-jet recording head from among plural different types of ink-jet recording heads, based on the ink-let recording head mounted in said ink-jet recording apparatus;
• and
• recovery control means for executing recovery by using said suction recovery means and said preliminary discharge control means at a predetermined timing,
• wherein said recovery control means judges whether said ink-jet recording head is replaced or not by discriminating the type of said ink-jet recording head by said discriminating means, and further differentiates an amount of ink to be exhausted by said suction recovery means and said preliminary discharge control means between a case that said ink-jet recording head is replaced and a case that said ink-jet recording head is not replaced based on a judged result.

A method of recovery for an ink-jet recording apparatus for recording by using a replaceable mountable ink-jet recording head having a plurality of discharge ports for discharging ink and an ink container replaceably mounted to said ink-jet recording head, the ink container storing ink to be supplied to said ink-jet recording head, in which the apparatus comprises suction recovery means for sucking ink from said plurality of discharge ports in order to recover a discharging state of said ink-jet recording head, and preliminary discharge control means for controlling an exhaust of ink by discharge from said ink-jet recording head during a period different from a recording operation in order to recover the discharging state of said ink-jet recording head, the method comprising:

• a discriminating step for discriminating whether said ink-jet recording head is mounted at a predetermined timing;
• a judging step for judging whether said ink-jet recording head is replaced or not based on a result of discrimination of said ink-jet recording head;
• and
• a recovery step for executing recovery by differentiating an amount of ink to be exhausted by said suction recovery means and said preliminary discharge control means based on the result judged at said judging step between whether an ink-jet recording head is replaced and whether an ink-jet recording head is not replaced.