Inkjet recording device and recovery processing method

An inkjet recording device comprising:

• a recording head composed of a sequence of nozzles from which ink is ejected;
• and
• head control means for ejecting ink droplets from the sequence of nozzles of said recording head based on recording data and for controlling a preliminary ejection operation to keep an ink ejection state of said recording head in good condition;
• wherein said head control means comprises:
• counting means that analyzes the recording data for counting a number of consecutive occurrences of a predetermined count pattern for each of nozzle blocks, said sequence of nozzles of the recording head being divided into the nozzle blocks each composed of a plurality of nozzles;
• and
• determination means for determining for each block if the count value of said counting means has reached a predetermined value;
• wherein, if there is at least one block where the count value has reached the predetermined value, preliminary ejection processing is performed for said recording head, and
• wherein, compressed recording data is received and wherein when the recording data is decompressed, said counting means detects the count pattern based on a result of the decompression.

An inkjet recording device comprising:

• a recording head composed of a sequence of nozzles from which ink is ejected;
• and
• head control means for ejecting ink droplets from the sequence of nozzles of said recording head based on recording data and for controlling a preliminary ejection operation to keep an ink ejection state of said recording head in good condition;
• wherein said head control means comprises:
• counting means that analyzes the recording data for counting a number of consecutive occurrences of a predetermined count pattern for each of nozzle blocks, said sequence of nozzles of the recording head being divided into the nozzle blocks each composed of a plurality of nozzles;
• and
• determination means for determining for each block if the count value of said counting means has reached a predetermined value;
• wherein, if there is at least one block where the count value has reached the predetermined value, preliminary ejection processing is performed for said recording head, and
• wherein a plurality of said count patterns are set and said counting means determines that the count pattern occurs “consecutively” even when different count patterns occur consecutively.

An inkjet recording device comprising:

• a recording head composed of a sequence of nozzles from which ink is ejected;
• and
• head control means for ejecting ink droplets from the sequence of nozzles of said recording head based on recording data and for controlling a preliminary ejection operation to keep an ink ejection state of said recording head in good condition;
• wherein said head control means comprises:
• counting means that analyzes the recording data for counting a number of consecutive occurrences of a predetermined count pattern for each of nozzle blocks, said sequence of nozzles of the recording head being divided into the nozzle blocks each composed of a plurality of nozzles;
• and
• determination means for determining for each block if the count value of said counting means has reached a predetermined value;
• wherein, if there is at least one block where the count value has reached the predetermined value, preliminary ejection processing is performed for said recording head, and
• wherein said control means changes the count pattern arbitrarily in response to an external instruction.

An inkjet recording device comprising:

• a recording head composed of a sequence of nozzles from which ink is ejected;
• and
• head control means for ejecting ink droplets from the sequence of nozzles of said recording head based on recording data and for controlling a preliminary ejection operation to keep an ink ejection state of said recording head in good condition;
• wherein said head control means comprises:
• counting means that analyzes the recording data for counting a number of consecutive occurrences of a predetermined count pattern for each of nozzle blocks, said sequence of nozzles of the recording head being divided into the nozzle blocks each composed of a plurality of nozzles;
• and
• determination means for determining for each block if the count value of said counting means has reached a predetermined value;
• wherein, if there is at least one block where the count value has reached the predetermined value, preliminary ejection processing is performed for said recording head, and
• wherein, when a plurality of recording heads of the same color are used, said control means detects the count pattern in a recording data part corresponding to each recording head.

A recovery processing method for use in an inkjet recording device that ejects ink droplets from a sequence of nozzles of a recording head based on recording data to record an image and that performs a preliminary ejection operation for keeping an ink ejection state of said recording head in good condition, said recovery processing method comprising the steps of:

• analyzing the recording data and counting a number of consecutive occurrences of a predetermined count pattern for each nozzle block, said sequence of nozzles of the recording head being divided into a plurality of nozzle blocks each composed of a plurality of nozzles, said count pattern being representative of at least one predetermined pattern of the recording data of a size corresponding to the nozzle block, a count value of said counting means being reset each time said consecutive occurrences end;
• determining for each block if the count value has reached a predetermined value;
• and
• if there is at least one block where the count value has reached the predetermined value, starting preliminary ejection processing for said recording head.