1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a printing apparatus to perform printing on a target printing material. Embodiments of the invention further relate to printing on a fabric that is set in a set tray attached to the printing apparatus.
2. Related Art
An ink jet printing apparatus has been developed that prints a desired color pattern, such as an image, by discharging each color of ink from an ink discharge head to a surface of a fabric such as a T-shirt. When printing, the fabric can be set in a set tray which can be attached to the ink jet printing apparatus.
The ink jet printing apparatus can be used with different set trays that have different shapes and sizes. The set tray used for a given printing can depend on the size or shape of the fabric, a difference in the size of the image which is printed, the direction of printing, how many sheets of fabric are printed at the same time, or differences in the mode of printing such as when printing on a single sheet of fabric. The set tray can be replaced by a normal user.
In the ink jet printing apparatus, printing data is sent from a personal computer, which is an example of external equipment, ink is ejected from ink discharge unit to the target printing material on the basis of the printing data and the desired image is printed on the target medium. The type of set tray used in the printing is also included in the printing data. In a case where the type of set tray used in a current new printing is switched to a type of set tray that is different from the set tray used in the previous printing, a replacement task is performed to replace the set tray actually attached to the printing apparatus. In addition, update operations are performed on the printing data. Then, the type of set tray specified in the printing data is stored in the storage unit of the printing apparatus during execution of the printing process.
If there is a mismatch between the type of set tray specified in the printing data and the type of set tray actually attached to the ink jet printing apparatus, the printing process will not be effectively or efficiently performed and will not be performed as intended. For example, an unnecessary amount of the target printing material or fabric may be consumed when there is a mismatch between the type of set tray specified in the printing data and the type of set tray actually attached to the ink jet printing apparatus.
JP-A-2009-51114 is an example of a reference that discusses and considers the problem based on the above “mismatch”. The technology disclosed in JP-A-2009-51114 compares the information that is stored in the storage unit regarding the type of set tray used during the previous printing and the information on the type of set tray specified for a current new printing. If the type of set tray is different from the previous time to the current time, an alarm is sounded to inform the user.
In JP-A-2009-51114, the determination of whether there is a difference in the type of set tray is based only on input information which relates to the type of set tray used in the current new printing and stored information which relates to the type of set tray used in the previous printing.
However, when a user sets printing data for a new printing using the external equipment (personal computer, or the like), in a case where the type of set tray changes to a different type, an input operation is performed to newly reconfigure the type of set tray. Then, in a case where the input operation is performed, it becomes necessary to perform a replacement task for replacing the set tray which is attached to the printing apparatus.
However, in a case where the user performing the replacement work makes a mistake and replaces the set tray with the wrong type of set tray, the technology referenced in JP-A-2009-51114 is completely unable to respond and unable to notify the user of the error. Furthermore, the ability to improve the printing throughput has not been taken into consideration at all in JP-A-2009-51114.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds