Head unit, droplet discharging apparatus, droplet discharging system, information processing apparatus, information processing method, status information notifying method, status information updating method, faulty position detecting method, and programs

Abstract

The present invention provides a droplet discharging apparatus including a discharge head for deflectively discharging droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion. The discharge head is controlled to discharge droplets at an object. A storage unit stores status information about the discharge head. A communication unit communicates with an information processing apparatus located outside so as to transmit the status information to the information processing apparatus.

1 . A head unit comprising: 
 a discharge head for deflectively discharging droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas; and    a storage unit for rewritably holding status information about said discharge head.    
   
   
       2 . The head unit according to  claim 1 , wherein said status information constitutes position information about discharge ports from which the discharge of droplets is insufficient.  
   
   
       3 . A droplet discharging apparatus comprising: 
 a discharge head for deflectively discharging droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion, said discharge head being controlled to discharge droplets at an object;    a storage unit for storing status information about said discharge head; and    a communication unit for communicating with an information processing apparatus located outside so as to transmit said status information to said information processing apparatus.    
   
   
       4 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising an authentication unit for allowing only a communicating party having been authenticated to access said storage unit.  
   
   
       5 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising an information conversion unit for converting said status information into text-format data; 
 wherein said communication unit transmits the converted data.    
   
   
       6 . A droplet discharging apparatus comprising: 
 a discharge head for deflectively discharging droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion, said discharge head being controlled to discharge droplets at an object; and    a communication unit for communicating with an information processing apparatus located outside in order to write status information about said discharge head to a storage unit of said information processing apparatus.    
   
   
       7 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 6 , further comprising an authentication unit for allowing only a communicating party having been authenticated to access said storage unit.  
   
   
       8 . An information processing apparatus having a computer installed internally, said information processing apparatus comprising: 
 a comparison unit for comparing image data derived from optically reading a test pattern discharged by a droplet discharging apparatus for defective position verification, with a threshold value defined for said test pattern with regard to each of a plurality of pixel positions;    a detection unit for detecting a pixel position about which the read image data is found smaller than the corresponding threshold value based on results of the comparison by said comparison unit; and    a display control unit for causing a display device to display position information about the discharge port corresponding to the detected pixel position as the position information about the discharge port of which a discharge defect is recognized.    
   
   
       9 . An information processing apparatus having a computer installed internally, said information processing apparatus comprising: 
 an input admission unit for allowing position information about a discharge port for which a discharge defect is recognized to be input or corrected through a display screen; and    a status information notification unit for notifying a droplet discharging apparatus located externally of the discharge port position information established through said discharge screen as the status information about a discharge head, in order to update the discharge head status information held by either said droplet discharging apparatus or by said discharge head.    
   
   
       10 . A status information notifying method for use with a droplet discharging apparatus controlling a discharge head deflectively to discharge droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion, said status information notifying method being executed to have said droplet discharging apparatus operate in restored function mode, said status information notifying method comprising the steps of: 
 reading status information about said discharge head from a storage unit when an information processing apparatus located externally designates restored function mode; and    transmitting the read status information to said information processing apparatus.    
   
   
       11 . A status information updating method for use with a droplet discharging apparatus controlling a discharge head deflectively to discharge droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion, said status information updating method being executed to have said droplet discharging apparatus operate in restored function mode, said status information updating method comprising the step of: 
 updating status information held in a storage unit about said discharge head by use of status information received from an information processing apparatus located externally.    
   
   
       12 . A defective position detecting method comprising the steps of: 
 comparing image data derived from optically reading a test pattern discharged by a droplet discharging apparatus for defective position verification, with a threshold value defined for said test pattern with regard to each of a plurality of pixel positions;    detecting a pixel position about which the read image data is found smaller than the corresponding threshold value based on results of the comparison in said comparing step; and    causing a display device to display position information about the discharge port corresponding to the detected pixel position as the position information about the discharge port of which a discharge defect is recognized.    
   
   
       13 . A status information updating method comprising the steps of: 
 allowing position information about a discharge port for which a discharge defect is recognized to be input or corrected through a display screen; and    notifying a droplet discharging apparatus located externally of the discharge port position information established through said discharge screen as the status information about a discharge head, in order to update the discharge head status information held by either said droplet discharging apparatus or by said discharge head.    
   
   
       14 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in a droplet discharging apparatus including a discharge head, which deflectively discharges droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion and which is controlled to discharge droplets at an object, said program causing said computer to carry out the steps of: 
 reading status information about said discharge head from a storage unit when an information processing apparatus located externally designates restored function mode; and    transmitting the read status information to said information processing apparatus.    
   
   
       15 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in a droplet discharging apparatus including a discharge head, which deflectively discharges droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion and which is controlled to discharge droplets at an object, said program causing said computer to carry out the step of: 
 updating status information held in a storage unit about said discharge head by use of status information received from an information processing apparatus located externally.    
   
   
       16 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in an information processing apparatus, said program causing said computer to carry out the steps of: 
 comparing image data derived from optically reading a test pattern discharged by a droplet discharging apparatus for defective position verification, with a threshold value defined for said test pattern with regard to each of a plurality of pixel positions;    detecting a pixel position about which the read image data is found smaller than the corresponding threshold value based on results of the comparison in said comparing step; and    causing a display device to display position information about the discharge port corresponding to the detected pixel position as the position information about the discharge port of which a discharge defect is recognized.    
   
   
       17 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in an information processing apparatus, said program causing said computer to carry out the steps of: 
 allowing position information about a discharge port for which a discharge defect is recognized to be input or corrected through a display screen; and    notifying a droplet discharging apparatus located externally of the discharge port position information established through said discharge screen as the status information about a discharge head, in order to update the discharge head status information held by either said droplet discharging apparatus or by said discharge head.    
   
   
       18 . A droplet discharging system comprising a droplet discharging apparatus and an information processing apparatus interconnected by a communication channel; 
 wherein said droplet discharging apparatus includes:    a detection unit for detecting changes in status of a monitored object;    a storage unit for storing either detected values from said detection unit or a use history of said monitored object as status information; and    a communication unit for communicating with said information processing apparatus located externally so as to transmit said status information to said information processing apparatus; and    wherein said information processing apparatus includes:    an analysis unit for analyzing said status information acquired from said droplet discharging apparatus through communication; and    a presentation unit for presenting an end user with a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object in either textual or visual form, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis by said analysis unit.    
   
   
       19 . A droplet discharging system comprising a droplet discharging apparatus and an information processing apparatus interconnected by a communication channel; 
 wherein said droplet discharging apparatus includes:    a detection unit for detecting changes in status of a monitored object;    a storage unit for storing either detected values from said detection unit or a use history of said monitored object as status information; and    a communication unit for communicating with said information processing apparatus located externally so as to transmit said status information to said information processing apparatus; and    wherein said information processing apparatus includes:    an analysis unit for analyzing said status information acquired from said droplet discharging apparatus through communication; and    a presentation unit for presenting an end user in either textual or visual form with contents of work to be done to recover from a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis by said analysis unit.    
   
   
       20 . A droplet discharging apparatus comprising: 
 a detection unit for detecting changes in status of a monitored object;    a storage unit for storing either detected values from said detection unit or a use history of said monitored object as status information; and    a communication unit for communicating with an information processing apparatus located externally so as to transmit said status information to said information processing apparatus.    
   
   
       21 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 20 , further comprising an authentication unit which, given a request to rewrite a driving condition held in a storage unit regarding a discharge head, allows only a communicating party having been authenticated for access to said storage unit to rewrite said driving condition therein for said discharge head.  
   
   
       22 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 20 , further comprising a discharge head for deflectively discharging droplets through one discharge port at a plurality of pixel areas in adaptive fashion under a selectively established driving condition.  
   
   
       23 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein said status information concerns any one of a head cartridge, an ink cartridge, and a cleaning unit.  
   
   
       24 . The droplet discharging apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein said status information concerns a discharge head.  
   
   
       25 . An information processing apparatus for carrying out information processing needed to recover from a defective function of a droplet discharging apparatus connected with said information processing apparatus via a communication channel, said information processing apparatus comprising: 
 a communication unit for receiving status information from said droplet discharging apparatus;    an analysis unit for analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as said status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    a presentation unit for presenting an end user with a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object in either textual or visual form, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis by said analysis unit.    
   
   
       26 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein, if a change of a driving condition for said droplet discharging apparatus is found conducive to recovering from said defective function of said droplet discharging apparatus, then said driving condition is replaced by a recommended value.  
   
   
       27 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 25 , wherein said presentation unit presents items related to said probable cause isolated through analysis in such a manner that the presented items are associated with and distinguishable from normal corresponding items.  
   
   
       28 . An information processing apparatus for carrying out information processing needed to recover from a defective function of a droplet discharging apparatus connected with said information processing apparatus via a communication channel, said information processing apparatus comprising: 
 a communication unit for receiving status information from said droplet discharging apparatus;    an analysis unit for analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as said status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    a presentation unit for presenting an end user in either textual or visual form with contents of work to be done to recover from a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis by said analysis unit.    
   
   
       29 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 28 , wherein, if a change of a driving condition for said droplet discharging apparatus is found conducive to recovering from said defective function of said droplet discharging apparatus, then said driving condition is replaced by a recommended value.  
   
   
       30 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 29 , further comprising an authentication unit for allowing a communicating party to replace said driving condition only if said communicating party is authenticated for access to a storage unit attached to said droplet discharging apparatus and retaining said driving condition.  
   
   
       31 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 29 , wherein said recommended value is input by said end user through a display screen.  
   
   
       32 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 28 , wherein said presentation unit presents items related to said probable cause isolated through analysis in such a manner that the presented items are associated with and distinguishable from normal corresponding items.  
   
   
       33 . An information processing method for use with an information processing apparatus connected to a droplet discharging apparatus via a communication channel, said information processing method comprising the steps of: 
 analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    presenting an end user with a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object in either textual or visual form, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis in said analyzing step.    
   
   
       34 . An information processing method for use with an information processing apparatus connected to a droplet discharging apparatus via a communication channel, said information processing method comprising the steps of: 
 analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    presenting an end user in either textual or visual form with contents of work to be done to recover from a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis in said analyzing step.    
   
   
       35 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in an information processing apparatus connected to a droplet discharging apparatus via a communication channel, said program causing said computer to carry out the steps of: 
 analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    presenting an end user with a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object in either textual or visual form, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis in said analyzing step.    
   
   
       36 . A program for use with a computer incorporated in an information processing apparatus connected to a droplet discharging apparatus via a communication channel, said program causing said computer to carry out the steps of: 
 analyzing either detected values of changes in status of a monitored object or a use history of said monitored object, said detected values or said use history having been acquired as status information from said droplet discharging apparatus; and    presenting an end user in either textual or visual form with contents of work to be done to recover from a probable cause of a detected defect in said monitored object, said probable cause having been isolated through analysis in said analyzing step.