Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-22
2001-06-05
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Combined
C347S005000, C347S086000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243109
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a print head for printing an image on a print medium when it is mounted on and driven by a printer apparatus main body, and a printer apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 2
to
4
show the arrangements of conventional print heads. In a print head shown in
FIG. 2
, electricity-to-heat converters
2
such as heating resistors, terminals
17
a,
and wiring lines
16
for connecting the terminals
17
a
and the electricity-to-heat converters
2
are arranged on a heater board
1
a.
In a print head shown in
FIG. 3
, a diode matrix
18
is arranged between terminals
17
b
and wiring lines
16
, so that driving signals from an external circuit can be received via a smaller number of terminals
17
b
than the number of terminals
17
a
in FIG.
2
. In the case of a print head shown in
FIG. 4
, a driver
3
is arranged in a heater board
1
c,
and the driver
3
and electricity-to-heat converters
2
are directly connected by wiring lines
16
. Print data for driving the electricity-to-heat converters
2
to generate heat are input from terminals
17
c
to shift registers
20
. In this case, the number of terminals
17
c
can be smaller than the numbers of terminals
17
a
and
17
b
on the above-mentioned heater boards
1
a
and
1
b.
FIGS. 5 and 6
show the arrangements of printer apparatuses which adopt such print heads.
FIG. 5
is a block diagram showing a connection between the arrangement of a printer apparatus adopting the print head shown in
FIG. 2
or
3
, and a host computer
30
.
Referring to
FIG. 5
, the host computer
30
supplies print information to an input/output interface (I/F)
8
in a printer apparatus
21
. The print information is supplied to a microprocessor (MPU)
28
, and is converted by the MPU
28
into predetermined print information under the control of a program stored in a memory (not shown). The converted print information is supplied to the heater board
1
a
or
1
b
via a driver
27
. The driver
27
drives the electricity-to-heat converters
2
of a head
22
to discharge ink droplets, thereby printing an image on a print medium. The print head
22
comprises, e.g., a temperature control heater
24
for increasing the temperature of the print head
22
, a temperature sensor
25
for detecting the head temperature, and the like in addition to the heater board
1
a
or
1
b,
and is controlled to improve print quality using the MPU
28
and the driver
27
.
FIG. 6
is a block diagram showing a connection between the arrangement of a printer apparatus which adopts a print head
22
shown in FIG.
4
and the host computer
30
. In the print head
22
shown in
FIG. 6
, the heater board
1
c
builds in the driver
27
in addition to the electricity-to-heat converters
2
. A power supply
26
is connected to the driver
27
, and print data is supplied to the electricity-to-heat converters
2
via the driver
27
.
The above-mentioned conventional arrangements suffer the following problems to be solved.
The print head shown in
FIG. 2
requires the terminals
17
a
and the wiring lines in correspondence with the number of electricity-to-heat converters. Therefore, the board size of the heater board
1
a
increases, and the wiring lines in the printer apparatus
21
increase in number and are complicated, resulting in an increase in cost.
In the case of the print head shown in
FIG. 3
, when the diode matrix
18
(m×p) is used, the number of electrical contacts of the terminals
17
b
and the number of wiring lines can be (m+p) since the number n of the electricity-to-heat converters is given by n=m×p. However, in this case, since a matrix driving method is adopted, the degree of freedom in a method of driving nozzles is lowered.
In the case of the print head shown in
FIG. 4
, the number of electrical contacts of the terminals
17
c
and the number of wiring lines are smaller than those of the above-mentioned print heads. However, since this head adopts a serial data transfer method using the shift registers
20
, print data must be temporarily converted into serial data in the printer apparatus
21
. Therefore, the loads on software and hardware increase, resulting in a decrease in transfer rate of print data and an increase in hardware cost.
Furthermore, in the conventional printer apparatus as shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, it is required to provide an interface
8
for inputting information transferred from the host computer
30
, a microprocessor
28
for processing the information, and a signal path (such as a cable) for transferring a signal to a driving head in the printer apparatus. Furthermore, another signal path for transferring the information to the microprocessor
28
to feedback the temperature information detected by the temperature sensor
25
of the print head is also required. Thus, problems arise in complication in the circuit constitution, increase in the circuit scale of the entire apparatus, and increase in cost due to the increase of the number of assembling steps.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned prior arts, and has as its object to provide a print head which can reduce the circuit scale of the entire apparatus and can reduce cost and shorten the data processing time since it mounts various circuits on a board of the print head, and a printer apparatus using the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a print head which can greatly reduce cost of the entire printer apparatus since it builds in most of electrical circuits of the printer apparatus in a board of the print head, and a printer apparatus using the same.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a print head which can achieve high-speed data processing since it mounts a control circuit on a print head board, so that the control circuit has a memory arrangement suited for the arrangement of the print head, and a printer apparatus using the same.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a print head which can make the entire printer apparatus compact.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a print head which can achieve multi-functions since temperature input/output devices, light or magnetism.pressure input/output devices, driving elements for an external motor and the head, and the like are formed in a single process in the manufacture of a board of the print head, and a printer apparatus using the same.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4313124 (1982-01-01), Hara
patent: 4345262 (1982-08-01), Shirato et al.
patent: 4459600 (1984-07-01), Sato et al.
patent: 4463359 (1984-07-01), Ayata et al.
patent: 4558333 (1985-12-01), Sugitani et al.
patent: 4608577 (1986-08-01), Hori
patent: 4723129 (1988-02-01), Endo et al.
patent: 4740796 (1988-04-01), Endo et al.
patent: 4788563 (1988-11-01), Omo et al.
patent: 5006864 (1991-04-01), Ayata et al.
patent: 5030971 (1991-07-01), Drake et al.
patent: 5265315 (1993-11-01), Hosington et al.
patent: 5666140 (1997-09-01), Mitani et al.
patent: 0 353 925 (1990-02-01), None
patent: 0 394 910 (1990-10-01), None
patent: 0 452 663 (1991-10-01), None
patent: 54-56847 (1979-05-01), None
patent: 57-125060 (1982-08-01), None
patent: 59-123670 (1984-07-01), None
patent: 59-138461 (1984-08-01), None
patent: 60-71260 (1985-04-01), None
patent: 61-27261 (1986-02-01), None
patent: 63-156756 (1988-10-01), None
patent: 2-134065 (1990-05-01), None
patent: 4-135779 (1992-05-01), None
patent: 6-134993 (1994-05-01), None
Furukawa Tatsuo
Ishinaga Hiroyuki
Izumida Masaaki
Maru Hiroyuki
Misumi Yoshinori
Barlow John
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Hallacher Craig A.
LandOfFree
Print head with driving, transmission and control devices on... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Print head with driving, transmission and control devices on..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Print head with driving, transmission and control devices on... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2449188