JP2012056240A - Apparatus and system for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable reduction of cost even for high pixel/high resolution when printing using a recording head, such as a thermal head.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus includes a recording head 32 having a drive circuit which drives a plurality of recording elements and this recording element. Recording elements are divided into a plurality of blocks, and a drive circuit is associated with each block. The image forming apparatus is associated with the drive circuit and inludes the plurality of control ICs which carry out drive control of the drive circuit according to the image data sent from a CPU 34, and control IC parts are arranged mutually in parallel. Image data is distributed to the control ICs and the image data interpolation is performed between the control ICs which adjoin mutually. The control ICs synchronize mutually according to synchronizing signals sent from the CPU, and carry out drive control of the drive circuits.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus and an image forming system that perform image formation by being directly connected to an image input device without using an information processing apparatus such as a computer.

  In general, there is known an image forming apparatus that is directly connected to an image input device such as a digital camera, a digital video camera, or a scanner and receives image data from the image input device to form an image. As such an image forming apparatus, there is a so-called thermal transfer type printer (hereinafter referred to as a thermal transfer printer).

  As one of thermal transfer printers, there is a sublimation type printer. In this sublimation type printer, a heat sensitive paper is used as a printing paper. The sublimation printer includes a thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors arranged in the main scanning direction (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as the scanning direction). In the sublimation printer, the printing paper is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction while selectively driving these heating resistors. As a result, the sublimation printer performs dot-line printing on the printing paper. Such a sublimation printer is called a line thermal transfer printer.

  By the way, in the so-called inkjet printers that are currently popular, the apparent resolution and gradation characteristics are made by a method such as error diffusion by causing small droplets to land on the paper depending on whether or not to eject the droplets. Have gained.

  On the other hand, in the case of a sublimation printer, the amount of heat for one pixel can be easily changed, so that a large gradation can be obtained for one pixel. For this reason, the sublimation printer has an advantage that a smooth high-quality image can be obtained as compared with the ink jet printer.

  Furthermore, the performance of the thermal head and the quality of the photographic paper material are remarkably improved, and in the finished quality of the printed image, it is becoming possible to obtain an image quality that is not inferior to a silver salt photograph in a sublimation printer. . For this reason, in recent years, sublimation printers are attracting attention as printers for natural images.

  Here, a camera direct print system that performs printing by directly connecting a digital camera and a printer will be described.

  In a digital camera (hereinafter simply referred to as a camera), a captured image is temporarily stored in a recording medium as image data. When the image data is printed out by a printer, for example, the user directly connects the camera and the printer with a dedicated cable.

  Subsequently, an image corresponding to the image data stored in the recording medium is displayed on the display of the camera, and the user selects an image to be printed. At this time, it goes without saying that the user operates an operation unit provided in the camera in order to select an image.

  When an image to be printed is selected, the user presses a print instruction key assigned to the operation unit of the camera. As a result, the selected image data is transferred to the printer via the dedicated cable. The printer processes the received image data in a printable format to produce print data, and then prints and outputs an image corresponding to the print data on paper.

  As described above, in the conventional camera direct print system, a user can print an image with high quality only by operating the operation unit of the camera several times. 1).

  On the other hand, an image shot by a camera is generally compressed by the JPEG method and saved as a JPEG file. Therefore, in the conventional camera direct print system, the transfer file format is limited to the JPEG file format, and it is possible to construct a system with devices from different manufacturers.

  For example, even in a system in which a camera manufactured by A company and a printer manufactured by B company are connected by a USB cable, which is a dedicated cable, if a JPEG file is sent from a camera manufactured by A company to a printer manufactured by B It can be carried out.

  Based on the above description, a standard called “PictBridge” was published in July 2003 (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). If the camera and printer comply with the “PictBridge” standard, it is possible to easily construct a camera direct print system by transferring a JPEG file even between devices of different manufacturers.

JP-A-10-243327

Whitepaper of CIPA DC-001-2003 Digital Photo Solutions for Imaging Devices ", Camera & Imaging Products Association, 2003 / Feb / 03, p. 4

  By the way, in the above-described sublimation type printer, an electronic circuit system is generally constituted by two ICs, that is, an ASIC for head control (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and a main CPU. However, since the head control ASIC needs to be modified according to the size of the thermal head and the number of pixels, the development load is very large.

  On the other hand, in a thermal head used in a sublimation printer, driving data of a heating resistor is mainly input to a driver IC using a serial IF (interface), and the heating resistor associated with each pixel (pixel) is input by the driver IC. ON / OFF (ON / OFF).

  For this reason, when the number of pixels in the thermal head increases, the number of signal lines inevitably increases, and the number of PINs increases in the head control ASIC. As a result, the package of the head control ASIC is inevitably increased, or the head control ASIC needs to be densified. For this reason, a so-called high pixel / high resolution printer using a high resolution thermal head becomes expensive.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming system capable of reducing the cost even when the number of pixels is high and the resolution is high when printing is performed using a recording head such as a thermal head. is there.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a recording head having a plurality of recording elements and a drive circuit that drives the recording elements, and performs image formation by driving the recording elements. In the apparatus, the recording element is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the drive circuit is associated with each block, and is associated with at least one of the drive circuits, according to print data sent from the main processing device. A plurality of drive control units for driving and controlling the drive circuit are provided, the drive control units are arranged in parallel to each other, and a serial input unit that distributes the print data to the drive control unit and the drive adjacent to each other A communication unit that performs communication for performing interpolation of the print data between the control units, and the drive control unit is the main processing device In synchronization with each other in response to the synchronization signal sent al and drives controlling the drive circuit.

  An image forming system according to the present invention includes the above-described image forming apparatus and an image input device connected to be communicable with the image forming device, and image data is given to the image forming device from the image input device, In the image forming apparatus, the main processing device generates the print data in accordance with the image data.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of control units such as a control IC are provided, and these control units are arranged in parallel to drive and control each block. Therefore, when an image is formed using a recording head such as a thermal head, there is an effect that the cost can be reduced even with high pixels / high resolution. In other words, the present invention has an effect that it is possible to easily cope with the increase in the number of pixels / resolution of the recording head.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a camera direct print system using an example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration for creating print data in the camera illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printer illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the thermal head control part and thermal head which are used with the conventional printer. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a head control IC shown in FIG. 4. It is a block diagram for demonstrating an example of CPU shown in FIG. 3, and a thermal head control part. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining connection between the head control ICs shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an interpolation method executed between the thermal head control ICs shown in FIG. 7, (a) is a diagram showing an example of a median filter, and (b) is a diagram for explaining application of the median filter. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the thermal head control part and thermal head which are shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a control operation in the printer shown in FIG. 3. FIG.

  Hereinafter, an example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a camera direct print system using an example of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Referring to FIG. 1, the illustrated camera direct print system (also referred to as an image forming system) includes a digital camera (hereinafter simply referred to as a camera) 11 and a printer 13 that is an image forming apparatus. The camera 11 is connected to the printer 13 by a dedicated cable 12 so that the camera 11 can communicate with the printer 13. The illustrated camera 11 is an image input device.

  In the illustrated example, the printer 13 is a sublimation printer, and a JPEG compressed image obtained as a result of photographing with the camera 11 is sent to the printer 13 via the dedicated cable 12 as a JPEG file. Note that a JPEG compressed image stored in a memory medium (not shown) after shooting may be sent to the printer 13 as a JPEG file. The printer 13 performs image processing such as LPEG file decompression, resizing, and print data creation, and then prints an image on paper according to the print data.

  As shown in the figure, the camera 11 includes an operation member (also referred to as an operation unit) 14, and the user operates the operation unit 14 to select a print pattern, a print target image, a print designation frame, a paper size, and the like. To do. Then, the selection result is displayed as a confirmation screen on the liquid crystal display 15 provided in the camera 11, and the user can confirm the selection result on the confirmation screen.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration for generating print data (that is, print data) in the camera 11 shown in FIG. The camera 11 includes a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) 20, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, an image processing unit 22, a communication control unit 23, an operation unit 24, a flash ROM 25, an SDRAM 26, and a CF (Compact Flash (registered trademark)) connector 28. And an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) driver 30. The CCD 20, CPU 21, image processing unit 22, communication control unit 23, operation unit 24, flash ROM 25, SDRAM 26, CF connector 28, and LCD driver 30 are connected to each other by a bus.

  The CPU 21 manages system control and arithmetic processing in the camera 11. The CCD 20 converts an optical image formed through a photographing lens (not shown) into an electric signal, and then converts the electric signal into a digital signal (referred to as an image signal). The image processing unit 22 performs predetermined image processing on the image signal to generate image data. For example, the image processing unit 22 performs various image processing such as compression on the image signal.

  For example, a system control program is stored in the flash ROM 23, and image data is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 26. The SDRAM 26 is used as a work area when processing image signals or image data. A CF (Compact Flash (registered trademark) memory) 27, which is one of recording media, is connected to the CF connector 28, and image data is stored in the CF 27 as an image file (for example, a JPEG file).

  An LCD (liquid crystal display) 29 is connected to the LCD driver 30, the LCD 29 is driven by the LCD driver 30, and images and operation menus shot by the camera 11 are displayed on the LCD 29. The communication control unit 23 controls communication with the printer 13 (FIG. 1). The user can input various instructions to the camera 11 by operating the operation unit 24.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the printer 13 shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the illustrated printer 13 is a sublimation printer, and includes a thermal head (recording head) 32 and a thermal head control unit 33. Furthermore, the printer 13 includes an environmental temperature sensor 31, a CPU 34, an image processing unit 35, a communication control unit 36, an operation unit 37, a head temperature sensor 38, a flash ROM 39, an SDRAM 40, a CF connector 42, an LCD driver 44, and a ribbon fuel gauge. 45. These components are connected to each other by a bus.

  The CPU 34 controls system control and arithmetic processing of the printer 13. For example, the image processing unit 35 performs image processing on image data transmitted from the camera 11 or image data acquired from the CF 41 connected to the CF connector 42. For example, the image processing unit 35 performs various image processing such as decompression on the image data transmitted from the camera 11 or the image data acquired from the CF 41 to generate image data for printing (also referred to as print data). This print data is given to the thermal head controller 33 under the control of the CPU 34. That is, the CPU 34 receives the print data from the image processing unit 35 and gives it to the thermal head control unit 33.

  A program for system control of the printer 13 is stored in the flash ROM 39, and image data is temporarily stored in the SDRAM 40. The SDRAM 40 is used as a work area when processing image data. A CF 41 as a recording medium is connected to the CF connector 42, and an image file (for example, a JPEG file) is stored in the CF 41.

  An LCD 43 is connected to the LCD driver 44, and images and operation menus are displayed on the LCD 43. The CPU 34 communicates with the camera 11 via the communication control unit 36. The user operates the operation unit 37 to input various instructions to the printer 13.

  The thermal head control unit 33 converts the image data (that is, print data) processed by the image processing unit 35 into an electrical signal, and gives this electrical signal to the thermal head 32. The thermal head 32 converts an electrical signal into thermal energy, and forms an image on the photographic paper according to the thermal energy.

  The head temperature sensor 38 measures the temperature of the thermal head 32 and outputs it as the head measurement temperature. The environmental temperature sensor 31 measures the environmental temperature of the printer 13 and outputs the measured environmental temperature. The ink ribbon remaining amount meter 45 detects the remaining amount of the ribbon and outputs the remaining amount of ribbon detection.

  Here, in order to facilitate understanding of the printer 13 according to the embodiment of the present invention, first, a thermal head controller and a thermal head used in a conventional printer will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a thermal head controller and a thermal head used in a conventional printer. In FIG. 4, reference numerals 33a and 32a are assigned to the thermal head controller and the thermal head, respectively.

  Referring to FIG. 4, the thermal head controller 33a has a head control IC 4a. On the other hand, the thermal head 32a has a heating resistor portion 4d and a plurality of driver ICs (driver circuits) 4e-n (n is an integer of 2 or more), and the heating resistor portion 4d has a plurality of heating resistors (recording elements). 44.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the head control IC 4a shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the head control IC 4 a includes a gamma-lookup table (γ-LUT) 52, a thermal correction filter 53, and a head drive data conversion unit 54. The print data (Y, M, C) is input to the head control IC 4a.

  First, the head control IC 4a normalizes the print data, that is, each ink (Y, M, C), that is, the gradation data corresponding to the sublimation characteristics for each color by the γ-LUT 52. The normalized gradation data output from the γ-LUT 52 is given to the thermal correction filter 53.

  The thermal correction filter 53 performs thermal correction according to the influence of the adjacent heating resistor 44 and the influence of the print data on the front line and the rear line, and outputs corrected gradation data. The corrected gradation data is input to the head drive data converter 54, and the head drive data converter 54 converts the corrected gradation data into head drive data. Then, the head drive data is given to the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n as the aforementioned electric signals.

  Referring to FIG. 4 again, as described above, the head control IC 4a converts the print data into head drive data. The head drive data is shown as data signals D1 to Dn in FIG. 4 (where n is an integer of 2 or more).

  Further, the head control IC 4a gives a control signal to the thermal head 32a. This control signal includes a strobe signal (Strobe), a latch signal (Latch), and a shift clock signal (Shift Clock).

  In the illustrated example, each of the driver ICs 4 e-1 to 4 e-n includes a shift register 41, a plurality of latch circuits (LA) 42, and a plurality of NAND (NAND) gates 43. A heating resistor 44 is connected to the output terminal of the NAND gate 43. The data signals D1 to Dn are supplied to the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n, respectively.

  Here, paying attention to the driver IC 4e-1, the shift register 41 receives the data signal D1, and shifts the data signal D1 according to the shift clock signal. Then, the output of the shift register 41 is given to the latch circuit 42. The latch circuit 42 latches the output of the shift register 41 according to the latch signal, and outputs the latched data to the NAND gate 43 as latch data.

  A strobe signal is input to the NAND gate 43, and output data is output according to the strobe signal. That is, the NAND gate outputs the output data = "0" only when the strobe signal = "1" and the latch data = "1". The other driver ICs 4e-2 to 4e-n operate in the same manner as the driver IC 4e-1.

  The heating resistor 44 is turned on or off according to the output data from the NAND gate 43, and the ink is transferred from the ink ribbon 4g to the printing paper 4f. As a result, an image corresponding to the print data is formed on the print paper 4f.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram for explaining an example of the CPU 34 and the thermal head controller 33 shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the thermal head control unit 33 includes a plurality of head control ICs (drive control units) 64-1 to 64-10. These head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 are arranged in parallel. As will be described later, the plurality of heating resistors (recording elements) are divided into a plurality of blocks. Each block is associated with one driver IC, and the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 drive and control at least one driver IC.

  The CPU 34 and the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-n are connected by a serial interface (serial I / F) 63, and transmit / receive data to / from each other. The distribution of the print data to each of the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-n is executed by the protocol control of the serial I / F 63.

  The head control IC 64 is connected by an inter-IC bus 65, and the head control IC 64 exchanges print data with each other via the inter-IC bus 65. Head drive data (DAT (0) to DAT (9)) output from the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 is given to a driver IC (not shown) provided in the thermal head 32.

  On the other hand, a synchronization signal is given from the CPU 34 to the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-n, and the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-n are synchronized with the synchronization signal to the head drive data (DAT ( 0) to DAT (9)) are output.

  As described above, in the conventional printer, since processing is performed for all the print pixels (that is, print data) by one ASIC, data processing can be easily performed using a plurality of pieces of pixel information.

  On the other hand, in the example shown in FIG. 6, for example, one scanning line (main scanning direction: also simply referred to as a line) is divided into a plurality of blocks, and a head control IC is assigned to each block. For this reason, in the example shown in FIG. 6, when data processing is performed using pixel information straddling between the head control ICs, processing is performed using the following connection.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the connection between the head control ICs shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 7, only adjacent head control ICs 64-1 and 64-2 are shown here. The head control ICs 64-1 and 64-2 are connected to each other via the serial bus 65 as described above. The serial bus 65 has first and second write serial buses.

  The first write bus is indicated by CLK 73 and DATA 74 in the drawing, and this first write bus is used as a write serial bus from the head control IC 64-1 to the head control IC 64-2. The second write bus is indicated by CLK76 and DATA75 in the drawing, and this second write bus is used as a write serial bus from the head control IC 64-2 to the head control IC 64-1.

  The head control ICs 71 and 72 have sub-registers 77 and 78, respectively. These sub-registers 77 and 78 hold print data that needs to be interpolated with each other.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an interpolation method executed between the thermal head control ICs shown in FIG. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of the median filter, and FIG. 8B is a diagram for explaining application of the median filter.

  Referring to FIG. 8, it is assumed that the median filter shown in FIG. 8A is applied to the pixels in the adjacent portions of the head control ICs 64-1 and 64-2 shown in FIG. 8B. . Here, X, E, J, G, H, I, K, D, and F are pixels. Processing by the median filter is performed as shown in the following equation (1). Note that k is a coefficient.

X = k × (D + E + F + G + H + I + J + K + X) / 9 (1)
In this case, the head control IC 64-2 holds the missing pixels D, G, and I in the sub-register 78 as indicated by solid arrows. The head control IC 64-2 performs processing using a median filter. The pixel data held in the sub-register 78 is rewritten when the operation for one line (processing by the median filter) is completed.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the configuration of the thermal head controller 33 and the thermal head 32 shown in FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 9, the thermal head control unit 33 has head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10. Since the configuration of the thermal head 32 is the same as that of the thermal head 32a described with reference to FIG. 4, the same reference numerals are given here and description thereof is omitted.

  As described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 convert the print data into head drive data. In the example shown in the figure, the head control IC 64-1 generates a strobe signal (Strobe), a latch signal (Latch), and a shift clock signal (Shift Clock), and supplies them to the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n.

  The head control IC 64-1 outputs head drive data D11 and D12 to the driver ICs 4e-1 and 4e-2, respectively. Similarly, the head control IC 64-10 gives the head drive data D10m to D10n to the driver ICs 4e-m to 4e-n (here, n is an integer of 10 or more, and m is m <n). Is an integer).

  In other words, in the illustrated example, the thermal head control unit 33 has ten head control ICs. One of these head control ICs supplies a strobe signal, a latch signal, and a shift clock signal to all the head control ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n.

  Further, the ten head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 share the head drive data and output the head drive data to the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n.

  As described above, the printer shown in FIG. 9 includes a thermal head (recording head) having a plurality of heating resistors (recording elements) 44 and driver ICs (drive circuits) 4e-1 to 4e-n that drive the heating resistors 44. ) 4e. The heating resistor 44 is divided into a plurality of blocks, and any one of the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n is associated with each block.

  The printer has a plurality of head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10. That is, the printer includes a plurality of head control ICs. Each of the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 is associated with at least one driver IC 4e-1 to 4e-n, and driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n according to print data sent from the CPU 34 (FIG. 3). Is controlled.

  The head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 are arranged in parallel with each other, and the CPU 34 prints the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 with a serial I / F 63 (serial input unit) shown in FIG. Sort data. Further, the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 adjacent to each other are connected by an inter-IC bus 65 (communication unit: see FIG. 6) that performs communication for interpolation of print data.

  A synchronization signal is sent from the CPU 34 to the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10, and the head control ICs 64-1 to 64-10 drive the driver ICs 4e-1 to 4e-n in synchronization with each other according to the synchronization signal. Control.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a control operation in the printer 13 shown in FIG.

  1 to 3 and 10, it is assumed that the camera 11 is connected to the printer 13 by a dedicated cable 12. It is assumed that a plurality of image data is stored as JPEG files in a CF (storage medium) 27 attached to the camera 11.

  First, the user operates the operation unit 24 of the camera 11 to select an image desired to be printed using a print instruction button (not shown) or the like, and sets various printing conditions (for example, paper size and layout designation). (Step S1). Then, the user operates the operation unit 24 to instruct the start of the printing operation. As a result, the CPU 21 requests the start of printing together with the printing conditions by the communication control unit 23 (step S2).

  When receiving a print start request, in the printer 13, the CPU 34 requests file information such as the size of an image file necessary for printing from the camera 11 via the communication control unit 36. In response to this request, the CPU 21 transmits file information corresponding to the printer 13 by the communication control unit 23.

  In the printer 13, the CPU 34 requests image data from the camera 11 via the communication control unit 36 based on the file information. The CPU 31 transmits image data to the printer 13 via the communication control unit 23 in response to the request.

  In the printer 13, the CPU 34 sets the coefficient of the thermal correction filter in the thermal head control unit 33 according to the printing conditions (step S3). Then, the thermal head control unit 33 performs thermal correction filter processing on the image data (step S4). The thermal head control unit 33 generates print data (head drive data) by the thermal correction filter process (step S5).

  This print data is given to the thermal head 32 and printing is started (step S6). Then, printing is performed on the printing paper by the thermal head (step S7), and the printing ends.

  When printing is completed, the CPU 34 notifies the camera 11 of printing completion via the communication control unit 36. When the camera 11 receives the print end notification, the CPU 21 controls the drive of the LCD driver 30 and displays a print end message on the LCD 29. Thereby, the user is notified of the end of printing (step S8: notification means).

  Also in the printer 13, when printing is completed, the CPU 34 controls the drive of the LCD driver 44 and displays a print completion message on the LCD 43.

  The above-described processing is performed in the same manner when image data is recorded in the CF 41 of the printer 13. In the direct print system shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that a plurality of image data are stored as JPEG files in the CF 41 mounted on the printer 13. In this case, the user operates the operation unit 37 to select an image desired to be printed, and sets various printing conditions. Then, the user operates the operation unit 37 to instruct the start of the printing operation. As a result, processes similar to those in steps S1 to S8 described above are sequentially executed. At this time, however, communication between the printer 13 and the camera 11 is not performed.

  Thus, in the above-described example, the thermal head control unit 33 includes a plurality of head control ICs, and the thermal heads are driven by these head control ICs. Therefore, if a plurality of one type of head control IC is used, even a high-pixel / high-resolution thermal head can be easily driven. As a result, when printing is performed using a thermal head, there is an effect that the cost can be reduced even with high pixels / high resolution.

  As is clear from the above description, the image processing unit 35 and the CPU 34 shown in FIG. 3 function as a main processing device.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, Various forms of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are also contained in this invention. .

  For example, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various recording media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed. In this case, the program and the storage medium storing the program constitute the present invention.

  32 thermal head, 33 thermal head control unit, 34 CPU, 35 image processing unit, 36 communication control unit, 37 operation unit, 38 head temperature sensor, 39 Flash ROM, 40 SDRAM, 41 CF, 43 LCD

Claims (6)

In an image forming apparatus that includes a recording head having a plurality of recording elements and a drive circuit that drives the recording elements, and drives the recording elements to form an image.
The recording element is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the drive circuit is associated with each block,
A plurality of drive control units that are associated with at least one of the drive circuits and that drive and control the drive circuit according to print data sent from a main processing device;
The drive control units are arranged in parallel with each other,
A serial input unit that distributes the print data to the drive control unit;
A communication unit that performs communication for performing interpolation of the print data between the drive control units adjacent to each other;
The image forming apparatus, wherein the drive control unit drives and controls the drive circuit in synchronization with each other in accordance with a synchronization signal sent from the main processing device. The recording head is a thermal head including a heating resistor as the recording element,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive control unit normalizes the print data according to a sublimation characteristic for each color and performs thermal correction on the print data after normalization. .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one scan line is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the drive control unit is assigned to each of the blocks.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive control units adjacent to each other perform interpolation of the image data using a median filter. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and an image input device connected to be communicable with the image forming apparatus,
An image forming system, wherein image data is given to the image forming apparatus from the image input device, and the main processing unit generates the print data in accordance with the image data in the image forming apparatus.   The image forming system according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus includes a notification unit that notifies the image input device of a print end notification when the image formation is completed.

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