JPH04107159A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve reliability while saving time and labor for production of softwares and reducing costs by generating strobe signals, based on clock signals inputted from the outside, in a counter section constructed of hardwares, and by selecting output of strobe signals with control signals in an output selecting means. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head is constructed of a counter section 4, an output selecting means 5, a resistance section 1 divided into eight parts which are heated and controlled in serial order, a shift register section 2 which converts cloak signals and printing data inputted as serial data from a restoring part into parallel data in one line, and a latch section 3 which holds, based on latch signals, the printing data made to be parallel data by operation of the shift register 2 and, at the same time, outputs the printing data in accordance with strobe signals from a control part 24 to the divided resistance section 1. The output selecting means 5, constructed of an OR gate, outputs logical sum of the control signals and counter outputs, and outputs the strobe signals from terminals from A through H only when the control signals are in decay.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] It relates to a thermal head, in particular, a resistor section that is divided into a plurality of blocks and that is sequentially heated and controlled, and a resistor section that holds print data as parallel data and that is connected to the divided resistor section. Regarding a thermal head that is equipped with a latch section that outputs print data according to a strobe signal, the purpose of the present invention is to easily reduce costs and improve reliability. , a counter section that generates a strobe signal in synchronization with an external clock signal, and an output selection means that selects the output of the strobe signal based on a control signal.

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a thermal head, and particularly relates to a resistor section which is divided into a plurality of blocks and whose heating is controlled sequentially, and a resistor section which holds print data as parallel data and which is divided into blocks. The present invention relates to a thermal head comprising: and a latch section that outputs print data in accordance with a strobe signal.

[Conventional technology]

A facsimile machine is an apparatus that uses a thermal head to perform printing. This facsimile machine has a printing section configured as shown in FIG. In the same figure,
2 is an image memory for storing the transmitted compressed image data; 22 is a restoring unit for restoring the compressed image data; 23 is a thermal head for printing the restored image data on thermal paper, etc.; 24 is a thermal head for printing the restored image data on thermal paper or the like; A control unit outputs a strobe signal to control the thermal head, 25 is a CPU that controls the entire device, and 26 is a memory. In this example, as shown in FIG. 6, the thermal head 23 is divided into eight blocks to reduce power consumption, and includes a resistor section 11 which is heated and controlled in sequence.
A shift register section 12 converts a clock signal and print data input as serial data from the above-mentioned restoring section into one line of parallel data; and a shift register section 12 holds the print data converted into parallel data based on a latch signal. It consists of a latch section 13 that outputs print data to the divided resistor section 11 in accordance with a strobe signal from the control section 24.

Then, the strobe signal is sequentially turned on, starting from the leftmost block in FIG. Let's go through each block one by one. During this time, the image data for the next line is input to the shift register unit 12, and when printing of the previous line is completed, the image data is latched from the shift register unit 12 to the latch unit 13, and the next line is printed. .

By performing this operation on one page of image data, printing of one page is completed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the thermal head described above, the strobe signal for controlling the thermal head is created using software in an external control section and is input via a line to each block of each latch section. There is a problem in that the cost is increased due to the time and effort required for creation and the wiring of a plurality of lines, and it also takes time and effort to make the software and line wiring highly reliable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal head that can easily reduce costs and improve reliability.

(Means for solving the problems) In the present invention, the means for solving the above problems are as follows:
As shown in FIG. 1, the resistor section 1 is divided into a plurality of blocks and is heated and controlled in sequence, and the resistor section 1 is divided into blocks and holds print data as parallel data.
The thermal head is equipped with a latch section 3 that outputs print data according to a strobe signal, a counter section 4 that generates a strobe signal in synchronization with an external clock signal, and an output that selects the output of the strobe signal according to a control signal. This is because selection means 5 is provided.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the strobe signal is created in the counter section constituted by hardware based on an external clock signal, and the output selection means selects the output of the strobe signal according to the control signal, so that there is no need to create software. In addition, the number of signal lines input to the thermal head can be reduced, making it easy to reduce costs and improve reliability.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the thermal head according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 show embodiments of a thermal head according to the present invention. In this embodiment, the structure of the thermal head is the same as that shown in the conventional example except that a counter section and output selection means are provided. That is, the thermal head includes a counter section 4, an output selection means 5, a resistor section 1 which is divided into eight blocks and whose heating is controlled in sequence, and a clock signal and print data inputted as serial data from the above-mentioned restoring section. a shift register section 2 that converts the data into one row of parallel data; and a shift register section 2 that holds the print data that the shift register section 2 has converted into parallel data based on a latch signal, and connects the divided resistor section 1 to the control section 2.
The latch section 3 outputs print data according to the strobe signal from the latch section 4.

In this embodiment, the counter section 4 is a 4-bit binary counter 6 to which a clock signal is input, as shown in FIG.
and 3-T to which the output signal of this binary counter 6 is input.
O-8 line decoder 7, as shown in FIG. 4, outputs a strobe signal that sequentially falls from the output terminal a in synchronization with the clock signal.

The output selection means 5 is composed of an OR gate as shown in FIG. 2, and outputs the logical sum of the control signal and the counter output as shown in FIG. It is assumed that a strobe signal is output from H.

FIG. 4 shows the output state of the counter at time T1, in which the output of the terminal e is "0" and the outputs of the other terminals are "1". The terminals to which this output "'0pa is output are terminal f at T2, terminal g at T3, etc.
At T8, the terminal d is sequentially moved, and printing is executed for each block accordingly.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the strobe signal of the thermal head is outputted by the counter unit 4 which is made up of hardware attached to the thermal head itself, and the output is controlled by the output selection means 5 according to the control signal, and the strobe signal is input to the thermal head. By reducing the number of signal lines input to the thermal head, there is no need to create software, and by reducing the number of signal lines input to the thermal head, it is possible to easily reduce costs and improve reliability.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the strobe signal of the thermal head is generated by a counter section constituted by hardware attached to the thermal head itself, and the output is controlled by the output selection means in accordance with the control signal. By reducing the number of signal lines input to the head, there is no need to create software, and by reducing the number of signal lines input to the thermal head, it is easy to reduce costs and improve reliability. It has the effect of being able to.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the output state of the counter section of the thermal head shown in FIG.
This figure shows a printing section of a facsimile machine in which a thermal head is used, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a conventional thermal head.

1...Resistance section 3...Latch part 4...Counter section 5...Output selection means

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle and embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the output state of the counter section of the thermal head shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. Structure of the counter section of the head clk2 Principle diagram of the present invention (embodiment) Fig. 181 Fig. Structure of the counter section facsimile printing section Fig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A resistor section (1) that is divided into a plurality of blocks and that is heated and controlled in sequence; and a resistor section (1) that holds print data as parallel data and prints on the divided resistor section (1) according to a strobe signal. A thermal head comprising a latch section (3) that outputs data, a counter section (4) that generates a strobe signal in synchronization with an external clock signal, and an output selection that selects the output of the strobe signal based on a control signal. A thermal head characterized by comprising means (5).