JPH10337895A - Thermal head and thermal head recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the disadvantage that the effect of heat accumulation is different between AB printing and BA printing, by forming a phase-A heating recording element group and a phase-B heating recording element group in two rows and by spacing them by a multiple of a specified value of a unit feeding amount of transfer of recording paper. SOLUTION: A recording pulse is outputted from a paper feeding mechanism for each recording paper transfer amount (p) corresponding to a distance between recording lines. Herein the amount (p) is in the following relation with a space P between heating recording elements of individual phases: P=n.p ((n) is a positive integer of 1 or more). When phase-A printing is conducted with a phase-A power supply line 11 made a power source, phase-A heating recording elements a1, a2 and a3 are made to heat and dots are printed on recording paper corresponding thereto, while phase-B printing is conducted on the arrival of the subsequent recording pulse. A phase-B set becomes printing data of a line being apart by (n) lines from the printing data in phase-A printing conducted previously. At the time point when the phase-B set is completed, a phase-B power supply line 21 is connected to the power source and thereby the phase-B printing is completed. Thus, the effects of heat accumulation of the respective printing of the phase A and the phase B can be made equal.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal head and a thermal head recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional thermal head and a thermal head recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.
On a thermal head substrate (not shown), as shown in FIG. 5, one heating resistor 100 parallel to the main scanning direction is formed on a straight line. In parallel with this, the A-phase power line 1
1 and the B-phase power supply line 21 are formed in parallel. From the A-phase power line 11, A-phase power leads (.
1i, 11j,...) Are drawn out and the heating resistor 100 is drawn.
, And a B-phase power lead (..., 21i, 21
j,...) are connected to the heating resistor 100.

In addition, ground leads (..., 31i, 32i, 31j,...) Are provided at intermediate positions between the A-phase power leads and the B-phase power leads which are alternately arranged. Therefore, the heating resistor 100 is connected to the A-phase power lead A-phase heating recording element (..., A1, a
, And B phase heating recording elements (..., B 1, b 2, b 3,...) Connected to the B phase power supply lead are sequentially formed.

[0004] Each ground lead (..., 31i, 32i,
31j) are connected to the driving IC 30.
The drive IC 30 includes switches (..., S1, S2, S
3, ...), gates (..., G1, G2, G3, ...)
..), data register (latch and shift register)
(..., D1, D2, D3, ...), ground wire 103
And a strobe line 104, and has a function of connecting a desired ground lead to ground for a desired time in accordance with the data of the data register and the strobe pulse supplied to the strobe line 104.

Assuming that ON data is stored in data registers D1 and D3 and OFF data is stored in D2 shown in FIG. 5, switches S1 and S3 are closed for the ON time of the strobe pulse supplied to strobe line 104. Therefore, in the A-phase printing mode in which the A-phase power supply line 11 is turned on (connected to the A-phase power supply), the A-phase heating recording elements a1, a
3, a current can be passed to generate heat.
In this case, when the B-phase power line 21 is turned on instead of the A-phase power line 11, the B-phase print mode is executed, and the B-phase heat generating recording elements b1 and b3 can generate heat.

As described above, print data corresponding to each A-phase heating recording element is set in the data register, the A-phase power supply line 11 is turned on, and then a strobe pulse is supplied to perform the A-phase printing operation. The print data corresponding to the B-phase heating recording element is set in the data register, and the B-phase power line 21
Is turned on, a strobe pulse is supplied to perform a B-phase printing operation, whereby one-line recording can be performed. By performing the above operations in synchronization with the feeding of the recording paper, desired recording can be performed.

That is, in a recording apparatus using such a thermal head, generally, as shown in FIG. 6, a paper feed pulse can be obtained at every constant feed amount with respect to the movement of the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction. Since this paper feed pulse is also related to the recording timing of the thermal head,
It can also be called a recording pulse. The A-phase print mode is executed by setting the A-phase print data in the data register, followed by the "A-phase print", and similarly the B-phase print is performed by the "B-phase set" and "B-phase print". The mode is executed. As described above, in this type of thermal head recording apparatus, the A-phase print mode and the B-phase print mode are executed each time a predetermined amount of recording paper is fed.

[0008]

However, such a printing operation has the following disadvantages. That is, the recording paper is generally fed at a substantially constant speed during recording. Therefore, in the above-described recording operation in which one line is recorded by the A-phase printing and the B-phase printing, the A-phase printing and the B-phase printing are continuously performed in order to reduce the shift in the sub-scanning direction between the A-phase printing and the B-phase printing. Need to be done. That is, the AB printing interval for recording the same line shown in FIG. 6 is different from the BA printing interval until the next line is recorded. for that reason,
There is a disadvantage that the effect of heat storage differs between AB printing and BA printing. The present invention has been made to improve this point.

[0009]

For this reason, in the present invention, an A-phase heating recording element group and a B-phase heating recording element group are formed in two rows. Then, the interval is set to n times (n = 1, 2,...) The unit feed amount of recording paper transport (distance between recording lines).
3, ...).

[0010]

With the above construction, one A-phase printing and one B-phase printing can be executed at each recording timing. Therefore, the effect of heat storage is almost the same, so that recording density control and the like can be performed independently for each phase printing, and the circuit configuration and the like can be simplified.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
An embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, in the thermal head of this embodiment, an A-phase heating resistor 10 and a B-phase heating resistor 20 are formed in a straight line in the main scanning direction with an interval P in the sub-scanning direction. . An A-phase power line 11 is formed outside the A-phase heating resistor 10, and a B-phase power line 21 is formed outside the B-phase heating resistor 20 in a straight line in the main scanning direction.

From the A-phase power line 11, an A-phase power lead (
.., 11i, 11j, 11k,...) Are drawn out at predetermined intervals and connected to the A-phase heating resistor 10. Similarly, a B-phase power lead (...,
21i, 21j, 21k,...) Are drawn out to the center positions of the respective A-phase power supply lead intervals and connected to the B-phase heating resistor 20. Furthermore, each A-phase power lead (...,
11i, 11j, 11k,...) And each B-phase power lead (.
j, 21k,...) between the first ground lead (..
, 31i, 31j, 31k,...) Are provided so as to be connected to the A-phase heating resistor 10 and the B-phase heating resistor 20, respectively.
j, 11k,...) and the respective B-phase power leads (..., 21i, 21j, 21k,.
…) Between the second ground lead (..., 32i, 3i)
2j, 32k,...) Are provided to be connected to the A-phase heating resistor 10 and the B-phase heating resistor 20, respectively.

A first driving IC 3 is provided outside the A-phase power line 11.
1 and a second driving IC 32 outside the B-phase power line 21.
Are provided respectively. These first drive ICs 31
The second drive IC 32 has the same configuration as the drive IC 30 shown in FIG. The first drive IC 31 includes first ground leads (..., 31i, 31j, 31k,...).
And the second drive IC 3
2 is each second ground lead (..., 32i, 32j, 32
, k) are connected by wire bonding.

With the above configuration, the A-phase heating resistor 10 has an A-phase heating recording element (...) between each A-phase power lead and each first ground lead on the right side thereof.・ 、 A
1, a3, a5,...) Are provided between each A-phase power lead and each of the second ground leads on the left side thereof.
.., a2, a4, a6,...) Are formed respectively. .., A
(-1) Two are arranged at predetermined intervals, such as a1, a2a3, a4a5,... Similarly, regarding the B-phase heating resistor 20,..., B1b
2, b3b4, b5b6,..., Are arranged two by two at the same interval alternately with the A-phase heating recording elements. After the A-phase printing, one-line recording can be performed by performing the B-phase printing to fill the space between the A-phase heating recording element pairs.

Next, the printing operation of the thermal head shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. At this time,
Although not shown, it is moving in the sub-scanning direction at a predetermined speed. A recording pulse is output from the paper feed mechanism for each recording paper transport amount p corresponding to the distance between recording lines. Here, p has the following relationship with the inter-phase heating recording element interval P in FIG. P = n · p (n is a positive integer equal to or greater than 1) Each A-phase printing and each B-phase printing are executed between the above-described recording pulses, as shown in FIG.

First, the A-phase printing operation will be described. Prior to the A-phase printing operation, the A-phase print data is first and second drive ICs.
The A-phase setting stored in the data registers 31 and 32 is performed. Now, with this A-phase set, the first drive IC 31
, "ON", "ON",
It is assumed that the print data of “off” is set to the print data of “on” and “off” similarly to that of the second drive IC 32.

When A-phase printing is performed by connecting the A-phase power line 11 to a power supply, the A-phase heating elements a1, a2, and a3 generate heat, and dots are printed on the corresponding recording paper. Then
Waiting for the next recording pulse, B-phase printing is performed. B
Set of print data for phase heating recording element, ie, B
The phase set is print data of a line separated by n lines from the print data in the previously printed A-phase print. When the B-phase setting is completed, the B-phase power line 21 is connected to the power supply, and the B-phase printing is completed.

As described above, the A-phase printing and the B-phase printing based on the print data separated by n lines are repeated in sequence for each recording pulse synchronized with the paper feed. The time interval of the phase printing and the time interval from the B-phase printing to the A-phase printing of the next line can be made the same, and the influence of each heat storage can be made equal. For this reason, even when controlling the print density of each line or the like, correction control or the like may be performed for each printing operation without requiring control over each phase.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a thermal head according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that each heat-generating recording element is formed by a single resistor. Other configurations are the same.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, printing of the A-phase heating recording element and printing of the B-phase heating recording element can be performed independently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a thermal head according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an electrical configuration diagram of the thermal head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a printing operation of a printing apparatus using the thermal head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a thermal head according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration explanatory view showing an example of a conventional thermal head.

6 is an explanatory diagram of a recording operation of a recording apparatus using the thermal head of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: A-phase heating resistor 20: B-phase heating resistor 30 to
32: Drive IC 11: A-phase power line 21: B-phase power line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first heating element group (..., A1) in which a pair of A-phase heating element elements are sequentially arranged at a predetermined interval D along a first straight line parallel to the main scanning direction. , A2, a3,
..) And a distance D equal to the arrangement distance of the pair of A-phase heating recording elements along a second straight line parallel to the first straight line and shifted by P in the sub-scanning direction. And a second heat-generating recording element group (..., B) in which a pair of B-phase heat-generating recording elements are sequentially arranged shifted by D / 2 in the main scanning direction.
1, b2, b3,...), And the first heat-generating recording element group and the second heat-generating recording element group (..., A1, b1, b2, a2, a3) shifted by the pitch P. , B3, b
,...) Are sequentially arranged at regular intervals in the main scanning direction, and the A-phase power leads (..., 11i, 11j,. 11k,...), An A-phase power line 11 commonly connected to each A-phase power lead, and each B-phase power lead (..., 21i, 21j, 21k,...), A B-phase power supply line 21 commonly connected to each B-phase power supply lead, and a heating recording element (.
a1, a3, a5,...) and the heating recording elements (..., b1, b3, b5,...) on the left side of each B-phase heating recording element pair on the right of the A-phase heating recording element pair. , 31i, 31j, 31
k,...), heating recording elements on the left side of each A-phase heating recording element pair (.
a2, a4, a6, ...) and the heating recording elements (..., b2, b4, b6, ...) on the right side of each B-phase heating recording element pair on the left of the A-phase heating recording element pair. , 32i, 32j, 32
In the A-phase print mode, the A-phase power supply line 11 is turned on, and the first ground lead and the second ground lead are connected to ground according to a signal. Driving each A-phase heating recording element pair,
In the B-phase printing mode, the B-phase power supply line 12 is turned on, and the first ground lead and the second ground lead are connected to ground according to a signal to drive each pair of B-phase heating recording elements. A thermal head, characterized in that: 2. The A-phase print mode and the B-phase print mode are alternately executed each time the recording paper moves by a length p in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the thermal head according to claim 1.
A thermal head recording apparatus for recording a phase and each B-phase heating recording element pair, wherein P = n ＝ 2p (n is an integer of 1 or more).