JPS6117646Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image recording device, and more particularly to an image recording device that can reduce the printing time of image information having gradation information.

Conventionally, in this type of apparatus, when recording gradation information for each unit of multiple pixels, printing of one unit is controlled using a predetermined maximum value of the application time corresponding to the gradation information. Because the printer was old, it had the disadvantage that it took a long time to print all the image information.

In order to eliminate these drawbacks, the present invention uses the output of an application time control counter that converts gradation steps into application time as the application time, detects the end of each application time, and applies one unit of printing time. The purpose is to control the time as the maximum value, and will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of various waveforms in one embodiment of the present invention. D1-1 to D1-32 are signals of time change points resulting from dividing the input gradation data signal D1 into 32, and S1-1 to S1-32 are generation points resulting from dividing the input data set signal S1 into 32. pulse, S2 is the application start signal, S3-1 to S
3-6 to S3-15, etc. are the pulses at the time of generation of the counter control signal S3 (occurred at intervals corresponding to the gradation step), and S4 is the application time signal (the figure shows the time width corresponding to the gradation step 6). ), S5-
1, S5-2 is the pulse at the time of generation of the application end signal S5 (S5-1 corresponds to gradation step 15, S5
-2 corresponds to gradation step 6), and S6 indicates the maximum application time signal.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. S7 is a ROM address signal, S8 is a ROM data output signal, 10 is an application time control counter group consisting of 32 counters, 11 is a control circuit, 12 is a ROM (read only memory) for generating gradation step time, and 13 is an application time control counter group. This is a time maximum value detection circuit.
Now, input gradation data signal D1 is input to application time control counter group 10 by input data set signal S1.
Preset for 32 pixels. In response to the application start signal S2, the control circuit 11 generates the ROM address signal S7, uses the ROM data output signal S8 to generate the counter control signal S3, and also generates the maximum application time signal output from the maximum application time detection circuit 13. S6 is detected and an application end signal S5 is output. The application time control counter group 10 receives a counter control signal S3.
When the number of pulses at the time of generation and the value of the preset gradation data become equal, each application time control counter stops counting, and the 32 application time signals S4 of the time width corresponding to the gradation data become equal. controlled. The ROM 12 outputs data corresponding to a gradation step written in the ROM in response to a ROM address signal S7 from the control circuit 11 as a ROM data output signal S8. The application time maximum value detection circuit 13 detects the temporal position where the application time of the application time signal S4 according to the gradation data is the longest,
It is output as the maximum application time signal S6.

That is, in response to the application start signal S2, 32 application time signals S4 become valid all at once, and the counter control signal S3 is input at time intervals of gradation step units. When the data is preset, the application time control counter stops counting by the pulse S3-6 at the time when the counter control signal S3 is generated, and the application time ends. The application end signal S5 is a signal indicating the maximum value of the 32 application time signals S4 from the application start signal S2 (the maximum application time of the coloring unit is determined by the generation of the maximum application time signal S6, so the application time is The maximum signal S6 is detected and output.

Specifically, the application time maximum value detection circuit 13 can be configured as follows, for example.

In the case of the above explanation, the "high level" is maintained while the recording element is energized as shown in the application time signal S4.
Assume that the state is (H). The detection circuit 13 has 32
32 to input each output of the application time signal S4.
It can be configured with a signal edge detection circuit that detects the fall of the output of the input OR gate. In other words, the output of the OR gate changes from high level (H) to low level (L) when the signal with the longest application time width among the applied signals S4 changes from H to L. When the change point is detected and a pulse is generated, it becomes the maximum application time signal S6. The output S5 of the control circuit 11 is introduced into a data generation circuit (not shown) to input the next group's input gradation data signal D1 and input data set signal S1 to the counter group 10, and generates signals D1 and S1. operate as desired.

By repeating the above control, it is possible to control the application time corresponding to the gradation data.

As explained above, in the present invention, the printing time of gradation data is controlled by the application time corresponding to the gradation data in units of blocks (for example, 32 pieces are printed simultaneously), and the maximum application time within that block is used to control the application time corresponding to the gradation data. This is effective because the printing time for one line or all lines of gradation data can be shortened by controlling the overall printing time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of various waveforms in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the embodiment of the present invention. D1, D1-1, D1-32... Input gradation data signal, S1, S1-1, S1-32... Input data set signal, S2... Application start signal, S3,
S3-1, S3-6, S3-15... Counter control signal, S4... Application time signal, S5, S5-
1, S5-2... Application end signal, S6... Maximum application time signal, S7... ROM address signal, S8
... ROM data output signal, 10 ... Application time control counter group, 11 ... Control circuit, 12 ... ROM for generating gradation step time, 13 ... Application time maximum value detection circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] When gradation information is printed and recorded by the time interval of applying electric power to a recording element, one group of pixels is recorded as a unit by an application time signal corresponding to one group of gradation data. In an image recording apparatus that simultaneously energizes and records a group of recording elements, an application time signal whose width changes according to each tone data is generated from the group of tone data to apply electric power to the recording elements. an application time maximum value detection circuit that detects the end point of a signal having the maximum time width of each application time signal in the group and outputs a pulse signal at the end time; An image recording apparatus characterized in that the image recording apparatus is configured to input the next group of gradation data to a circuit that generates an application time signal based on the output of the circuit.