JPS6233653A - Thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ignore the data transfer time and enable printing at higher speed by making pitches among heating element rows 4n times as long as printing dots and alternately conducting printing by each heating element row. CONSTITUTION:Pitches among heating element rows 2A, 2B on an insulating subtrate 1 are made 4n times as large as printing dots while fitting an IC chip 7 consisting of a driving circuit constituted of a switching element turned ON- OFF in response to recording information connected to respective heating elements 2 and a circuit supplying recording information signals, and the continuous recording of two rows is recorded alternately by each heating element row 2A, 2B. Accordingly, a thermal head utilizes the delay of the thermal response of the heating elements and prints a printing in two rows alternately by one heating element row 2A or 2B by the effect of heat accumulation, thus enabling printing free of intermittence and overlapping, then allowing recording at high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of industrial application] (7) Q. This invention relates to a thermal head and a recording method thereof for performing thermal recording or thermal transfer recording five times at high speed in, for example, a serial printer.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 7 is shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-36074, for example.
'17: Shows a conventional thermal recording device, in which +1) is an insulating substrate, (2) is a heating element ((2A)
(2B shows the heating element row), tlol tI'i thin film resistive film, a2 is the ground electrode, α3 is the drive electrode, α
A thin insulating film, a 09° α lead wire, and an αη pulse driving source.

Next, I will explain the operation. Thermal recording is a method in which a pulse voltage is applied to dots formed by a plurality of heating elements (2) arranged on an insulating substrate (1), and the heat generated by the dots prints characters, symbols, etc. on recording paper. .

This is called thermal transfer recording, and the print head is a thermal head. Here, Sio2. The insulating thin film α of Ta1ls etc. is not thrown.

Now, a low-priced thermal head? Use 71: For the purpose of i-speed printing, the one shown in Figure 7 was devised and implemented 7:
. Specifically, a plurality of heating elements (2) are placed on an insulating substrate (1).
The ground electrode αa and the drive taii (
Between 13 and 13, a pulse voltage is applied from the pulse drive source αη through the lead wire (to) and α0f, and the heating element rows (2A) and (2
B) e By driving alternately, it is possible to print at double the speed compared to a case where the heating element row is a single row while ensuring the necessary cooling time. This situation is shown in the print results in Figure 8 and Figure 9.
This is shown in the print timing chart in the figure. In the figure, Ol
l, C! la...--... print string, DIri
The reference clock pulse train is shown, the timing of recording paper movement is shown, and the drive timings of the E-heating element row (two people) and the Ff1 heating element row (2B) are all shown.

By the way, in order to print a pulse voltage corresponding to the information to be printed on the heating element (2), for example, switching transistors may be connected to individual lead wires, and the switching transistors may be selectively driven according to the information. become. This selection drive ≦ moss, it is necessary to transfer the recorded information signal, and for example, it takes a long time to transfer data.
The printing speed is determined by the drive timing of the heating element arrays (2A) and (2B) as well as the data transfer time.1.
ball.

In addition, in order to achieve faster printing, the pulse application time must be shortened (but if the applied voltage is increased, the thermal response of the heating element becomes a problem, and the amount of heat generated may not be enough to print, or the heat may accumulate). Such phenomena occur, making it difficult to shorten the drive timing pulse time.

FIG. 10 is an example in which the drive timing pulse time is shortened. Figures a and b indicate the ON and OFF times of the heating elements in the first and second rows, respectively. Since the drive timing pulse interval is shortened, the temperature gradually rises to 4 degrees due to heat accumulation. The temperature rise in the first and second columns is shown in d and e, respectively. As the temperature rises due to heat storage, the print pattern of one dot becomes larger than necessary (which is inconvenient). Otherwise, the print pattern will be continuous.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional thermal recording devices are configured as described above, so
The data transfer time cannot be ignored, and due to the influence of the thermal response of the heating element, the single-line printing speed can only be doubled at best, and cannot be faster.

This invention was made to solve the above problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a thermal head and a recording method thereof that can make data transfer time negligible and can print at higher speeds.

[Means for resolving intermittent points]

In the thermal head and recording method thereof according to the present invention, the pitch between the rows of heating elements on the insulating substrate is set to 4n times the print dot size, and the heating elements are connected to each other.
Consisting of a switching element that turns on and off depending on the priority information h71: Equipped with a drive circuit and a circuit that supplies recording information signal Ji+, two consecutive rows of two rows are alternately recorded in each heating element row. .

[Effect]

The thermal head according to the present invention utilizes the slow thermal response t1 of the heating element and prints in two rows using the heat storage effect. The feature is that printing is performed in a short time with one heating element row, the pitch between the heating element rows is set to 4n times the printing dot size, and the printing is performed alternately in each heating element row.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, an example of the fc diagram of this invention will be explained.

In Fig. 1, L1) 1ri embryonic substrate, 12j heating elements ((2A) and (2B) indicate heating element rows), +31 common electrode, (4) barred lead, (51 is insulated layer, (6) is an insulating layer (Guibond agent applied on top of 51, 171 V! An IC chip consisting of a switching element that turns on and off according to recorded information, an hr drive circuit, and a circuit that supplies recording information signals. , (8) Gold wire connecting C-chip (7) and lead (4), etc. (91
This is the signal terminal of the mechanical C chip (7).

Next, the operation will be explained. #- shown in Fig. 2 shows the equivalent circuit of No.
This figure shows a shift register with a driver and a memory function. 1. Signal terminal (91 DATA).

0LO(!, LATC!H, 5TBA, 87BB
It shows that it consists of The function of each signal is DATA
The terminal is the input terminal for the recording information signal, f:! The LOOK terminal is an input terminal for a synchronization signal with the DATA signal, and the LATCH terminal is input.7: Recording information signals Di, D2.・・・－・－
...D14 as memory Ll, L2...1,
Input terminal for timing to transfer to 14, 5TBA,
8TBB This is an input terminal for selectively driving the heating elements (2) of the heating element rows (2A) and (2B) in accordance with the recorded information signal.

1JFJs and FIG. 4 show the printing results and timing charts obtained by alternately printing two columns per column of five heating elements in this circuit diagram. In the figure, PD indicates a reference clock pulse train and indicates the timing of recording paper movement. In addition, the heating element row (2A) is DAI for data transfer of 2-row printing drive, DA2゜DA3 is DBI for data transfer of 2-row printing drive of heating element row (2B),
DB2. This indicates that data for each row of heating elements in DB3 is transferred three times. Therefore, the combination of printing two rows of heating element rows in a single row, transferring data for three heating element rows, LATCH signal, 5TBA (straight 5T
BB) Determined by the timing of the signal. It goes without saying that this determination is determined by the thermal response of the heating element (2) (this situation is shown in FIG. 5).

The entire ON time of Kohake-8TEA (straight 8TBB) is used for printing all two columns, and 5TBA (straight 5TBB)
), the first half of the period is used to print the first column, and the second half of the period is used to print the second column. The timing of the H signal will play a role. As a combination of data, (100) is printed in the first column, (1)0)
? Continuous printing in the 1st and 2nd columns, (01)) is the gIJ 2nd column printing, and LATC! The timing of the H signal is effectively used to generate heat required for printing.

As described above, by printing two lines per single row of heating elements, the pitch between the heating element rows can be set to 4 of the printing dot size.
If the power is multiplied by n (n-1, 2...-) and printing is performed alternately, it becomes possible to perform intermittent printing without overlapping.

Figure 6 shows an example of printing two characters at a time according to the present invention, with the paper feed timing set at C, the current flow periods of the heating elements in the first and second rows set at a and b, and the temperature rising. d, e
The printing pattern is shown in f.

Conventionally, since two rows of heating elements were used to print one dot at a time alternately, the cooling period was only T and 7, as shown in FIG. 10, resulting in insufficient cooling. In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, two dots are printed alternately, so the cooling period can be 1.5 times longer than that of the conventional method.As a result, it is possible to eliminate the cost of increasing the spike temperature due to heat accumulation.

Also, whereas conventionally one dot was printed in HT time,
Since 2 dots can be printed in 1.5T time, high-speed printing is now possible. Conventionally, when thermally printing two consecutive dots, the heating elements in the first row were energized to print the first dot, and then the heating elements in the second row were energized to print the second dot. It took time for the temperature of the heating elements in the second row to rise. In this invention, since two dots are printed continuously using one row of heating elements, printing can be performed at a higher speed than when the other heating elements are energized to raise the temperature from the beginning.

In other words, the present invention takes advantage of the heat storage of the heat generating resistor element and utilizes the heat storage to print two dots in succession to enable high-speed printing. Figure 6 is an example of a pattern in which 2 dots are continuously printed, and 3 cases in which 2 dots are printed continuously, only the 1st dot is printed, and only the 2nd dot is printed.
Give an example.

In addition, although the above embodiment has shown T-2 rows of heat generating elements facing each other via a common electrode, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which one common electrode is provided for each heat generating element row. It has the same effect as the example. Also, 5TBA,
8TBB terminals are separated, but the same terminal LAT (!T
(A similar method of controlling based on signal timing may also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the pitch between the rows of heating elements? A direct drive type thermal head with a magnification of 4n was used to perform continuous recording in two rows per heating element row, alternating the heating element rows, so the thermal head was capable of high-speed recording.
and the recording method thereof.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a thermal head according to the present invention, and a cross-sectional view along the mm-m' plane, FIG. 2 is an equivalent circuit diagram of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show a thermal head according to the invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a thermal response and a timing chart of a recording method using a recording head according to the present invention based on a combination of transferred data. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a print result of a thermal head according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view and cross-sectional view of a conventional thermal recording device; FIG. 8 is a diagram showing printing results of a recording method of a conventional thermal recording device; FIG. 9 is a timing chart diagram of FIG. 8, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a heat generation pattern and temperature rise of a conventional thermal recording device. In the figure, +1) is the base insulating substrate, (2) is the heating element, (
(2 people), (2B) is a heating element row, (31-ge common electrode, (
7) is an engineering C chip. In addition, in the figures, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A thermal head characterized in that the pitch between the plurality of heating element rows is 4n times the print dot size (n=1, 2, . . . ). (2) The thermal head according to claim 1, characterized in that there are two rows of heating elements. (3) The thermal head according to claim 2, wherein continuous recording is performed alternately in two rows per row of heating elements. (4) The thermal head according to claim 3, wherein print data for continuous recording of two columns is transferred three times for each heating element column.