TWI380908B - Printhead ic with open actuator test - Google Patents

Description

Print head integrated circuit (IC) with open actuator test

The present invention relates to the field of ink jet printers. In particular, the present invention relates to an ink jet printer having a print head having a plurality of separate print head integrated circuits (ICs) defining ink jets or other printing liquids. nozzle.

The ink jet printer ejects ink droplets through a spray array for printing on a media substrate. Nozzles are typically formed on a wafer substrate by using semiconductor fabrication techniques. Each nozzle is a MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) device that is driven by associated drive circuitry formed on the same wafer substrate. The MEMS nozzle devices and associated drive circuits formed on a single nozzle are generally referred to as a column of integrated head integrated circuits (ICs).

Conventional inkjet printers use a scanning inkjet printhead. They have a single printhead IC that traverses across the width of a sheet of paper. The applicant has developed a series of pagewidth printheads. These printheads use a series of printhead ICs mounted end to end to provide an array of nozzles that extend across the entire width of the paper. Instead of sweeping the print head back and forth, the print head remains stationary within the printer, allowing the paper to be fed through the print head. This allows for higher speed printing, but is more complicated in the operational control of a large number of nozzle arrays.

The fabrication of MEMS nozzle structures on wafer substrates always results in defective nozzles. These, dead nozzles, can be found using a wafer probe after fabrication. Once the position of the dead nozzle is known, the print engine controller (PEC) can be programmed to write to a dead nozzle map. This map is used to compensate for the death by using techniques like excess nozzles (ie, the printhead IC has more nozzles than needed and is used, spare, nozzles to print the points assigned to the dead nozzles). nozzle.

Unfortunately, the nozzle is also damaged during the life of the printhead. These damaged nozzles cannot be found with wafer probes after these nozzles have been mounted on the print head assembly and assembled into the printer. After a period of time, the number of dead nozzles will increase and the PEC will not be able to detect them, so there will be no attempt to compensate. This will eventually lead to shortcomings that can be seen by the naked eye, which is detrimental to the quality of the print.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a printhead IC comprising: an array of nozzles; a discharge actuator corresponding to each nozzle, the discharge actuator having a resistive heater The actuator is activated when the ink is ejected through the corresponding nozzle; the driving circuit is configured to accept the printing data and activate the actuator by the driving signal according to the printing data; and the open circuit actuator testing circuit is used to receive the actuator A drive signal is used to selectively dissipate the actuator while comparing the resistance of the resistive heater to a predetermined threshold value to assess whether the actuator is defective.

In thermal inkjet printheads and hot-bent inkjet printheads, the vast majority of failures occur because the resistive heater burns out and opens or "turns open." The nozzle will not be able to eject ink due to clogging, but this is not a 'dead nozzle' and can be reinstated through the printer repair system. By using a built-in circuit to determine which nozzles are dead nozzles, the print engine controller can periodically update its dead nozzle map and thereby extend the useful life of the print head.

Preferably, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation. In a more preferred form, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback for a predetermined length of time after the print head operation. In a particularly preferred form, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback between each page of a print job. Preferably, the driving circuit has an actuator FET (field effect transistor) which is activated by a driving signal for causing the resistance heater to form an open circuit for a driving voltage, and the open circuit The actuator test circuit has a NAND logic gate with the drive signal and the actuator test signal as inputs and output to the gate of the actuator FET. Preferably, the open circuit actuator test circuit has a detection FET having a source connected to a high voltage side of the resistance heater and a drain connected to a sensing electrode, wherein the detection FET is used Testing the signal to enable it to generate a low voltage output that is fed back to the sensing electrode as a functional actuator and the high voltage output to the sensing electrode is fed back as a Defective actuator.

Selectively selected, during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data subsequently received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback within a predetermined time after the print head operation.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback between each page of a print job.

Selecting the ground, the driving circuit has a driving FET for controlling the current flowing to the resistive current, and when the driving signal is received, the driving FET is activated and receives a driving signal and an open circuit actuation. The logic of the drive FET is disabling when the test signal is tested.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit has a bleed FET that slowly traverses any voltage drop across the resistive heater when the drive circuit does not receive a drive signal or an open actuator test signal Excreted to zero.

Selecting the ground, the driving circuit has a detecting node between the drain of the driving FET and the resistive heater, and the open circuit test circuit has a detecting FET which is received in the open circuit actuator test signal An effect occurs such that the voltage at the drain of the sense FET is used to indicate whether the heater element is defective.

Selecting the ground, the driving FET is a p-type FET.

Optionally, the driver circuit receives print data in the form of a plurality of concatenated portions for the array, with a fire command at the end of each portion.

In another aspect of the invention, the invention provides a printhead IC further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors for sensing the temperature of the printhead IC in each zone, respectively.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printed fluid within the nozzle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit blocks the drive signals sent to at least some of the nozzles in the array when the one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulse is composed of a discharge pulse and a sub ejection pulse, the ejection pulse having an energy sufficient to emit the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at that time, and the sub-ejection pulse has sufficient The energy of the printing fluid was not specified to be emitted from the nozzle that was fired at the time.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is A de-clog pulse, wherein the de-blocking pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a printhead IC comprising: an array of nozzles; a drive circuit for receiving print data and a fire command from a print engine controller; wherein the drive circuit is in use during use Print data for the array in the form of a plurality of concatenated portions is received with a fire command at the end of each portion.

The print head IC does not provide each nozzle-offset register in the array, but only has enough point data offset register to give it a portion of the nozzle array that is emitted, and the offset is temporarily The register loads the point data for the next part of the array. This moves the offset register out of the unit cell (the nozzle and the corresponding ink chamber, the minimum repeating unit of the actuator and the driver circuit) which allows the drive FET to be larger without affecting the nozzle density. . As discussed above, a larger drive FET can generate a drive pulse at a higher power pole to perform a more efficient droplet discharge.

Preferably, the array is constructed as columns and rows, and the continuous portion is the nozzles in each individual column such that the nozzle rows eject the printing fluid in a row and column. In a more preferred form, the drive circuit is configured to transmit the nozzle trains in a predetermined sequence and the print engine controller sends the print data for each column to the drive circuit in the predetermined sequence. In a particularly preferred form, the print data for the next nozzle train in the predetermined sequence is loaded when the previous nozzle train is launched. Preferably, the nozzles in each column eject the same type of printing fluid.

Selecting the upper layer, the array is constructed as columns and rows, and the continuous portion is the nozzles in each individual column such that the nozzle rows eject the printing fluid in a row and column.

The upper drive circuit is configured to transmit the nozzle trains in a predetermined sequence and the print engine controller sends the print data for each column to the drive circuit in the predetermined sequence.

The upper land is selected, and the print data for the next nozzle row in the predetermined sequence is loaded when the previous nozzle row is emitted.

Selecting the upper layer, the nozzles in each column eject the same type of printing fluid.

In another aspect, a printhead IC is provided that further includes an open circuit actuator test circuit for biasing the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively deactivating the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data subsequently received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation.

In another aspect of the invention, the invention provides a printhead IC further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors for sensing the temperature of the printhead IC in each zone, respectively.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printed fluid within the nozzle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit blocks the drive signals sent to at least some of the nozzles in the array when the one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulse is composed of a discharge pulse having a sufficient energy to emit the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at the time, and a sub-ejection pulse having a sufficient amount to be never specified. The energy of the printed fluid was emitted from the nozzle that was fired at that time.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: a nozzle array having a plurality of adjacent regions; and a driving circuit for sending an electrical pulse to each nozzle such that the nozzle ejects a printing fluid a droplet; and a plurality of temperature sensors for sensing the temperature of the printhead IC in each region.

Using a plurality of sensors to monitor the temperature of the entire printhead IC can give a temperature profile of the drive circuit ink in different regions. By using feedback from the sensor, the drive pulses sent to the nozzles in each zone can be adjusted to best suit the current viscosity of the ink. By compensating for any difference in ink viscosity, the uniformity of the droplet ejection characteristics of the entire printhead IC can be maintained, thereby maintaining the consistency of the entire page width print head. As discussed above, consistent droplet ejection improves print quality.

Preferably, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds defining a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A different pulse volume profile of one of the electrical pulses. In a more preferred form, the pulse volume curve for each temperature zone differs in its length of time. In a particularly preferred form, if the temperature sensor indicates that the region is operating at a temperature threshold that exceeds the highest temperature, its associated drive circuit sets the pulse duration to zero. In some embodiments, the array of nozzles is arranged in a nozzle row and a nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is configured to emit a row of nozzles at a time. In a particular form of this embodiment, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission. In some variations of this embodiment, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse rate curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a sub-ejection value (sub-ejection) Value).

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

Selecting the upper ground, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a pair of ejection values.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first broadcast The outgoing instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exception print head IC has placed it When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller sends out a When the second broadcast instruction reaches the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues until the The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. different from one another is assigned a unique address so far.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printed fluid within the nozzle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit blocks the drive signals sent to at least some of the nozzles in the array when the one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulse is composed of a discharge pulse and a sub ejection pulse, the ejection pulse having an energy sufficient to emit the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at that time, and the sub-ejection pulse has sufficient The energy of the printing fluid was not specified to be emitted from the nozzle that was fired at the time.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

According to a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a printhead IC comprising: a nozzle array; a driving circuit for individually sending a driving pulse to each nozzle such that the nozzle ejects a printing fluid droplet; wherein the driving The circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printed fluid within the nozzle.

Monitoring the temperature of the individual printhead ICs allows the drive circuit to compensate for any differences in ink viscosity between the different printhead ICs of the pagewidth printhead. By compensating for any difference in the viscosity of the ink, the uniformity of the droplet ejection characteristics of the entire print head IC can be maintained, thereby improving the print quality.

Preferably, the printhead IC further comprises a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing the temperature of the nozzles in an area of the nozzle array, respectively, for the nozzles in a region. The drive pulse is different from the drive pulse for the nozzles in other regions in response to temperature differences between different regions. Preferably, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds defining a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A different pulse volume profile of one of the electrical pulses. In a more preferred form, the pulse volume curve for each temperature zone differs in its length of time. In a particularly preferred form, if the temperature sensor indicates that the region is operating at a temperature threshold that exceeds the highest temperature, its associated drive circuit sets the pulse duration to zero. In some embodiments, the array of nozzles is arranged in a nozzle row and a nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is configured to emit a row of nozzles at a time. In a particular form of this embodiment, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission. In some variations of this embodiment, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse rate curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing the temperature of a nozzle in an area of the nozzle array, respectively The drive pulses of the nozzles in one region are different from the drive pulses for the nozzles in other regions in response to temperature differences between different regions.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

Selecting the upper ground, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a pair of ejection values.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first broadcast The outgoing instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exception print head IC has placed it When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller sends out a When the second broadcast instruction reaches the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues until the The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. different from one another is assigned a unique address so far.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using a resistance of the resistive heater to a predetermined threshold value when the actuator receives a drive signal The actuator is selectively disabling while evaluating whether the actuator is defective.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit blocks the drive signals sent to at least some of the nozzles in the array when the one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulse is composed of a discharge pulse and a sub ejection pulse, the ejection pulse having an energy sufficient to emit the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at that time, and the sub-ejection pulse has sufficient The energy of the printing fluid was not specified to be emitted from the nozzle that was fired at the time.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: a nozzle array; a drive circuit for individually sending an electrical pulse to each nozzle such that the nozzle ejects a print fluid droplet; and a temperature sensing For sensing the temperature of the printing fluid in the array; wherein when the temperature sensor indicates that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum value, the driving circuit blocks the driving of at least some of the nozzles sent to the array Signal.

Disabling the heater at maximum temperature effectively stops the printing process and prevents the nozzle from burning out. An overheating precaution allows the nozzle to resume after the problem has been overcome.

Preferably, the drive circuit reduces the duration of the drive pulse as the temperature of the print fluid approaches a predetermined maximum value such that the duration is zero at the predetermined maximum value.

Monitoring the temperature of the individual printhead ICs allows the drive circuit to compensate for any differences in ink viscosity between the different printhead ICs of the pagewidth printhead. By compensating for any difference in the viscosity of the ink, the uniformity of the droplet ejection characteristics of the entire print head IC can be maintained, thereby improving the print quality.

Preferably, the printhead IC further comprises a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing the temperature of the nozzles in an area of the nozzle array, respectively, for the nozzles in a region. The drive pulse is different from the drive pulse for the nozzles in other regions in response to temperature differences between different regions. Preferably, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds defining a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A different pulse volume profile of one of the electrical pulses. In some embodiments, the array of nozzles is arranged in a nozzle row and a nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is configured to emit a row of nozzles at a time. In a particular form of this embodiment, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission. In some variations of this embodiment, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse rate curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a pair of ejection values.

The upper circuit is selected to reduce the duration of the drive pulse as the temperature of the printing fluid approaches a predetermined maximum value such that the duration is zero at the predetermined maximum value.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing the temperature of a nozzle in an area of the nozzle array, respectively The drive pulses of the nozzles in one region are different from the drive pulses for the nozzles in other regions in response to temperature differences between different regions.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first broadcast The outgoing instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exception print head IC has placed it When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller sends out a When the second broadcast instruction reaches the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues until the The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. different from one another is assigned a unique address so far.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using a resistance of the resistive heater to a predetermined threshold value when the actuator receives a drive signal The actuator is selectively disabling while evaluating whether the actuator is defective.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data subsequently received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulse is composed of a discharge pulse and a sub ejection pulse, the ejection pulse having an energy sufficient to emit the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at that time, and the sub-ejection pulse has sufficient The energy of the printing fluid was not specified to be emitted from the nozzle that was fired at the time.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a sixth aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: a nozzle array; a driving circuit for receiving print data and sending a drive pulse to the nozzle according to the print data; wherein the drive pulse is emitted by the pulse And a sub-ejection pulse having a sufficient amount of energy to eject the printing fluid from the nozzle designated to be emitted at the time, and the sub-ejection pulse having a sufficient number of nozzles that are not designated to be emitted at the time The energy of the printed fluid is emitted.

The drive circuit sends a drive pulse to each of the nozzles in the array, regardless of whether the print material has designated the nozzle to be launched at the time. A non-firing nozzle is sent to a pair of firing pulses which is not sufficient to eject an ink droplet, but still maintains the ink temperature at the nozzle, so that its ink temperature and viscosity are subsequently emitted. The temperature is similar to the temperature and viscosity of the nozzle that is often fired.

Preferably, the secondary ejection pulse has the same voltage and current as the ejection pulse, but the duration is shorter. In a more preferred form, the printhead IC further includes a temperature sensor having an output representative of a temperature of at least a portion of the array of nozzles, wherein if the temperature sensor indicates that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum value If so, the drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

Preferably, preferably, the printhead IC further comprises a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing the temperature of the nozzles in an area of the nozzle array, respectively, for use in an area The drive pulse of the nozzle inside is different from the drive pulse for the nozzles in other regions in response to temperature differences between different regions. Preferably, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds defining a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A different pulse volume profile of one of the electrical pulses.

Monitoring the temperature of the individual printhead ICs allows the drive circuit to compensate for any differences in ink viscosity between the different printhead ICs of the pagewidth printhead. By compensating for any difference in the viscosity of the ink, the uniformity of the droplet ejection characteristics of the entire print head IC can be maintained, thereby improving the print quality.

In some embodiments, the array of nozzles is arranged in a nozzle row and a nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is configured to emit a row of nozzles at a time. In a particular form of this embodiment, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

When the upper ground is selected, the sub-discharge pulse has the same voltage and current as the discharge pulse, but the duration is shorter.

In another aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC further comprising a temperature sensor having an output representative of a temperature of at least a portion of the array of nozzles, wherein if the temperature sensor indicates that the temperature exceeds a predetermined At the highest value, the drive circuit sets the pulse duration to zero.

In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a print head IC further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors, each sensor for sensing a temperature of a nozzle in an area of the nozzle array for use in The drive pulses of the nozzles in one zone are different from the drive pulses for the nozzles in other zones in response to temperature differences between different zones.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

In another aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided which further includes the drive circuit for emitting nozzles in the column in a predetermined firing sequence.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first broadcast The outgoing instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exception print head IC has placed it When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller sends out a When the second broadcast instruction reaches the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues until the The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. different from one another is assigned a unique address so far.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using a resistance of the resistive heater to a predetermined threshold value when the actuator receives a drive signal The actuator is selectively disabling while evaluating whether the actuator is defective.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data subsequently received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printing fluid within the nozzle.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, the drive circuit adjusts the magnitude profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor.

The upper level is selected, and during use, the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group.

Selecting the upper ground, the nozzles of each column are divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to one of the groups related to at least one of the other groups Group.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving circuit activates the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence during use, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject Printing the fluid such that the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in the group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined The minimum number of nozzles.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a seventh aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: a nozzle array; an associated drive circuit for receiving print data and sending a drive pulse of electrical energy according to the print data to the nozzle array And a temperature sensor coupled to the drive circuit for adjusting a profile of the drive pulse in response to an output of the temperature sensor; wherein the temperature sensor can be used for a period of time during use Being de-activated.

A temperature sensor on each of the print head ICs allows the drive circuit to adjust the drive pulses to compensate for temperature changes. However, the temperature sensor is an additional electrical load and an additional electronic component that can generate noise in other circuits. By disabling the sensor after knowing the operating temperature, the problem of power and noise generated by the sensor will be temporary. The temperature of the print head IC is less likely to change rapidly or drastically after the print head IC reaches its operating temperature, so the temperature sensor can be rendered useless because of any temperature compensation for the drive pulse amount curve. There is a great possibility that it will remain correct.

Preferably, the temperature sensor is periodically re-enabled such that the drive circuit can adjust the drive pulse amount curve as necessary. In a preferred form, the printhead IC has a plurality of temperature sensors spaced along the array, wherein one or more temperature sensors can be rendered useless during use. In some embodiments, each of the temperature sensors is sequentially enabled for a period of time during the printing operation. Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Preferably, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding region of the array of nozzles such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area. In an embodiment, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, such that the drive circuit adjusts to each of the enabled temperature sensors. The drive pulse volume curve of the region is applied and the same adjustment is applied to the adjacent region where the temperature sensor is rendered useless. Preferably, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds defining a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A different pulse volume profile of one of the electrical pulses. In a more preferred form, the pulse volume curve for each temperature zone differs in its length of time. In a particularly preferred form, if the temperature sensor indicates that the region is operating at a temperature threshold that exceeds the highest temperature, its associated drive circuit sets the pulse duration to zero. In some embodiments, the array of nozzles is arranged in a nozzle row and a nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is configured to emit a row of nozzles at a time. In a particular form of this embodiment, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission. In some variations of this embodiment, the associated drive circuit sets the duration of the pulse rate curve of the nozzle in the array of nozzles in which no droplets are ejected in the firing sequence to a pair of ejection values.

Selecting the ground, the temperature sensor is periodically re-enabled, so that the drive circuit can adjust the drive pulse amount curve when necessary.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors spaced along the array, wherein one or more temperature sensors can be rendered useless during use .

Selecting the upper level, each of the temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the printing operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the upper ground, the drive circuit is programmed. The temperature threshold of the series defines a set of temperature zones, each temperature zone having a nozzle for being sent to the nozzle area currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first broadcast The outgoing instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exception print head IC has placed it When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller sends out a When the second broadcast instruction reaches the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues until the The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. different from one another is assigned a unique address so far.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using a resistance of the resistive heater to a predetermined threshold value when the actuator receives a drive signal The actuator is selectively disabling while evaluating whether the actuator is defective.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to an eighth aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: an array of nozzles arranged in a column and each column of nozzles being divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle; a driving circuit for sending a driving pulse to each nozzle such that the nozzle ejects a printing fluid droplet, wherein the driving circuit delays sending the driving pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group .

By firing the nozzles in stages, the rate of change of current drawn from the power supply can be reduced. This will reduce the impedance and voltage drop in the circuit. The minimum time available to emit all of the nozzles in a column is determined by the ink refill time. In the applicant's printhead IC design, the ink is refilled for approximately 50 microseconds. The duration of the transmitted pulse is approximately 300 to 500 nanoseconds. In a printhead IC having 10 columns of nozzles, each column has a time of 5 microseconds to emit all of the nozzles. It is possible to launch the nozzles of the column in less time, but the column will be completely ineffective for a period of time between the column and column emissions. The present invention utilizes this time to stagger the order of transmissions in the column so that the increase in current demand is performed smoothly.

Preferably, the nozzle row is comprised of a series of zones and the number of sets is determined by the nozzles placed in an area. In a more preferred form, each column has a total time sufficient for it to eject the printing fluid from all of the nozzles, and is sent to drive pulses for ejecting the printing ink from nozzles in an area. The drive pulses for ejecting the printing ink from the nozzles in at least one other region partially overlap.

Selecting the upper layer, the array is composed of a series of regions in which several groups from each column are in each region, so that the driving circuit sequentially starts to send drive pulses to each region.

Selecting the upper ground, the driving pulses are sent to each region in a transmission order so that only one nozzle from each group is simultaneously transmitted, and the emission order of each region has the same duration, so that the emission from one region The order partially overlaps the order of transmission from other regions of the same column.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided an ink jet printer comprising a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

Selecting the upper layer, the nozzle array and the driving circuit are fabricated on a row of print head ICs mounted on a page width print head having a plurality of print head ICs, except for one print head All of the print head ICs other than the IC have a common initial address, and the exception print head IC has a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to have the different address The print head IC, the first broadcast instruction instructs the print head IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that When the exception printhead IC has changed its address to the first unique address, the address of one of the printhead ICs having the same address is changed to the different address. So that when the print engine controller sends a second broadcast command to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes The address of one of the remaining printhead ICs having the same address is changed to the different one Site, this process continues until the print head to print engine controller IC, etc. The assigned unique addresses different from each other so far.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an ink jet printer further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for reacting the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined one when the actuator receives a drive signal Threshold values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a ninth aspect, the present invention provides an ink jet printer comprising: an array of nozzles arranged in columns and each column of nozzles being composed of a plurality of groups, nozzles in each group Passing nozzles from other groups; and associated drive circuits for actuating the nozzles in the column in accordance with a firing sequence that allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid And causing each group to continuously eject the printing fluid sequentially; wherein the nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in a group is followed by The nozzles in the group in which they are acting are separated by at least the predetermined minimum number of nozzles.

The present invention sets the nozzle firing sequence in each column such that the nozzles are launched in a staggered group, and the nozzles in each group can be selected such that they do not interact with a nozzle or a simultaneously emitted nozzle The nozzle that is immediately after the launch is placed too close. The staged emission of the nozzles avoids the high currents required to simultaneously emit the entire array of nozzles. Maintaining a minimum spacing between the simultaneous nozzles and the nozzles that are subsequently fired behind them avoids the adverse effects of a fluidic cross talk and aerodynamic interference.

It should be noted that printing data is unlikely to require that each nozzle in a column be launched in the same firing sequence. However, the present invention allows each nozzle to be fired at a particular time within the firing sequence, whether or not it actually emits a droplet. Therefore, the spacing between nozzles that are simultaneously emitted, or between sequentially emitted nozzles, is typically greater than the predetermined minimum spacing, but this does not adversely affect print quality. The invention ensures that the spacing between two potentially interfering droplets is never less than the predetermined minimum.

Preferably, the column is divided into a number of spans which have only one nozzle from each group such that the number of spans on the entire column is equal to the number of groups of nozzles. In a more preferred form, the predetermined minimum number of nozzles between successively acting nozzles is a consistent offset along each span in a uniform direction, the offset The amount is a nozzle number which is an integer greater than one and is not a factor of the number of nozzles within the span such that a nozzle that is continuously acting in each span advances toward one end of the span until the The remaining nozzles are not sufficient to fill the offset, in which case the offset is filled with nozzles at the opposite end of the span such that all nozzles in the span are in the launch The continuation is effected once.

In a particularly good form, the offset is the number of nozzles that are closest to the square root of the span, which is not a factor (ie, the span is not divisible by the offset and has no remainder). The Applicant has found that this provides the largest spacing in time polar space for the ejected droplets.

Selecting the upper ground, the column is divided into a number of spans which have only one nozzle from each group such that the number of spans on the entire column is equal to the number of groups of nozzles.

Selecting the upper ground, the predetermined minimum number of nozzles between the sequentially acting nozzles is a uniform offset along each span in a uniform direction, the offset being a nozzle The number is an integer greater than one and is not a factor of the number of nozzles within the span such that a nozzle that is continuously acting in each span advances toward one end of the span until the end is left The nozzle is not sufficient to fill the offset, in which case the offset is filled with the nozzle at the opposite end of the span such that all nozzles in the span are generated in the firing sequence Act once.

Select Upper, the offset is the number of nozzles closest to the square root of the span, which is not a factor.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided an ink jet printer further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, each of the plurality of temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided an ink jet printer mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all printheads except one printhead IC The ICs all have a common initial address, and the exception print head IC has a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the print head IC having the different address, the first A broadcasted instruction instructs the printhead IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, the printhead ICs being connected to each other such that when the exception printhead IC has When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controls When the second broadcast command is sent to the different address, the print head IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest with the common address. The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues Until the print engine controller assigns the printhead ICs a unique address that is different from each other.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an ink jet printer further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for reacting the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined one when the actuator receives a drive signal Threshold values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a tenth aspect, the present invention provides a printhead IC for an ink jet printer that mounts the printhead IC with at least one other identical printhead IC Providing a one-page wide print head for printing on a media substrate, the media substrate being fed through the print head in a feed direction, the print head IC comprising: an elongated nozzle An array, the nozzles are arranged in a plurality of columns, at least one of the columns having a first segment disposed on a line extending perpendicular to the feed direction, and a second segment being parallel to a distance from the first segment a line is disposed, and a nozzle of an intermediate section extends between the first section and the second section; and a supply tube is configured to provide a printing fluid to the first section, the second section and The intermediate section, the supply pipe has a first portion that extends perpendicular to the feed direction for supplying a nozzle of the first section, and a second portion that extends perpendicular to the feed direction for supplying the second section A nozzle and a slanted portion are used to supply the nozzle of the intermediate section.

Tilting the nozzle row of a section down to match the falling triangle avoids sharp corners in the corresponding supply tube.

Preferably, the nozzle of the intermediate section is from the first section to the second section along a first order path. In a more preferred form, the step of the stage includes the steps of two nozzles of each stage, and the two nozzles on each stage are disposed on a line extending perpendicular to the feed direction. In a particularly preferred form, each of the columns in the array has a first and second sections extending perpendicular to the feed direction and a sloped section extending between the two sections . In some embodiments, the nozzle array is fabricated on one side of a wafer substrate and the supply tube is a series of channels etched on opposite sides of the wafer substrate. In a particular embodiment, each supply tube supplies print fluid to two rows of nozzles.

The upper section is selected and the nozzle of the intermediate section is routed from the first section to the second section along a first order path.

Selecting the upper level, the step of the stage includes the steps of two nozzles of each stage, and the two nozzles on each stage are arranged on a line extending perpendicular to the feeding direction.

Optionally, the nozzle array is fabricated on one side of a wafer substrate and the supply tube is a series of channels etched on opposite sides of the wafer substrate.

Selecting the upper level, each supply tube supplies the printing fluid to the two rows of nozzles.

The upper nozzles are selected to eject the printing fluid according to the printing data from a printing engine controller, and the printing stream system ejected from the intermediate section is gradually delayed by each step on the step of the step.

In a further aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided that further includes a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, each of the plurality of temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all printhead ICs except one printhead IC Each having a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first The broadcasted instructions instruct the printhead ICs having different addresses to change their addresses to a first unique address, the printhead ICs being connected to each other such that when the exception printhead IC has When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller When a second broadcast command is sent to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues straight The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. The assigned unique addresses different from each other so far.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

According to an eleventh aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC comprising: an array of nozzles each having a corresponding heater for forming a bubble in a column of fluid which causes a column of printed fluid droplets Dissipating through the nozzle; and a driving circuit for generating a driving pulse capable of charging the heater, the driving circuit being constructed to operate in two modes, one being a printing mode in which the driving pulse generated by the driving circuit is The print pulse, and the other is the service mode. In this mode, the drive pulse is a de-blocking pulse; wherein the de-blocking pulse lasts longer than the duration of the print pulse.

The bubble formed by a relatively long low power pulse is a large bubble. A larger bubble exerts a greater impact on the ink, so that the nozzle can be better clogging. The impact is the sum of the pressure on the area of the bubble and the duration of the pulse. In this printing mode, it is desirable to rapidly nucleate the bubbles to reduce heat loss to the ink due to conduction when the heater is heated to the superheat temperature. Bubble nucleation is delayed by reducing the pulse power. During this delay, the heater increases the heat that is conducted into the ink. The heat energy of the ink rises and the energy stored at the time of nucleation is released into a bubble having a large impact force.

Selecting the upper level, the deblocking pulse has a series of sub-discharge pulses that do not have sufficient energy to nucleate a bubble into the printing fluid.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit sends out a clogging pulse to at least some of the nozzles during the printing operation.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit sends a jam pulse between the page and the page of the print job.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided an ink jet printer further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

Selecting the upper layer, the nozzle array and the driving circuit are fabricated on a row of print head ICs mounted on a page width print head having a plurality of print head ICs, except for one print head All of the print head ICs other than the IC have a common initial address, and the exception print head IC has a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to have the different address The print head IC, the first broadcast instruction instructs the print head IC having a different address to change its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that When the exception printhead IC has changed its address to the first unique address, the address of one of the printhead ICs having the same address is changed to the different address. So that when the print engine controller sends a second broadcast command to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes The address of one of the remaining printhead ICs having the same address is changed to the different one Site, this process continues until the print head to print engine controller IC, etc. The assigned unique addresses different from each other so far.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a twelfth aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC for an ink jet printer having a PEC for feeding printed material to the head IC, the printing The head IC includes: an array of nozzles for ejecting printing fluid droplets onto a media substrate; and a driving circuit for driving the nozzle array, the driving circuit being constructed to transmit from the printed material from the PEC Take a clock signal.

By adding a clock signal to the printed data signal, the number of connections between the PEC and the print head IC can be reduced. This is particularly advantageous if the page wide print head is provided as a replaceable cassette and the electrical interface that matches the cassette has fewer points of contact when inserted, and is therefore easier to install. . Let all the print head ICs have a write address and connect them through the data output of each other, which allows the PEC to have an online signal data and an off-line signal data. (signal data out line). In this example, the electrical interface has only two points of contact.

By responding to the power supply by initializing the printhead IC, the interface of the PEC/printhead IC does not require a separate reset line to connect to each IC. In fact, the PEC can have as few as two connections. Initializing the printhead IC to be used is not required. If the printed material is transmitted via a clock data signal of its own, a "data entry" line from the PEC to the print head IC and a "data return" from the print head IC to the PEC The line is the only connection you need. If the data in the signal is not its own clock, then a clock line through the PEC/print head IC interface will be required.

Selecting the upper ground, the data is transmitted as a digital signal with a rising edge in each clock cycle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit determines the data bit from each clock cycle by the position of the falling edge in the cycle.

In another aspect of the invention, a printhead IC is provided which is coupled to other identical printhead ICs for forming a one-page wide printhead wherein the data transfer is multi-dropped to all columns The print head IC and each of the print head ICs have a unique write address provided by the PEC.

Selecting the upper ground, the interface between the print head and the PEC has only two connections.

In a further aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided that further includes a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, each of the plurality of temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all printhead ICs except one printhead IC Each having a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first The broadcasted instructions instruct the printhead ICs having different addresses to change their addresses to a first unique address, the printhead ICs being connected to each other such that when the exception printhead IC has When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller When a second broadcast command is sent to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues straight The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. The assigned unique addresses different from each other so far.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a thirteenth aspect, the present invention provides a print head IC for an ink jet printer having a PEC for sending printed material to the head IC, the column The printhead IC includes: an array of nozzles for ejecting printing fluid droplets onto a media substrate; and a drive circuit for driving the array of nozzles, the drive circuit being constructed to be connected to the printer A power supply; wherein the drive circuit resets itself to a known initial state as a response to receiving power from the power source after receiving power from the power source for a period of time.

By responding to the power supply by initializing the printhead IC, the interface of the PEC/printhead IC does not require a separate reset line to connect to each IC. In fact, the PEC can have as few as two connections. Initializing the printhead IC to be used is not required. If the printed material is transmitted via a clock data signal of its own, a "data entry" line from the PEC to the print head IC and a "data return" from the print head IC to the PEC The line is the only connection you need. If the data in the signal is not its own clock, then a clock line through the PEC/printer IC interface will be required.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the upper ground, the data is transmitted as a digital signal with a rising edge in each clock cycle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit determines the data bit from each clock cycle by the position of the falling edge in the cycle.

In another aspect of the invention, a printhead IC is provided which is coupled to other identical printhead ICs for forming a one-page wide printhead wherein the data transfer is multi-dropped to all columns The print head IC and each of the print head ICs have a unique write address provided by the PEC.

In a further aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided that further includes a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, each of the plurality of temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention there is provided a printhead IC mounted on a pagewidth printhead having a plurality of printhead ICs, wherein all printhead ICs except one printhead IC Each having a common initial address, the exception printhead IC having a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the printhead IC having the different address, the first The broadcasted instructions instruct the printhead ICs having different addresses to change their addresses to a first unique address, the printhead ICs being connected to each other such that when the exception printhead IC has When the address is changed to the first unique address, the address of one of the print head ICs having the same address is changed to the different address, so that when the print engine controller When a second broadcast command is sent to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a first unique address and causes the rest of the address with the common address The address of one of the print head ICs is changed to the different address, and the process continues straight The print engine controllers print head IC, etc. The assigned unique addresses different from each other so far.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

Selecting the upper ground, the interface between the print head and the PEC has only two connections.

In the upper case, the drive power is constructed to receive print data in the form of any one of a plurality of different data transfer protocols.

According to a fourteenth aspect, the present invention provides a printhead IC for an inkjet printer having a PEC for sending printed materials according to a predetermined data transfer protocol to The head IC includes: a nozzle array for ejecting printing fluid droplets onto a media substrate; and a driving circuit for driving the nozzle array; wherein the driving circuit is constructed to accept Print data for any of a number of different data transfer agreements.

Having the printhead IC compatible with different data transfer protocols can increase the versatility of the printhead IC design.

In the above-mentioned manner, one of the data transmission protocols is a self (self) clock data signal and the other data transmission protocol has separate clock signals and data signals.

Selecting the ground, connected to a power source within the printer, the drive circuit will cycle through different modes of operation until it matches the data transfer protocol used by the PEC.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the upper ground, the data is transmitted as a digital signal with a rising edge in each clock cycle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit determines the data bit from each clock cycle by the position of the falling edge in the cycle.

In another aspect of the invention, a printhead IC is provided which is coupled to other identical printhead ICs for forming a one-page wide printhead wherein the data transfer is multi-dropped to all columns The print head IC and each of the print head ICs have a unique write address provided by the PEC.

Selecting the upper ground, the interface between the print head and the PEC has only two connections.

In a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a printhead IC further comprising an open circuit actuator test circuit for using the resistance of the resistive heater with a predetermined threshold when the actuator receives a drive signal The values are compared to assess whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator.

The upper ground is selected, and during use, feedback from the open circuit actuator test circuit is used to adjust the print data received by the drive circuit.

Selecting the upper ground, the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback between each page of a print job.

Selecting the ground, the driving circuit has a driving FET for controlling the current flowing to the resistive current, and when the driving signal is received, the driving FET is activated and receives a driving signal and an open circuit actuation. The logic of the drive FET is disabling when the test signal is tested.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit has a bleed FET that slowly traverses any voltage drop across the resistive heater when the drive circuit does not receive a drive signal or an open actuator test signal Excreted to zero.

Selecting the ground, the driving circuit has a detecting node between the drain of the driving FET and the resistive heater, and the open circuit test circuit has a detecting FET which is received in the open circuit actuator test signal An effect occurs such that the voltage at the drain of the sense FET is used to indicate whether the heater element is defective.

Selecting the ground, the driving FET is a p-type FET.

Optionally, the driver circuit receives print data in the form of a plurality of concatenated portions for the array, with a fire command at the end of each portion.

In a further aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided that further includes a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit blocks the drive signals sent to at least some of the nozzles in the array when the one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is the print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is the print pulse, and the other is the service mode in which the drive pulse is The clogging pulse is removed, wherein the clogging pulse lasts longer than the duration of the printing pulse.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet printer comprising: a page width print head having a plurality of print head ICs, each of the print head ICs having a nozzle array Ejecting droplets of the printing fluid onto a media substrate, and a related driving circuit for driving the nozzle array; a printing engine controller for sending the printing data to the printing head IC; An interface for electrical communication between the print engine controller and the printhead ICs; wherein all of the printhead ICs except one of the printhead ICs have a common initial address, the exception column The print head IC has a different address such that the print engine controller sends a first command to the print head IC having the different address, the first broadcasted instruction indicating a column having a different address The print head IC changes its address to a first unique address, and the print head ICs are connected to each other such that when the exceptional print head IC has changed its address to the first unique address Changing the address of one of the printhead ICs having a common address to the address The same address, such that when the print engine controller sends a second broadcast command to the different address, the printhead IC having the different address changes its address to a second unique Addressing and causing the address of one of the remaining printhead ICs having the same address to be changed to the different address, the process continues until the print engine controller prints the print The head ICs are assigned unique addresses that are different from each other.

By using this process, only two electrical connections are required between the print engine controller and all of the printhead ICs. A "data entry" line from the PEC to the printhead ICs and a "data out" line from the printhead ICs to the PEC.

According to a second aspect, the present invention provides a print head cartridge for use in an ink jet printer, the ink jet printer having a PEC for feeding printed materials to the print head cartridge, The print head cartridge includes: a plurality of print head ICs, each print head IC having an array of nozzles for ejecting printing fluid droplets onto a media substrate, except for one of the print head ICs All of the printhead ICs other than the printhead IC have a common initial address, the exception printhead IC has a different address; the write address circuit is used to set the exception to the different Addressing and providing a connection between the printhead ICs such that each of the printhead ICs has its address addressed to the original address when the write address of the adjacent printhead IC has been changed by the PEC The bit is changed to the different address; and an electrical interface is used to establish two electrical connections to the PEC.

Selecting the upper level, the printed data signal from the PEC is multi-dropped to the print head IC using the unique write address.

Selecting the land, the printed data signal is self clocking.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit draws a clock signal from the print data transmission from the PEC.

Selecting the upper ground, the data is transmitted as a digital signal with a rising edge in each clock cycle.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit determines the data bit from each clock cycle by the position of the falling edge in the cycle.

Selecting the upper ground, the interface between the print head and the PEC has only two connections.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Selecting the ground, if the temperature sensor indicates that the zone is operating above the highest temperature threshold, its associated drive circuit will set the pulse duration to zero.

The upper nozzle is arranged such that the nozzle row and the nozzle row and each region is a plurality of adjacent rows such that the drive circuit is constructed to emit a row of nozzles at a time.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit causes the nozzles in the column to be launched in a predetermined order of transmission.

The upper circuit is selected, and the driving circuit sets the duration of the pulse amount variation curve of the nozzle in which the droplet is not ejected in the emission sequence to a pair of ejection values.

In a further aspect of the invention, a print head IC is provided that further includes a plurality of temperature sensors disposed along the array of nozzles such that the drive circuit adjusts the drive pulses to account for the output of the temperature sensor.

Selecting the upper level, each of the plurality of temperature sensors is sequentially activated for a period of time during the operation.

Selecting the upper level, the plurality of temperature sensors are divided into two or more groups, each group being enabled for sensing for a period of time according to a predetermined repeating sequence for the duration of a printing job.

Selecting the upper ground, each of the temperature sensors is configured to sense a corresponding one of the nozzle arrays such that the drive pulses for the nozzles in one region may be different from A drive pulse for a nozzle in an area.

Selecting the upper ground, every other temperature sensor in the temperature sensors is disabled, so that the driving circuit adjusts the area corresponding to each activated temperature sensor. The pulse amount curve is driven and the same amount of adjustment is applied to the adjacent area where the temperature sensor is rendered useless.

Selecting the ground, the drive circuit is programmed with a series of temperature thresholds that define a set of temperature zones, each having a nozzle for being sent to a nozzle region currently operating within the temperature zone. A pulse-variation curve of one of the electrical pulses.

Selecting the upper ground, the pulse volume variation curve of each temperature zone is different in the duration of its duration.

Applicants have developed a number of printhead devices that use a series of printhead integrated circuits (ICs) that are joined together to form a one-page wide printhead. In this manner, the printhead IC can be assembled into a printhead for use in applications such as a wide format of a camera printed on a mobile phone with a printer built therein. One of the printhead ICs recently developed by the applicant of the present invention is referred to as a wide range of printing applications. The applicant of the present invention refers to these print head ICs as "Udon" and the various aspects of the present invention will be described with particular reference to these print head ICs. However, it should be understood that this is for the purpose of illustration only and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Comprehensive review

The Udon printhead IC is designed to work with other Udon ICs to form a linking printhead. Applicants have developed joint print heads in which a series of print head ICs are mounted on a support member to form a one-page wide print head. The support allows the printhead IC to be mounted in the printer and dispense ink to individual printhead ICs. An example of a printhead of this type is described in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. US Serial No. 11/293,820, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

It will be appreciated that the term "ink" is used herein to mean any printing fluid unless it is expressly stated in the context that it is merely a coloring agent for image printing media. The print head IC can eject the same invisible ink, adhesive, medicament or other functional fluid.

1 shows a schematic view of a one-page wide printhead 10 having a series of Udon printhead ICs 12 mounted on a support member 14. The curved side 16 allows the nozzle from an IC 12 to overlap the nozzle of an adjacent IC in the paper feed direction 18. Overlapping the nozzles on each IC 12 provides continuous printing across the junction between the two ICs. This avoids the appearance of blank streaks on the printed product. The printing of the print head IC in this manner allows the print head of the desired length to be made by simply using a different number of ICs.

The print head IC 12 is integrated into a CMOS and MEMS' wafer. FIG. 3 shows the structure of the MEMS nozzle 20 on the ink jet of the print head IC 12. The nozzles 20 are arranged in columns 26 and 24 to form a parallelogram array 22 having a kinked or slanted portion 28. Line 24 is not aligned with the paper feed direction 18 because the sides of the array 22 are bent at an angle of about 45 degrees for attachment to an adjacent IC. Line 24 follows this bend. The column 26 is perpendicular to the paper feed direction 18 except for a ramp section 28 that is inclined toward a "declined triangle" 30 having a nozzle 20 that overlaps an adjacent IC. This will be explained in more detail below.

Figure 2 shows the elements of a single MEMS nozzle device 20 or "unit cell." The structure of the unit cell 20 is described in detail in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. US Serial No. 11/246, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Briefly, Figure 2 shows that the nozzle plate (the outer surface of the print head) is transparent to reveal the internal structure. The nozzle 32 is a discharge hole through which ink is ejected. A heater 34 is disposed within the nozzle chamber 36 for generating a bubble that ejects an ink droplet through the nozzle 32. The U-shaped side wall 38 defines the edge of the chamber 36. Ink enters chamber 36 via inlet 42 which has two columns of cylindrical structures 44 which buffer buffer pressure in the ink to stop crosstalk between unit cells. The CMOS layer defines the drive circuit and has a drive FET 40 for the heater 34 and a logic gate 46 for the pulse time and magnitude curve. This will be explained in more detail below.

The ink is supplied to the unit cell 20 from a channel on the opposite side of the wafer substrate of the print head IC. This will be described below with reference to FIG. 5. The channel on the "back side" of the printhead IC 12 is in fluid communication with the cell 20 located on the front side via a deep etched via (not shown) penetrating the CMOS layer.

A separate splicing head IC 12 is adhered to the support 14 such that no printed artifacts straddle the joint between adjacent printhead ICs. Each IC 12 contains ten columns of nozzles 32. As shown in Figure 4, each color has two adjacent nozzle rows 26 for allowing up to five separate inks. Each pair of nozzle rows 26 shares a common supply channel on the back side of the wafer substrate.

Each column has 640 nozzles and each channel has 2 x 640 = 1280 nozzles, equal to 5 x 1280 = 6400 nozzles per IC 12. An A4/paper-width printhead requires a string of 11 printhead ICs (see the example of Figure 1) such that the total number of nozzles of the assembled printhead is 11x6400 = 70400 nozzles.

Color and nozzle arrangement

At 1600 dpi, the distance between the printed dots must be 15.875 microns. This is called dot pitch (DP). The unit cell 20 has a rectangular footprint which is 2 DP wide by 5 DP long. In order to achieve 1600 dpi for each color, the column 26 is offset from each other with respect to the feed direction 18 of the paper stamp 48, as shown in FIG. Figure 5A shows that the parallelogram formed by the nozzle is constructed by offsetting each subsequent column 26 by 5 DP.

Linked nozzle configuration

The parallelogram 50 does not allow the array 20 to be coupled to an array of adjacent printhead ICs. In order to maintain a fixed dot pitch between the edge nozzles of a row of print head ICs and the opposite edge nozzles of adjacent ICs, the parallelograms 50 must be slightly distorted. Figure 5B shows the distortion used by the Udon design. A portion 30 of the array 22 is displaced or "dropped" relative to the paper feed direction 18 as compared to the array of other portions. For the sake of convenience, the applicant of this case claims that this part is the lower triangle 30. The unit cells 20 at the outer edge of the descending triangle 30 are directly adjacent to the unit cells 20 on the edge of the adjacent print head IC 11 in terms of their pitch. In this way, the separate nozzle arrays are joined as if they were a single continuous array.

The "drop" of the falling triangle 30 is 10DP. The dots printed by the nozzles of the descending triangle 30 are delayed by ten "line times" (the line time is the time taken by the column head IC to print an entire line, that is, according to the column The printed material emits all ten columns of nozzles at a point in time during a print job to match the triangle offset. There is a transition zone 28 between the descending triangle 30 and the remainder of the array 22. In this transition zone the nozzle row 26 is lowered toward the descending triangle 30'. Nine pairs of unit cells 20 are successively lowered once in a straight line time (1 DP, one column of time) to gradually engage the gap between the descending nozzle and the normal nozzle.

This descent zone is purely for the purpose of linking and is not necessary from the point of view of printing. As shown in Figure 6A, column 26 can simply terminate at 10 DP above the corresponding column in the falling triangle 30. However, this produces a sharp angle in the ink supply channel 50 on the back side of the IC 12 (see Fig. 6B). This sudden change in direction on the ink stream can cause problems because the degassing bubble can become stuck and difficult to remove from the stagnant zone 54 at the corner 52. Figure 5C shows the structure of the ink supply channel 50 on the back side of a Udon printhead IC 12. It can be seen from the figure that the drop zone 28 keeps the ink supply channel 50 less sharp and thus has no flow stagnant zone.

Phase containers for different print engine controllers

The Udon printhead IC operates in the same mode as the Print Engine Controller (PEC). In particular, Udon operates in two different modes, SoPEC mode and MoPEC mode. SoPEC used the PEC on the SOHO (small office display, home office) printer for the applicant, and the MoPEC is the PEC used on mobile communication (eg mobile phone or PDA) printers. Udon does not use any kind of adapter protection interface to connect to different PECs. Conversely, Udon determines the correct mode of operation (SoPEC or MoPEC) when it is turned on. In each mode, the contacts on each of the print head ICs are assumed to have different functions.

SoPEC mode connection

Figure 7 is a schematic representation of the connection of the Udon IC 12 to a SoPEC 56. Each of the print head ICs 12 has a clock input 60, a data input 58, a reset pin 62 and a data output pin 64. The clock and data inputs are both borderless 2LVDS (low voltage differential signal) receivers. The reset pin 62 is a 3.3V Schmitt flip-flop that places all control registers in a known state and renders printing impossible. The nozzles are combined to lose their function and require three consecutive clock samples to reset the registers. The data output pin 64 is a general purpose output, but is typically used to read the scratchpad value from the printhead IC 12 back to the SoPEC 56.

MoPEC mode connection

Figure 8 shows the connection between a MoPEC 66 and a printhead IC 12 of a printhead 10 mounted on a mobile device. Some connection pins are used when the IC is operating in this MoPEC mode. However, because the MoPEC printhead 10 is physically small (only three wafers wide when printed on a letter-sized media) and is more often replaced by the user, it is necessary to simplify as much as possible between the MoPEC and The interface between the print heads. This can reduce the likelihood of erroneous connections and enhance the intuitive usability of the mobile device.

Address Load (ACI) 70 is the positive pin of the LVDS pair of the clock input 60 in SoPEC mode. The first print head IC 12 in the series causes the ACI 70 to be set to the ground pole 68 for the purpose of addressing which will be described later. The negative pin 60 is grounded to maintain it at a "0" voltage. The data output pin 64 is directly connected to the ACI 70 of the adjacent print head IC 12. All of the ICs 12 are daisy-chained together in this manner with the last printhead IC 12 in the series, and the data output 64 is connected back to the MoPEC 66.

In the MoPEC mode, the reset pin 62 remains unconnected and the negative pin of the data LVDS pair is grounded. The data is entered via a signal connection by using the self-clock data signal discussed below. The interconnection of the IC 12 with the self clock data input 58 reduces the number of connections between the MoPEC and the print head to two. This simplifies the replacement process of the printhead cartridge and reduces the possibility of erroneous installation.

Combined clock and data

The combined clock and data 58 is a pulse width modulated signal, as shown in FIG. Signal 74 displays a clock cycle with a "0" bit and the signal 76 displays a clock cycle and a "1" bit. When the signal switches from low to high (0 to 1), the Udon IC 12 (when in MoPEC mode) takes its clock from each rising edge 78. Therefore, the signal has a rising edge 78 in each cycle. A "0" bit drops the signal back to "0" at 1/3 of the clock cycle. A "1" bit drops the signal back to "0" at 2/3 of the clock cycle. The IC checks the state of the signal at an intermediate point 80 of the cycle to read the "0" or "1" bit.

External print head IC addressing

Each of the print head ICs 12 is given a write address when connected to the MoPEC 66. In order to do this, two lines are used to connect an interactive process between the PEC and the printhead that needs to broadcast the address to each device. Udon does this by connecting the data output or an IC to each other in an address that is carried in the next IC. The icy value or reset value at data output 64 is high or "1". Therefore, each of the print head ICs 12 has a "1" address, and its address is pulled to "0" because it is connected to the ground electrode 68 except for the first print head IC 12. In order to give the IC 12 a unique address, the MoPEC 66 sends a broadcast command to all devices having a "0" address. When the instruction should be broadcast back, the only IC with the "0" address rewrites its write address to a unique address specified by MoPEC and sets its data output 64 to "0". This pulls the ACI 70 of the second IC 12 in the series to "0", so that when the MoPEC sends the broadcast command again to the write address "0", only the second IC writes it to the address. Rewrite to a new and unique address and set its data output to "0".

This process is repeated until all of the printhead ICs 12 have a unique write address and the last IC sends a "0" back to the MoPEC 66. By using this system to address the IC at startup, the interface has only one connection for the combined data and time "multi-drop" (parallel connection) to all devices and a data output from the IC back MoPEC. As discussed above, a simplified electrical interface between the PEC and the printhead cassette makes replacement of the cassette easier and more convenient.

Power on reset

The Udon print head IC 12 has a power on reset (POR) circuit. This ability to self-initialize to a known state allows the printhead IC to operate in MoPEC mode with only two contacts on the PEC/print head 10 interface.

The POR circuit operates as a bidirectional reset pin 62 (see Figure 7). The POR circuit will always drive out the reset pin 62 and listen to the reset pin input side. This allows SoPEC 56 to undo the reset if necessary.

PEC interface type detection

At startup, the Udon printhead IC 12 switches between modes and suppresses firing instructions until it determines the type of PEC it is connected to. Once it determines the correct mode of operation for the PEC, it will no longer attempt to match another PEC category until a soft weight setting or shutdown/power cycle.

The Udon print head IC 12 can be one of the following three interface modes: SoPEC mode, in which both the clock and data 58 are LVDS (low voltage differential signal) contact pairs (see Figures 7 and 8); MoPEC single terminal mode, in which the clock and data are combined 58 and is a single terminal (see Figure 8) because the data is pulse width modulated along the clock signal; MoPEC LVDS mode, where clock 60 is a single terminal and data 58 is LVDS (this mode can be used if there is an EMI problem).

Udon spends enough time at each stage to match, and then moves to the next if the match is not reached.

Multi-stage printing data loading

In previous printhead IC designs, each cell had an offset register for the printed material. The print data for the entire nozzle array is loaded, and then after the firing command from the PEC, the nozzles are fired in a predetermined order to print the line. The offset register occupies a valuable space in the cell of the cell, which can be used by a larger, more powerful driver FET. A more powerful FET can provide a drive pulse (thermal or thermal bending actuator) with sufficient energy (about 200 nj) for a short period of time.

A larger, more powerful FET has many benefits, especially for thermally actuated printheads. Less power is converted into wasted power in the FET itself, and more power is sent to the heater. Increasing the power delivered to the heater allows the heater surface to reach the nucleation temperature of the ink faster, allowing for a shorter drive pulse. The shortened drive pulse reduces the time during which heat is diffused from the heater to the area surrounding the heater, so the total energy required to reach the nucleation temperature can be reduced. A shorter drive pulse time also provides more room to align the firing of the nozzles in a single column time (the time required to fire a column of nozzles).

Moving the print data offset register out of the cell unit provides space for a larger drive FET. However, this greatly increases the wafer area required for the IC. The nozzle array will require an adjacent array of offset registers. The connection between each register and its corresponding nozzle will be quite long resulting in greater resistance loss. This is disadvantageous for efficiency.

As an effective compensation, the Udon print head IC implements the loading and emission of the print data of the nozzle array in stages. The print data for the first portion of the nozzle array is loaded into the buffer outside the nozzle array. The PEC sends a transmit command after the register is loaded. The register sends the data to corresponding nozzles in the first portion, the nozzles being emitted in accordance with the sequence of transmissions (described below). When the nozzle in the first portion is firing, the register is loaded with the printed material for the second portion of the nozzle array. This system moves the scratchpad out of the cell to make room for a larger, more powerful drive FET. However, because the register is only sufficient for a portion of the nozzle of the array, the resistance loss on the connection between the register and the nozzle is not too great.

A drive logic gate on IC 12 sends the printed data to the array in a column by column. The nozzle array has 10 columns of nozzle rows of 640 nozzles per column. Adjacent to the array are 640 registers in which data for one column is stored. The data is sent from the PEC to the scratchpad in a predetermined column transmission sequence. Previously, the data for the entire array was loaded at one time, and the PEC was used for each column, columns 0 through 9, and the data was sent sequentially. However, because each column is transmitted immediately after its data is loaded, the PEC must match the Udon column firing order.

Udon's normal operating procedures are listed below: 1. Arrange the scratchpad to control the firing sequence and parameters.

2. Load the data for a single column of the printhead into the scratchpad.

3. Send a firing command that locks the loaded data in the corresponding nozzle and begins a firing sequence.

4. Load the data for the next column when the launch is in progress.

5. Repeat each column on the line.

6. Repeat each line in the page.

Temperature-controlled quantitative curve generator (TCPG) region

The viscosity of the ink is related to the ink temperature. The change in viscosity changes the droplet ejection characteristics of a nozzle. There is a significant change in temperature along the length of a wide print head. These changes in temperature and droplet ejection characteristics can leave an artefact on the printing result. In order to compensate for temperature variations, each Udon printhead IC has a series of temperature sensor outputs to the drive logic gate on the wafer. This allows the drive pulse to be adjusted depending on the current ink temperature at the position of the print head and thereby eliminates a large difference in droplet discharge characteristics.

Referring to Figure 10, each Udon printhead IC 12 has eight temperature sensors 74 disposed along the array 22. Each sensor 74 is used to sense the temperature of an adjacent nozzle region (which is referred to as a temperature controlled dose curve generator region or TCPG region) 76. A TCPG region 76 is a "vertical" band along the IC 12 that shares temperature and emission data (see column firing order as described below). The pulse width for each color is set according to the area and the temperature in the area.

Periodic sensor activation

The sensor 74 can detect a range of 0 ° C to 70 ° C with an accuracy of 2 ° C after calibration. A separate temperature sensor can be turned off and a region can use a temperature sensor 74 of the contiguous region 78. This can save power while minimizing the impact of correct adjustment of the drive pulse, as the sensor can sense the temperature of the area outside its area by conduction. If the steady-state operating temperature shows little or no change in temperature along the IC, then a sensor can be left to turn off all other sensors, or all sensors can be turned off without Use any temperature compensation. Reducing the number of sensors that are operated can not only reduce power consumption, but also reduce noise in other circuits in the IC.

Temperature category

Each TCPG region 76 has a register for the separation of each of the five inks. The temperature of the ink is divided into four temperature ranges defined by three temperature threshold values. These threshold values are provided by the PEC. A quantity curve generator in the Udon logic gate adjusts the magnitude curve of the drive pulse to match the current temperature range.

Secondary ejection pulse

Heat is dissipated into the ink as the heater temperature rises to the bubble nucleation temperature. In view of this, the temperature of the ink in a nozzle is related to whether the ink is often emitted at this stage of the printing operation. A one-page wide printhead has a large array of nozzles and that at any point in the print job there is a portion of the nozzles that do not eject ink. The dissipation of heat to the area of the wafer surrounding the nozzle being fired relatively allows the temperature of the areas to be higher than the temperature of the area where no emission occurs. Thus, the ink in the area where there is no emission will be cooler than the ink in the nozzle that is emitting a series of droplets.

The Udon IC 12 can send a "sub-spray" pulse to the non-emitted nozzles during the unactivated period of the nozzles that are not being emitted to maintain the ink temperature at the same temperature as the ink in the nozzles that are often fired. A jet of pulses is not sufficient for the nozzle to eject ink droplets, but allows heat to dissipate into the ink. The amount of heat is substantially the same as the amount of heat that is conducted to the ink prior to nucleation of the bubble within the nozzle in the emission. Therefore, the temperatures of the inks in all the nozzles are kept substantially the same. This helps to maintain consistency in viscosity and droplet ejection characteristics. The secondary ejection pulse can reduce its energy by reducing its duration.

Driving pulse volume curve

Actively changing the volume curve of the drive pulse can provide a number of benefits, including: The emission pulse can be optimized for different inks and temperatures. Warm an area before it is launched. Turn off a too hot IC or let it slow down (Udon provides information, PEC controls speed). Adjust the voltage drop caused by the distance from the power supply (extra resistor). Reduce the energy input to the wafer because the energy required to eject the hot ink is less than the energy required to eject the cold ink

The pulse volume curve can vary depending on the temperature and the type of ink. The transmit pulses generated by the TCPG region are stored in a large register containing values for each of the five inks in four temperature ranges, plus general ink and region values, and thresholds. Value. These values must be provided to the Udon and can be stored and/or transferred by ink cartridges (see by referring to RRC001US, incorporated herein by reference), on the PEC or elsewhere on the QA wafer.

Control pulse width

It is convenient to adjust the firing pulse by varying the pulse duration compared to changing the voltage or current. The voltage is applied externally. Changing the current can involve resistive losses. Conversely, the pulse time can be implemented completely on a predetermined schedule.

The ideal ink ejection emission pulse for Udon is typically between 0.4 seconds and 1.4 seconds. The secondary ejection emission pulse is typically less than 0.3 seconds. In general, a function that emits a factor of the pulse coefficient term: MEM characteristics. Ink characteristics. temperature. FET type

The size of the optimal transmit pulse can vary due to color and temperature. Udon stores the burst time of each color over all temperature ranges and in all areas.

Column firing order

If all of the nozzles in a column are simultaneously fired, the sudden increase in current will be too high for the printhead IC and surrounding circuitry. To avoid this, the nozzle or group of nozzles can be launched in a staggered manner. However, the simultaneous or successive firing of adjacent regions can result in erroneous guidance of the droplets. First, the droplet handle (i.e., a thin column of ink that is ejected from a jet prior to droplet separation and the ink in the nozzle) can cause micro-flooding on the surface of the nozzle plate. This micro-flooding will partially block adjacent nozzles and pull a jetted droplet away from its original orbit. Second, the aerodynamic turbulence caused by a jet of droplets affects the orbit of droplets that are ejected simultaneously (or immediately after) from an adjacent nozzle. The second ejected droplet can be drawn into the gas stream of the first ejected droplet and misdirected. Third, the cross talk of the fluid between adjacent nozzles can cause misdirected droplets.

Udon solves this problem by dispersing groups of simultaneously emitting nozzles and then emitting nozzles from each of the dispersed groups such that the continuously emitted nozzles are spaced apart from each other. The sequence of nozzle firings continues in this manner until all nozzles (loaded with printed material) in a column are fired.

To do so, each column of nozzles is divided into a number of adjacent spans and one nozzle from each span is simultaneously emitted. The nozzles from successive shots of each span are offset from the previous one of the nozzles by an offset value. The offset value cannot be a factor of the number of spans (ie, the offset and the span should be prime numbers of each other), so nozzles at the boundary between adjacent spans are not simultaneously or sequentially transmitted.

Span

The span is the number of consecutive nozzles in a nozzle train in which only one nozzle is fired at a time. Figure 11 shows a portion of the nozzle row which is launched with three nozzles as a span and the same column segment has a span of five nozzles. For demonstration purposes, the offset value is one. However, as discussed above, this is not actually a suitable offset value because adjacent nozzles will be launched one after the other. The turbulent wake of the droplet emitted by the first nozzle affects the droplets that are emitted immediately after the adjacent region. This can also be a problem for ink supply to adjacent nozzles.

For a three-nozzle span, there are three shots before the entire column is fired.

. The first shot: emitted at every third nozzle in a column.

. Second emission: a nozzle is emitted at one side of the first nozzle.

. The third launch: a nozzle that is separated from the two nozzles by a nozzle in the place, and all the nozzles in this column have been launched here.

. The nozzles in the N+2 column now start their firing cycle using the same span mode.

. At any point in time, one third of the nozzle numbers in a nozzle train are emitted.

For a five-nozzle span, five shots are emitted before the entire train is fired and at any point in time a fifth nozzle number in a nozzle train is emitted.

In extreme cases (for Udon printhead ICs): Span=1, that is, all the nozzles in one column are simultaneously emitted, introducing too much current and damaging the IC; Span = 640, which means that only one nozzle is emitted at a time, but it takes too much time to complete the assignment to a single column.

In either case, the span only controls the maximum number of nozzles that can be fired at any point in time. Each individual nozzle still needs to be "1" in its shift register to be actually launched. In the example below, we assume that the IC is printing a solid color line, so all nozzles of that color will be emitted. In fact, this is a rare occurrence.

Shift

The example shown in Fig. 11 has a shift value of 1. That is, one nozzle is fired, then the next remaining nozzle is fired, then the next one, and so on. As discussed above, this is impractical. Figure 12 shows a nozzle row segment having a span of 5 nozzles and a span shift of 3 nozzles.

. First launch: Line 1 launch.

. Second launch: The emitted nozzle is a nozzle that spans 3 nozzles on the 4th line.

. Third launch: the count returns to the nozzle 2 in one round.

. Fourth launch: Nozzle 5 fires.

. Fifth launch: Nozzle 3 is launched, and all five nozzles in this span have been launched.

In order to reliably transmit only one nozzle of the column, the shift value cannot be a factor of the span, ie the span can be divisible by the shift value (without a remainder). In order for the droplets to have maximum separation in time and space and each nozzle in each column is only fired once, the prime number closest to the square root of the span should be selected as the span shift value. For example, for a span of 27, a span shift value of 5 should be appropriate.

Launch delay

Simultaneous emission of all of the nozzles in a column will introduce a large amount of current that will (substantially) remain constant for the duration of the column of time. This requires the power supply to jump from zero current to maximum current in a very short period of time. This will result in a very high rate of current change until the maximum is reached. Unfortunately, a rapid increase in current produces an inductance that will increase the impedance of the circuit. At high impedance, the drive voltage will "bend down" until the inductor returns to normal, ie the current stops increasing. Within the printhead IC, the actuator supply voltage must be maintained within a narrow range to maintain a fixed ink droplet size and directionality.

When the transmit pulse in each zone can be changed by TCPG, it can be used to delay the start of transmission time in each zone on the entire printhead. This can reduce the rate of change of current during transmission. 13A and 13B show the relationship between the area emission delay and the current discharge. Figure 13A shows the extreme case of two power usage when printing a solid line of one color (this is the worst case of power supply because 80 points will be transmitted throughout the area).

Figure 13A shows that there is no transmission delay between the regions. Each zone has 4 spans with 20 nozzles per span. Each region is transmitted throughout the column time (the column time is the time available for a complete column to be transmitted). Therefore, at any one of the time points in the column, there are four nozzles from eight regions that are emitting (introducing current). Therefore, the magnitude curve of the current supply is a long level function 78 and each region is the same. The quantized curve for the entire column is the accumulated step-order function 80 of the individual quantized curve 78. Theoretically, the leading edge 90 of the step function 80 is vertical, but in fact it is very steep until it reaches the maximum current level 82. This high rate of current change causes the unwanted voltage to bend down.

Fig. 13B shows a current supply amount variation curve when each region is emitted in stages. In order to interleave the emissions of each zone, the time at which the nozzles can be launched in each span must be reduced. In the example shown in Figure 13B, each span has half the time at which it can emit its nozzles. In order to compress the time required for each span to be launched, the number of nozzles in each span is reduced. For example, the span in Figure 13B is 10, so 8 nozzles (8X10 = 80 nozzles per zone) from each span will be launched simultaneously. The cumulative current introduced by the eight nozzles is greater than the cumulative current emitted by the four nozzles per span shown in Figure 13A. Therefore, the current introduced in each of the regions in Fig. 13B is twice the current introduced in the region of Fig. 13A, but the current is introduced at half the time of Fig. 13A. Region 1 is supplied with current 84 at the beginning of the column time. The current supply 94 to zone 2 begins after a set delay time and zone 3 is similarly delayed relative to zone 2, and so on until zone 8 begins its transmission sequence. The delay for each zone needs to be timed so that zone 8 begins to fire only halfway through or after the column time has elapsed.

The accumulated current supply variation curve 86 shows eight steep series of currents on the current supply through which it reaches a maximum value of 88. The maximum current value 88 is greater than the maximum current value 82 when transmitting in the non-delayed region of FIG. 13A, but the rate of increase in the supply current is small. This reduces the impedance in the circuit and makes the voltage bend less. In each case, the total energy used for a given column time is the same, except that the distribution of energy consumption is adjusted.

Normal launch order

As discussed above, the printed material is sent to the printhead IC 12 one column at a time, followed by a firing command. Previously, each individual cell in the nozzle array had a shift register for storing the print data ("0" or "1") for each nozzle, each line time (line time is The time it takes for the printhead to print a line). The entries for the entire array will be loaded into the shift registers before the start of the transmit sequence initiated by the transmit command. By loading and transmitting the print data for each row in stages, a smaller number of shift registers can be placed in the vicinity of the array rather than in each unit cell. Removing the shift register from the cell 20 can make the drive FET (see Figure 2) larger. This improves the efficiency of the printhead for the following reasons.

The hot print head IC can be more efficient if the bubbles generated by the heater elements can be nucleated faster. Less heat is dissipated into the ink prior to bubble nucleation. The faster nucleation of the bubbles reduces the amount of time that heat diffuses into the area of the wafer surrounding the heater. In order for the bubbles to nucleate faster, the electrical pulses must have a shorter duration while maintaining the same energy to the heater (about 200 nJ). This requires the drive FET of each nozzle to increase the power of the drive pulse. However, increasing the power of the FET increases its size. This increases the wafer area occupied by the nozzle and its associated circuitry, thereby reducing the nozzle density of the printhead. Reducing nozzle density is detrimental to print quality and sophisticated printhead design. By shifting the shift register out of the cell, the drive FET can deliver more power without sacrificing nozzle density.

The Udon design writes the data to the nozzle array one column at a time. However, a similar benefit can be obtained with a print head IC that loads and emits a sequence at a time.

However, it should be understood that the electrical connection between the shift register and the corresponding nozzle should be kept relatively short so as not to cause high resistive wear.

Loading and transmitting the data in one column at a time makes it necessary for the PEC to send the data in the order in which the nozzle columns are printed. Previously, the data for the entire nozzle array was loaded prior to launch, so the PEC was indifferent to the column firing order selected by the printhead IC. However, when Udon is used, the PEC will have to transmit the column data in a predetermined order.

The print head nozzles are typically launched in accordance with the span/shift firing sequence and the delay zone of the upper surgery. The supply channel 50 (see FIG. 5C) on the back side of the printhead IC 12 supplies ink to two adjacent nozzle columns on the front side of the IC, ie columns 0 and 1 are ejected in the same color, column 2 and 3 spout another color, and so on. The Udon printhead IC has ten columns of nozzles that can be assigned to the color CMYK, IR (infrared ink for encoding the media with invisible material) or CMYKK. In order to avoid the problem of ink supply flow, the separated columns are emitted in two passes, ie, column 0, column 2, column 4, column 6, column 8 is emitted, column 1, column 3, column 5, etc. It is launched until all ten columns are launched.

Column emissions should be timed so that each column only emits less than 10% of the total line time. A launch command simply transmits the currently loaded data. When in SoPEC mode, the Udon printhead IC receives a "next data" instruction that loads the next column of data in a predetermined order. In MoPEC mode, each column of data must be explicitly addressed to its corresponding nozzle column.

Taking paper movement into consideration, a column of time less than 0.1 line time and a color pitch of 10.1 DP (pitch) vertical appear on the paper as a 10DP line interval. The result of the odd-numbered and even-numbered nozzle rows of the same color, which are vertically separated by 3.5 DP and emitted at a time interval of 0.5 line time, is a point that is vertically separated by 5 DP on the paper.

Launch cycle

Figure 14 shows the data flow and the order of the transmitted instructions for one line of data. When a transmit command is received in the data stream, the data in the column register is converted to a dot-latch within each cell, and a firing cycle is initiated. The ink is ejected from a nozzle having 1 in each point-to-clip lock. At the same time, the data on the next column for the firing order is loaded.

Falling triangle and falling zone emission delay

The fall compensation is the compensation applied to the ramp region 28 and the nozzle descent triangle 30 at the left side of the nozzle array 22 on each IC 12 by Udon drive logic gate 46 (see Figure 2) (see Figure 5). As shown in Figure 15, the print data sent to the nozzles that are offset from the other nozzles in the array 22 must be offset by a certain amount of line time. Figure 15 shows the nozzles on a column 26 of the IC 12. The nozzles within the descending triangle 30 are offset from the unshifted nozzles in the column by a factor of 10 points. The nozzles in the descending zone 28 that join the descending triangle 30 to the undisplaced nozzle have a displacement that is marked by a point pitch of every two nozzles. In the ramp down region 28, the drive logic gate is correspondingly marked with a delay in transmitting the print material.

Nozzle blockage

During periods of inactivity, or between pages and pages, and particularly at higher ambient temperatures, the nozzles are blocked by the more viscous or dry ink. The water back evaporates from the ink in the nozzle, thereby increasing the viscosity of the ink to such an extent that the bubbles are unable to eject droplets. The nozzle becomes clogged and cannot be operated.

Many printers have a printhead maintenance mechanism that restores the blocked nozzle and cleans the outer surface of the printhead. These mechanisms create a vacuum to draw ink through the nozzle so that less viscous ink can be refilled into the nozzle. This process wastes a relatively large volume of ink, so that the ink cartridge must be replaced frequently.

The Udon printhead IC has a service mode that can be operated before or during a print job. In the service mode, the drive logic gate generates a de-blocking pulse for the actuator in each nozzle unless the dead nozzle map (described below) indicates that the actuator has failed. In order to operate during the printing job, the nozzle should emit the deblocking pulse in the gap between the page and the page without disturbing the paper.

The deblocking pulse is longer than the normal drive pulse. The bubble formed by a longer duration pulse is larger and the impact force applied to the ink is also greater than an emission impact force. This gives the pulse extra power to eject the more viscous ink.

As a pre-emptive method, the de-blocking pulse may have a series of sub-ejection pulses to warm the ink and reduce viscosity. Figure 16 shows a typical deblocking pulse train having a series of short (relative to a firing pulse) secondary ejection pulse 94 followed by a single deblocking pulse 96. Each individual secondary ejection pulse 94 has a sufficient amount of energy to nucleate a bubble and eject the ink. However, a series of dense sub-spray pulses raise the temperature of the ink to assist subsequent occlusion of the pulse 96.

Open circuit actuator test

The Udon print head IC 12 supports open circuit actuator testing. The Open Actuator Test (OAT) is used to find out if any actuators in the nozzle array have been burned out or destroyed (often referred to as becoming "open"," Open circuit").

Manufacture of MEMS nozzle structures on the wafer substrate will inevitably have some defective nozzles. These "dead nozzles" can be found using a wafer probe immediately after manufacture. Knowing the position of these dead nozzles, the column control engine (PEC) can be written to a dead nozzle map. This map is used to compensate for dead nozzles by using techniques such as excess nozzles (the print head IC has more nozzles than necessary nozzles and uses a "backup" nozzle to print the points assigned to the dead nozzles).

Unfortunately, the nozzle also breaks during the operational life of the printhead. These damaged nozzles cannot be found with wafer probes after these nozzles have been mounted on the print head assembly and assembled into the printer. After a period of time, the number of dead nozzles will increase and the PEC will not be able to detect them, so there will be no attempt to compensate. This will eventually lead to shortcomings that can be seen by the naked eye, which is detrimental to the quality of the print.

In thermal inkjet printheads and thermally bent inkjet printheads, the primary failure is due to the burnout of the resistive heater or the creation of an open circuit. The nozzle will not be able to eject ink due to clogging, but this is not a dead nozzle and can be recovered via the printhead maintenance mechanism. The test on a wafer determines which nozzles are dead nozzles, and the print engine controller periodically updates its dead nozzle map. With a correct dead nozzle map, the PEC can use compensation techniques (eg, excess nozzles) to extend the useful life of the printhead.

The Udon IC open circuit actuator test compares the resistance of the actuator to a predetermined threshold value. A high (or infinite) resistance means that the actuator has failed and this information is sent back to the PEC to update its dead nozzle compensation table. It is important to note that the OAT can find open circuit nozzles instead of finding blocked nozzles.

Both the thermal actuator or the thermal bending actuator use a heater element and the OAT can be equally applied to both. Similarly, the driving FET can be N-type or P-type. 17A and 17B show a circuit for OAT when applied to a single unit cell having a single heater element driven by a p-type FET and an n-type FET, respectively.

In Figure 17A, the driving p-type FET 40 is asserted during printing when both "column enabled" (RE) 98 and "row enabled" (CE) 100 (accepted at their junctions) To "1") is enabled. Enabling the drive FET 40 turns the heater element 34 to Vpos 104 to activate the cell. When the column enable 98 or row enable 100 is not asserted, the bleed n-FET 112 ensures that the voltage at the sense node 120 will be rejected when the cell is not activated to eliminate any electrolytic path. Pull it down.

When the OAT 106 is asserted, the AND gate 108 pulls the gate of the p-type FET 40 high to enable it. The OAT 106 is also asserted to pull the gate of the sense n-FET 114 high to connect the sense output 116 to the sense node 120. When the shunt n-type FET 112 is disabled, the voltage at the sense node 120 will still be pulled down to the ground pole 68 via the heater element 34. Therefore, the detection output 116 is low to indicate that the actuator is still available. However, if the heater element 34 is open (failed), then the voltage at the sense node 120 is still high and this will pull the sense output 116 high to show a dead nozzle. This is sent back to the PEC to update the dead nozzle map and initiate compensation (if possible).

The unit cell circuit shown in Fig. 17B uses a driving n-type FET 40. In this embodiment, asserting column enable 98 and row enable 100 can pull the gate of drive n-type FET 40 high to enable it and allow Vops 104 to be drained to the ground via heater 34. Again, when both column enable 98 and row enable 100 are asserted, the drain p-FET 118 is rendered useless.

In order to initiate the actuator test, the OAT 106 is established and the column enable 98 and row enable 100 are also established. This causes the driving n-type FET 40 to lose its effect because the gate is pulled low via the sense node 120. When the heater 34 is isolated from the ground 68 by the drive FET 40 being rendered useless, the sense node 120 is pulled high and a high sense output 116 exhibits a functioning actuator. If the heater 34 is broken, the sense node 120 is left at a low voltage after the drive FET 40 was last disabled. Thus when the OAT is enabled, the detection output 116 is low and the PEC records the dead nozzle into the dead nozzle map.

It will be appreciated that the open actuator test should be implemented shortly after the printhead IC has been printed. The drain p-type FET 118 or the drain n-type FET 112 drops the sense node to a low voltage after a period of inactivity. The gap between pages in the print is a convenient time to implement an open actuator test.

The invention has been described herein by way of example. Many variations and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

10. . . Page width print head

12. . . Udon print head IC

14. . . supporting item

16. . . Bend an angle of the side

18. . . Paper feed direction

20. . . MEMS nozzle

twenty two. . . Array

twenty four. . . Row

26. . . Column

28. . . Slope section (inclined part)

30. . . Falling triangle

32. . . nozzle

34. . . Heater

36. . . Nozzle chamber

38. . . U-shaped side wall

40. . . Drive FET

42. . . Entrance

44. . . Cylindrical structure

46. . . Logic gate

48. . . Paper

20. . . Unit cell

50. . . Parallelogram

28. . . Transition zone

56. . . SoPEC

58. . . Data entry

60. . . Clock input

62. . . Reset pin

64. . . Data input pin

66. . . MoPEC

68. . . Ground pole

70. . . Address loading

72. . . Negative pin

74. . . Signal

76. . . Signal

78. . . Rising edge

74. . . Temperature sensor

76. . . Temperature controlled volume curve generator (TCPG) region

78. . . Adjacent area

78. . . Order function

80. . . Cumulative order function

82. . . Maximum current level

84. . . Current

90. . . Leading edge

94. . . Current supply

86. . . Cumulative current supply curve

88. . . Maximum

92. . . Supply current

94. . . Secondary ejection pulse

96. . . To block the pulse

98. . . Column enable

100. . . Line enable

112. . . Dispense n-type FET

120. . . Detection node

104. . . Vpos

106. . . OAT

108. . . AND gate

114. . . Detecting n-type FET

116. . . Detection output

118. . . Divide p-type FET

80. . . Intermediate point

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a linked printhead IC structure; FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a unit cell Figure 3 shows the structure of a nozzle array on a column of print head ICs; Figure 4 is a schematic representation of the placement of rows and columns of nozzles in the array; Figure 5A is a schematic representation of an array of nozzles that have not been collapsed Figure 5B is a schematic representation of the array being distorted by the continuity of adjacent printhead ICs; Figure 5C is an enlarged view of the inclined section of the array with the ink supply channel overlying it; Figure 6A A prior art structure showing a printhead IC having a drop triangle connection; FIG. 6B shows an ink supply channel corresponding to the nozzle array of FIG. 6A; FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of a printhead connection to SoPEC Figure 8 is a schematic representation of the print head connection to the MoPEC; Figure 9 shows the self-clock data signal for the "1" bit and a "0" bit; Figure 10 shows the cross over a Udon A schematic diagram of the eight TCPGs of the IC, Figure 11 shows the difference A schematic representation of two sequential firing nozzle rows defined by span and offset; FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of a firing sequence with one span segment of 5 and an offset of one nozzle segment; FIG. 13A The current drawn for the current drawn during each column time in each TCPG region and the total sequence during a uniformly initiated region firing sequence; Figure 13B shows the column time in each TCPG region. The current drawn during the period and the current drawn during the transmission sequence in a delay region; Figure 14 shows the loading and emission sequence of a 10-row Udon IC; Figure 15 shows a nozzle column. The falling triangle and the inclined section plus the printing delay associated with the point data at the "drip" nozzle; Figure 16 shows the deblocking pulse chain; Figure 17A is for a cell with a p-type driving FET A circuit for open circuit actuator testing in cells; and Figure 17B is a circuit for an open circuit actuator test in a cell with an n-type drive FET.

34. . . Heater

40. . . Drive FET

68. . . Ground pole

98. . . Column enable

100. . . Line enable

112. . . Dispense n-type FET

120. . . Detection node

104. . . Vpos

106. . . OAT

108. . . AND gate

114. . . Detecting n-type FET

116. . . Detection output

Claims (19)

A print head IC comprising: an array of nozzles; a discharge actuator corresponding to each nozzle, respectively, the discharge actuator having a resistive heater that is when the actuator ejects ink via a corresponding nozzle Starting up; the driving circuit is configured to accept the printing data and activate the actuator by using the driving signal according to the printing data; and the open circuit actuator testing circuit is configured to: when the actuator receives a driving signal The resistance of the heater is compared to a predetermined threshold value to evaluate whether the actuator is defective while selectively disabling the actuator; wherein the open circuit actuator test circuit operates at the print head Defective nozzle feedback occurs within a predetermined time period thereafter. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein during use, feedback from the open circuit test circuit is used to adjust the print data subsequently received by the drive circuit. The printhead IC of claim 1, wherein the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback during the printing operation. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the open circuit actuator test circuit produces defective nozzle feedback between each page of a print job. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit has a drive FET for controlling current flowing to the resistive heater and a logic gate enabled when receiving a drive signal (enabling) The driver FET and disabling the driver FET upon receiving a drive signal and an open actuator test signal. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit has a bleed FET that will straddle the drive circuit when it does not receive a drive signal or an open circuit actuator test signal. Any pressure drop of the resistive heater is slowly drained to zero. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the driving circuit has a detecting node between the drain of the driving FET and the resistive heater, and the open circuit test circuit has a detecting FET It is enabled when the open circuit actuator test signal is received, such that the voltage at the drain of the sense FET is used to indicate whether the heater element is defective. A print head IC as claimed in claim 7 wherein the drive FET is a p-type FET. A printhead IC as in claim 1 wherein the drive circuit receives print data in the form of a plurality of tandem portions for the array, wherein a fire command is provided at the end of each portion. The print head IC of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of temperature sensors for respectively sensing the temperature of the print head IC in each region. For example, the print head IC of the first application of the patent scope, wherein the drive The circuit adjusts the drive pulse to the nozzle based on the temperature of the printed fluid within the nozzle. A printhead IC as in claim 10, wherein the drive circuit blocks drive signals to at least some of the nozzles in the array when one or more temperature sensors indicate that the temperature exceeds a predetermined maximum. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the drive pulse is formed by a discharge pulse and a sub ejection pulse, the ejection pulse having a sufficient output from the nozzle designated to be emitted at that time. The energy of the fluid, and the secondary ejection pulse, has an energy sufficient to eject the printing fluid from a nozzle that is not intended to be emitted at that time. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein during use, the drive circuit adjusts a profile of the drive pulse in response to the output of the temperature sensor. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor can be de-activated after a period of use during use. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit delays sending the drive pulse to a group associated with at least one of the other groups in the group. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein each of the nozzles is divided into a plurality of groups, each group having at least one nozzle, and the driving circuit delays sending the drive pulse to one of the group and the other At least one group related group in the group. For example, the print head IC of the 16th patent application area is in use. The driving circuit starts the nozzles in a row according to a firing sequence, the firing sequence allows the nozzles in each group to simultaneously eject the printing fluid, and allows each group to continuously eject the printing fluid, so that The nozzles in each group are spaced apart from each other by at least a predetermined minimum number of nozzles, and each nozzle in a group is separated from the nozzles in the subsequently activated group by at least the predetermined minimum number of nozzles. The print head IC of claim 1, wherein the drive circuit is constructed to operate in two modes, one is a print mode in which the drive pulse generated by the drive circuit is a print pulse, and the other One is the maintenance mode. In this mode, the drive pulse is a de-clog pulse, wherein the de-blocking pulse lasts longer than the duration of the print pulse.