Method of driving a thermal head and apparatus therefor

Claim 1

A method of driving, in accordance with a recording signal, a thermal head including a plurality of heating blocks each having M aligned heating elements (M: a positive integer), the amplitude of the recording signal being at a low level or at a high level, the method comprising: (a) counting the number of occurrences of the high level in the recording signal; (b) producing a heating block drive signal when the counted number reaches a preset value K (K: a positive integer larger than M), the sum of the number of occurrences of the high level and that of the low level in that signal portion of said recording signal within which the high level occurs K times being N; (c) determining the number P of successive heating blocks (P: a positive integer) on the basis of said heating block drive signal such that PXM≦N<(P+1)XM; (d) simultaneously enabling the heating elements in the so determined P successive heating blocks in accordance with the signal portion of said recording signal within which signal portion the high level occurs not more than K times; and (e) re-starting the counting of the number of occurrences of the high level from zero when PXM=N and from the number of occurrences of the high level in that portion of said recording signal which corresponds to first (N-PXM) heating elements in the (P+1)-th heating block when PXM<N to determine the next number P of successive heating blocks the heating elements of which will be simultaneously enabled in accordance with the next signal portion of the recording signal within which the high level occurs not more than K times.

Claim 2

A method of driving, in accordance with a recording signal, a thermal head including a plurality of heating blocks each having M aligned heating elements (M: a positive integer), the amplitude of the recording signal being at a low level or at a high level, the method comprising: (a) counting the number of occurrences of the high level in the recording signal; (b) producing a heating block drive signal when the counted number reaches a preset value K (K: a positive integer larger than M), the sum of the number of occurrences of the high level and that of the low level in that signal portion of said recording signal within which the high level occurs K times being N; (c) determining the number P of successive heating blocks (P: a positive integer) on the basis of said heating block drive signal such that PXM≦N<(P+1)XM; (d) simultaneously enabling the heating elements in the so determined P successive heating blocks in accordance with the signal portion of said recording signal within which signal portion the high level occurs not more than K times; and (e) re-starting the counting of the number of occurrences of the high level from zero when PXM=N and from the number of occurrences of the high level in that portion of said recording signal which corresponds to first (N-PXM) heating elements in the (P+1)-th heating block when PXM<N to determine the next number P of successive heating blocks the heating elements of which will be simultaneously enabled in accordance with the next signal portion of the recording signal within which the high level occurs not more than K times.

Claim 3

An apparatus for driving, in accordance with a recording signal, a thermal head including a plurality of heating blocks each having M aligned heating elements (M: a positive integer), the amplitude of the recording signal being at a low level or at a high level, the apparatus comprising: means for counting the number of occurrences of the high level in the recording signal; means for pre-setting a reference value K (K: a positive integer larger than M); a comparator interconnected between said counting means and said pre-setting means to produce a heating block drive signal when said counted number reaches said pre-set value, said counting means restarting its counting operation each time said pre-set value is reached, the sum of the number of occurrences of the high level and that of the low level in that signal portion of the recording signal within which the high level occurs K times being N; an M-bit shift register arranged to receive the output of said comparator; and a switching circuit means responsive to the output of said M-bit shift register to select P successive heating blocks for simultaneously enabling the heating elements of the selected heating blocks in accordance with that signal portion of said recording signal within which signal portion the high level occurs not more than K times (P: a positive integer) where PXM≦N<(P+1)XM.

Claim 4

An apparatus for driving, in accordance with a recording signal, a thermal head including a plurality of heating blocks each having M aligned heating elements (M: a positive integer), the amplitude of the recording signal being at a low level or at a high level, the apparatus comprising: means for counting the number of occurrences of the high level in the recording signal; means for pre-setting a reference value K (K: a positive integer larger than M); a comparator interconnected between said counting means and said pre-setting means to produce a heating block drive signal when said counted number reaches said pre-set value, said counting means restarting its counting operation each time said pre-set value is reached, the sum of the number of occurrences of the high level and that of the low level in that signal portion of the recording signal within which the high level occurs K times being N; an M-bit shift register arranged to receive the output of said comparator; and a switching circuit means responsive to the output of said M-bit shift register to select P successive heating blocks for simultaneously enabling the heating elements of the selected heating blocks in accordance with that signal portion of said recording signal within which signal portion the high level occurs not more than K times (P: a positive integer) where PXM≦N<(P+1)XM.