JPS5829685A - Thermal head device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reproduce a high quality image having a high density and a high accuracy by avoiding the high density of dot arrangement by a method in which data electrodes and common electrodes are alternately arranged so as to divide heating resistors arranged in parallel and common signals are outputted by varying phases alternately. CONSTITUTION:First and second resistance zones 11 and 12 are set in parallel with a small spacing by crossing them orthogonally toward the moving direction of a recording paper. Data electrodes 13a, 13b...14a, 14b... are povided in the reistance zones 11 and 12, and common electrodes 15a, 15b...16a, 16b... are provided in such a way as to divide the data electrodes. The resistance zones are energized by flowing electric current between the electrodes 13, 16 and dots are recorded. Recording units 17a, 17b...18a, 18b... are set up by resistors 11 and 12 by varying the recorded dot intervals by 1/2. Thus, the recording dot of the second head H2 is positioned btween recording dots of the first head H1 to form one recording scanning line, whereby permitting recording of two-fold density to be attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal head device for reproducing and printing image information transmitted by, for example, a facsimile 11J.

For thermal devices used for this type of image reproduction, for example, a large number of heat generating resistors are set at minute intervals along a line extending in the main scanning line direction, and a heat generating current is selectively applied to each of these resistors. Form a supply electrode. The image is then reproduced by selectively supplying a heating current to the large number of heating resistors to form a dot-shaped record on the thermal recording paper. In other words, the image to be transmitted is Based on the transmission information read by the main scanning line that scans in the width direction, it controls the electrode voltage corresponding to the large number of heating resistors lined up in the main scanning line direction.
The scanning line read above is reproduced on the recording paper by a thermal head, and in the main scanning line direction,
By performing sub-scanning to move the recording paper in the vertical direction, an image can be reproduced on the recording paper.

In this way, when an image is reproduced on recording paper by a thermal head, the distance between a large number of heating resistors arranged at minute intervals is made as small as possible, and the number of recording dots of unit length ab is increased. , which can reproduce high-quality images. However, increasing the density of recording dots requires making each of the heating resistors separated by electrodes smaller and reducing their mutual spacing, which inevitably leads to poor productivity, and there is a technical limit. Therefore, at present, forming 3 to 6 recording dots within the range of the L cylinder is the only way to maintain good dot recording performance and improve productivity. However, in order to record and reproduce an image of sufficiently high quality, it is generally desired to form eight or more recording dots in one fermentation range.

This invention was developed in view of the above points, and is technically simple enough, has good productivity, and can easily record, for example, 8 or more or even 12 recording dots within a 1 meter range. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal head device which is capable of reproducing high-quality images with high precision on recording paper.

An embodiment of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration thereof, and is set in a parallel state in the main scanning direction, which is the width direction of the recording paper orthogonal to the moving direction (sub-scanning) of the recording paper indicated by the arrow. This resistance band 1
1.12, although only a part of which is shown in the figure, each has a length corresponding to a main scanning line.

The mutual spacing is configured to match the sub-scanning distance that the recording paper moves during one main-scanning line period.

Then, in each of the resistance bands 11 and 12, data electrodes 13 a are connected to the external lead wires so as to be divided in the longitudinal direction, respectively.
13b and "14a, J4b" are provided, and these data electrodes are further divided into two to form common electrodes 15IL, 15b...J6&.

J6b... is provided. That is, the first and second
Resistance bands 11 and 12 are data electric & J sa, respectively.
Jsb-... and common electrodes 15a, J5b..., and data electrodes 14h, 14b... and common N&16L,
By passing a current between the adjacent data electrodes and the common electrode, the resistance band between the electrodes generates heat, which is engraved on thermosensitive recording paper and printed on the data electrode 16b. ．． This means that you will be able to record 8 songs.

Here, the recording units 17t+J7b... and 18*, J are separated by the respective electrodes of the first and second resistance bands lJ and z2, and generate heat and record dots as described above.
8b... is the first and second resistor 1ff J J
, 12 and 17 of the recording dot interval in the main scanning direction, respectively.
The first and second resistance bands 11° and 12 allow the first resistance band to be lowered in the width direction of the recording paper.
and second heads H and H2 are constructed.

5- Therefore, according to the thermal head configured in this way, as shown in FIG.

A state is reached in which the recording dots by the second head H2 are positioned. Therefore, as described above, if the distance between the first and second heads H1 and H2 is set to be as strong as the distance that the recording paper moves during the -main scanning line period, the The recording dots from the second head H2 are injected between the recording heads of one head H1 to form one recording scanning line. In other words, recording is performed at a recording dot density that is half the recording dot interval that can be formed by a head using a single resistance band. Therefore, for example, the first and second helads H1, H2 are
If six dots are formed in the range of each fin, 12 recording dots are arranged in the range of one seagull, allowing high-density, high-resolution images to be recorded and reproduced. .

FIG. 3 shows the first and second heads 6 [7, H, ? This figure shows a drive circuit section for the thermal head consisting of common electrodes 25t, j5b, . . . and 1 of the first and second heads H) and H2, respectively.
6h, 16b, . . . are respectively led out via isolation diodes, and are alternately connected to the common line CI in each head H1, H2.

C2, and CJ' l C2'. and,
Common currents having different timings, that is, different phases, are supplied to the common lines C1, C2 and C1', C2'.

In addition, data electrodes) 3a, 13b... and 14IL, 14b of the first and second electrodes H1, H2, respectively.
...are Nantes Gate J 9 a, 1, respectively.
9b = and 20a, 20b- are connected, and the strobe signal STR1 is supplied as a dart signal to the NAND darts J9*, 19b... via the buffer amplifier 21, and the NAND darts 2oa, 2ob...
The strobe signal STR is sent via the buffer amplifier 22 to
2 is supplied as r-to Hakugo. Also, Nando Goo)
Trigger free lag flops 23a, 23b, .

20b, . . . are supplied with stored data of trigger flip-flops 24a, 24b, . . ., which also constitute the shift register. That is, ?of23IL+23b-= and ? 41L12
4b...Bit data DJ and D2 corresponding to each recording dot are sent to each of them via buffer amplifiers 25 and 26.
are sequentially shifted serially. and,
Flip-flops 231° 23b... and 24a,
24b...A shift pulse SP is applied to the inverting input section of each trigger input terminal via inverters 27 and 28.
J.

Supply sp2.

That is, in the thermal head device configured as described above, the first head H1 is driven first, and the trigger flip flop 231L constituting the shift register corresponding to the first head) (J) is driven. , 23b...
Input recording bit data DJ is serially supplied to the input recording bit data DJ, and a shift pulse SPJ is supplied in synchronization with this data, so that the data given to the data electrodes 13a, 13b, . . . , 23b
It will be stored and set to... In this state, a common signal is supplied to the common line C), and at the same time a strobe signal STR1 is supplied, and the common electrodes 15b, j5d, . . . , connected to this common line C1 and each data electrode 13
A heating current is passed through the heating resistor band divided portion between a+13b, . . . and dot recording is performed. That is, recording of every other dot by the first head pin is controlled.

Next, the recording bit data DJ for the recording unit sandwiched between every other recorded dot is applied again to the flip-flops 23a * 23b..., and the shift pulse SPJ shifts and rewrites the recording bit data. , a common signal is given to the common line C2 together with the strobe signal STR1, and the common electrodes 15a, 15c, .
・In the resistance band dividing part between the electrode 13* and j3b...
A recording current flows out corresponding to the stored data in FRI, PFROG 23*, 23b, . . . . In this way, the first stage recording operation of one main scanning line by the first head H1 is completed.

After the recording by the first head pinot is completed in this way, when the second head H2 is sub-scanned to the recording part by the first head H1, the second head pinot is simultaneously scanned by the first head pinot. The recording operation by the head H2 is performed, and as explained in FIG. 2, the recording dots by the second head H2 are formed between the recording dots by the first head H1. In other words, for example, a head structure that forms 6 dots in the area of 1 sweetfish will record 12 dots in the area of 1 sweetfish, and recording with extremely high density and high resolution will be possible. become.

Here, the thermal head as described above can be effectively constructed using thick film printing technology. That is, each electrode is formed protrudingly by thick film printing on an insulating substrate, and the electrodes are tied together or twisted (including the electrode part), and then a resistor is formed by thick film printing. For example, a hard glass coating layer is formed on the resistor'; As the contact with the paper is good, the !!i''! recording dots in each recording unit will be formed with great reliability.

Here, since the recording density in current facsimiles is usually 8 dots per message, in such a case, the recording density in the first and second healds H1°H2 is
Each cabinet should consist of 4 dots. Therefore, the width of each recording unit in each head H1, H2, that is, the recording dot, can be made sufficiently large. It is easy to increase the recording density of recording dots, and the recording quality can also be effectively improved.

Although the recording signal supplying means is illustrated in FIG. 3,
This is not limited to what is shown in this embodiment, and can be modified in various ways. In other words, a signal corresponding to the recorded data is supplied to the data electrode, and a common signal is supplied to one of the common electrodes on both sides of the data electrode.
1. It is sufficient if the recording unit is specified.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform main scanning line recording at double the density of the conventional method, and it is very effective in improving the resolution of recorded and reproduced images such as factor f IJ. be.

In the embodiment, two sets of heads are used, but three sets may be used. In this case, the positions of the recording dots in each head in the main scanning direction may be made different. It is. Furthermore, although it has been described that the dots recorded by the two sets of heads are recorded so as to be lined up on the same main scanning line, this is not particularly necessary, and they may be slightly shifted in the sub-scanning direction. In this way, the same result as increasing the recording dot density in the sub-scanning direction as well as in the main-scanning direction can be obtained.
High-resolution reproduced images can be effectively obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a thermal head device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining the state of recording dots by the device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a signal circuit in the head device. It is a diagram. l J, 12”・Resistance band, 13 &, 13
b-14&. 14 b-・-data electrode, 15h+15b"'16a
+16 b ・)・Common electrode, 17a, j 'yb
-y81. Jab... Recording unit, 23*, 23b...24 a
+24b...Trigger flip frozzo (configures shift register). Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue 13-

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of heat-generating resistor bands are set in parallel at small intervals so as to extend in the main scanning direction, and a large number of heat-generating resistor bands are arranged alternately so as to divide each of the heat-generating resistor bands into a large number of parts along lines along the main scanning line direction. means for supplying a common signal with alternating phases in lines along the main scanning line direction to the data electrode, the common electrode, and the common electrode corresponding to each of the plurality of heat generating resistor bands; means for distributing and supplying a recording data signal to data electrodes corresponding to each of the resistance bands, and forming heating recording units between the electrodes that divide the resistance band in each of the plurality of heating resistance bands. A thermal head device comprising a plurality of recording heads extending in the main scanning line direction, the recording units of each of the recording heads being set at different positions with respect to the main scanning line direction. .