Method and printer utilizing a single microprocessor to modulate a printhead and implement printing functions
US6106172A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 24, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 22, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 24, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06K15/028
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Both a method and printer are provided that utilize a single microprocessor to modulate a thermal printhead and implement all other printing functions. In the method of the invention, the microprocessor expands numerical image data in the form of binary numbers indicative of the color tone of an image pixel into data bit streams. The microprocessor then stores at least a portion of each of the data bit streams in a temporary memory, and sequentially collates single bits of each of the data bit streams into a serial string of data bits which are then loaded into a shift register to modulate the thermal elements of the printhead. The storage of the expanded numerical image data into a temporary memory obviates the need for the microprocessor to expand each binary number of the image data a multiplicity of times, thereby allowing the microprocessor to modulate the thermal printhead while freeing up its capacity to implement all of the other necessary printing functions, thereby obviating the need for the ASIC used to modulate the printhead in prior art printers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.