Patent ID: 6729708
Filing Date: 2004-05-04
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
A printhead structured such that a plurality of printing elements arranged in a predetermined direction and a driving circuit driving the printing elements are provided on one substrate, and that the printing elements are divisionally driven in units of plural blocks, comprising:an input terminal serially inputting printing data corresponding to each printing element and encoded block data designating a block to be driven; a shift register sequentially shifting and storing one bit at a time the data serially inputted from said input terminal; a latch temporarily storing the data stored in said shift register; a decoder decoding the encoded block data among the data stored in said latch; and an AND circuit performing AND operation of the printing data outputted from said latch, an output of said decoder, and a driving signal designating driving timing of the driving circuit, wherein said decoder outputs a signal in which the encoded block data is partially decoded, said AND circuit determines a block to be driven based on the partially decoded signal, and a number of the output signal lines from said decoder is less than a number of the blocks.