Patent ID: 6803989
Filing Date: 2004-10-12
Classification: B41J,B82Y,G03B,G06F,G06K,G07F,G11C,H04N

Abstract:
An image printing apparatus that comprises:a print head for printing images; and a microcontroller, in which the processor circuitry is in the form of VLIW processor circuitry, that comprises: a wafer substrate; the processor circuitry positioned on the wafer substrate; print head interface circuitry that is positioned on the wafer substrate and is connected between the processor circuitry and the print head, the print head interface circuitry being configured to facilitate communication between the processor circuitry and the print head and to define a number of registers for storing clocking and control information to be received by the print head in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, whereby the print head interface circuitry is connected to a buffer memory that, in turn, is connected to the processor circuitry, the print head interface circuitry being configured to receive a print image from the processor circuitry via the buffer memory in accordance with said clocking and control information and to pass the print image to the print head; and bus interface circuitry that is discrete from the print head interface circuitry and is connected to the processor circuitry so that the processor circuitry can communicate with devices other than the print head via a bus.