Patent ID: 6042210
Filing Date: 2000-03-28
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
A method of driving an ink jet printer including:a plurality of piezoelectric elements divided into N groups, each of said N groups containing M-number piezoelectric elements, said plurality of piezoelectric elements further divided into M sub-groups, each of said M sub-groups containing N-number piezoelectric elements belonging to respective ones of said N groups individually, wherein N and M are integers equal to or greater than two, each of said plurality of piezoelectric elements having a first electrode and a second electrode;N-number time sharing lines provided in one-to-one correspondence to said N groups and connected to the first electrodes of said M-number piezoelectric elements belonging to corresponding groups; andM-number selection lines provided in one-to-one correspondence to said M sub-groups and connected to the second electrodes of said N-number piezoelectric elements belonging to corresponding sub-groups,the method comprising the steps of:coupling a driving voltage to a selected piezoelectric element through a corresponding time sharing line and a corresponding selection line; andcoupling non-driving voltages to all non-selected piezoelectric elements through corresponding time sharing lines and corresponding selection lines, wherein each of the non-driving voltages corresponds to a fraction of said driving voltage,wherein an ink droplet is ejected from a nozzle corresponding to said selected piezoelectric element and wherein the fraction of said driving voltage corresponding to each of said non-driving voltages is sufficient so that no ink droplet is ejected from nozzles corresponding to said non-selected piezoelectric elements.