Patent ID: 7293851

Claim:
A drive device that drives a liquid discharging head to discharge, in accompaniment with the application of a drive signal voltage to a drive element, recording droplets from a nozzle disposed with the drive element, the drive device comprising: a fundamental waveform data supply component that generates/supplies plural types of fundamental waveform data representing fundamental waveforms whose voltage level changes in two stages; and a drive signal voltage generation component that generates plural types of fundamental waveform voltages by boosting, to mutually different voltage levels, the plural types of fundamental waveform data supplied from the fundamental waveform data supply component, and generates a drive signal voltage whose voltage level changes in at least three stages by switching, in accordance with an inputted selection signal, the fundamental waveform voltage to be selectively outputted as the drive signal voltage from the generated plural types of fundamental waveform voltages; wherein the drive element is a piezoelectric element, and the drive device further comprises a selection signal generation component that generates, as a selection signal inputted to the drive signal voltage generation component, a signal that creates, for a predetermined time, a no-output period where none of the plural fundamental waveform voltages are outputted at the time of switching the fundamental waveform voltage outputted as the drive signal voltage.