Patent ID: 7252352

Claim:
A printer, comprising: a controller, receiving image data for outputting an address signal, a bank signal and a plurality of control signals; a print head, coupled to the controller, comprising: a plurality of address lines; a plurality of bank lines; a plurality of control lines directly connecting to a plurality of print units and generating a plurality of control signals to control the plurality of print units; a plurality of print modules, corresponding to the plurality of address lines and the plurality of bank lines, each print module comprising the plurality of print units, each print unit comprising a heating element and a switch unit directly coupled to the plurality control lines for controlling the heating element; and when an address signal and a bank signal are applied by a predetermined address line of the plurality of address lines and a predetermined bank line of the plurality bank lines, and a plurality of control signals is transferred to the plurality of control lines, a switch unit is turned on according to the plurality of control signals for generating a driving current to activate the heating element of the switch unit, wherein k number of control signals from k number of control lines generate 2 k control types, each for controlling an associate switch unit of 2 k switch units, and wherein k is greater than one.