Patent ID: 7740333

Claim:
A printhead including a plurality of printing elements and a plurality of driving elements for driving the plurality of printing elements, wherein the printhead prints by using the plurality of printing elements, the printhead comprising: a shift register which receives print data in synchronism with a clock signal; a latch circuit which latches the print data input to said shift register in synchronism with a latch signal; and a restriction circuit which restricts input of the print data and the clock signal to said shift register and input of the latch signal to said latch circuit in accordance with input of an enable signal for driving the plurality of driving elements, wherein said restriction circuit includes a tristate buffer, wherein a characteristic of said tristate buffer includes a rise response fast enough to turn on/off said tristate buffer in synchronism with an ON/OFF operation of the enable signal, and wherein when the enable signal is ON, said tristate buffer disables signal lines for supplying the print data, the clock signal, and the latch signal.