Patent ID: 7465004

Claim:
A recording apparatus for performing a recording operation on a recording medium on the basis of recording information, such that the recording operation is performed with a plurality of recording colors, said recording apparatus comprising: a recording head having (i) recording elements which are arranged in a plurality of rows, and (ii) drive electrodes which are arranged in a plurality of rows and which receive respective drive signals to drive the respective recording elements; information storages each storing a portion of said recording information which is related to a corresponding one of the recording colors; a converter which converts serially transmitted data representative of said recording information, into parallel signals serving as said drive signals applied to said drive electrodes; and a controller which reads out said recording information from said information storages and which transmits said data serially to said converter; wherein said plurality of rows of said drive electrodes are associated with the respective recording colors, wherein said serially transmitted data includes a plurality of data elements each related to a corresponding one of said recording elements, wherein said converter has a plurality of output terminals which are connected to the respective drive electrodes across said plurality of rows of said drive electrodes, and are arranged in a row in an order generally corresponding to arrangement of said drive electrodes from one end of said recording head to the other end thereof, wherein said controller transmits said data representative of said recording information to said converter serially in association with said drive electrodes, in an order corresponding to arrangement of said output terminals, wherein said controller reads out said recording information from said information storages in said order corresponding to said arrangement of said output terminals, and wherein said controller forms said serially transmitted data representative of said recording information such that said plurality of data elements of said data are arranged in said order corresponding to said arrangement of said output terminals, so as to transmit said plurality of data elements to said converter in said order corresponding to said arrangement of said output terminals.