TWI676869B - Printing head and method for improving the printing resolution - Google Patents

Abstract

This case discloses a print head and method for improving print resolution. The print head includes a plurality of light emitting elements, a conversion circuit and a driving circuit. The light emitting elements are arranged in series according to a density corresponding to a first resolution. The conversion circuit receives a second write signal supporting a second resolution and converts the second write signal into a first write signal supporting a first resolution. The first write signal includes a plurality of first clock intervals in the same period. The first clock interval includes at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state. The driving circuit drives the light-emitting element to be turned on or off according to the first write signal, so as to print a document with a second resolution.

Description

Print head and method for improving print resolution

This case relates to a print head, and in particular to a print head and method for improving print resolution.

Currently, the print resolution is determined based on the exposure resolution of the print head. If it is necessary to achieve a specific printing resolution, the printing head must be provided with at least light emitting elements corresponding to the arrangement density of the same resolution.

The present invention provides a printing head with improved printing resolution, including a plurality of light emitting elements, a conversion circuit and a driving circuit. The light emitting elements are arranged in series according to a density corresponding to a first resolution. The conversion circuit receives a second write signal supporting a second resolution and converts the second write signal into a first write signal supporting a first resolution. The first write signal includes a plurality of first clock intervals in the same period. The first clock interval includes at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state. The driving circuit is connected between the plurality of light-emitting elements and the conversion circuit, and drives the light-emitting elements to turn on or off with a first writing signal, wherein the light-emitting elements correspond to the first clock interval one-to-one, and each light-emitting element is The first clock interval is on or off for the high level or low level.

This case also provides a method for improving the print resolution of a print head. The print head includes a plurality of light-emitting elements arranged in series according to a density corresponding to a first resolution. The method for improving the print resolution of a print head includes: receiving a second write signal that supports a second resolution; converting the second write signal into a first write signal that supports a first resolution , Wherein the first write signal includes a plurality of first clock intervals of the same period, and the first clock interval includes at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state; and A writing signal drives the light-emitting element to turn on or off, wherein the light-emitting element corresponds to the first clock interval one-to-one, and each light-emitting element is turned on according to whether the corresponding first clock interval is high or low. On or off.

In summary, by applying the embodiment of the present case, the light emitting elements arranged according to the density of the first resolution can be used to print a higher resolution (second resolution) document, which can reduce the hardware installation cost. And reduce hardware complexity and failure probability.

In the following, a plurality of implementations of this case will be disclosed graphically. For the sake of clear description, many practical details will be explained in the following description. However, it should be understood that these practical details should not be applied to limit the case. That is, in some embodiments of this case, these practical details are unnecessary. In addition, in order to simplify the drawings, some conventional structures and components will be shown in the drawings in a simple and schematic manner.

Referring to FIG. 1, it is a schematic diagram of the print head sensitivity according to an embodiment of the present invention. The print head includes a light emitting module 300 and a lens array 200 for outputting light toward the photosensitive drum 100. Where the photosensitive drum 100 receives light, a photoelectric effect will be generated and the toner can be adsorbed, so that a document can be printed. The light emitting module 300 includes a plurality of light emitting chips 310. Each light-emitting chip 310 includes a plurality of light-emitting elements 311, and the light-emitting elements 311 may be light-emitting diodes or light-emitting gate fluids. The light-emitting chip 310 is long, and the light-emitting elements 311 are arranged in series along the long axis of the light-emitting chip 310. The light emitting module 300 is also elongated, and the light emitting chips 310 are staggered along both sides of the long axis of the light emitting module 300. The lens array 200 includes a plurality of lens units 210, which are arranged in two rows corresponding to the light emitting elements 311 to correspondingly receive light output from the light emitting elements 311 (as indicated by the arrows in the figure). Thereby, the light can be calibrated and output to the photosensitive drum 100 (as indicated by the arrow in the figure). Here, although the light-emitting chip 310 is disposed on both sides of the long axis of the light-emitting module 300, from a large perspective, the exposure of the photosensitive drum 100 is a straight line. In other words, not only the light-emitting elements 311 on each light-emitting chip 310 are arranged in series with a density of the first resolution; macroscopically, the light-emitting elements 311 of these light-emitting chips 310 are also connected in series with a density corresponding to the first resolution arrangement. That is, the density between the light-emitting elements 311 (the long-axis direction of the light-emitting chip 310) is the number of light-emitting elements 311 within a unit length, and generally it is usually expressed in units of dots per inch (dpi). Here, the first resolution is 600 dpi as an example.

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a print head according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The print head further includes a driving circuit 400 and a conversion circuit 500. The conversion circuit 500 receives a second write signal S2 that supports a second resolution. Here, the second resolution is twice the first resolution, that is, 1200 dpi. However, in some embodiments, the second resolution may also be a resolution of 2400 dpi, or even higher. This case does not limit the first resolution and the second resolution. The conversion circuit 500 can convert the second write signal S2 into a first write signal S1 that supports a first resolution. The driving circuit 400 is connected between the conversion circuit 500 and the light-emitting elements 311 of each light-emitting chip 310 in the light-emitting module 300, and the light-emitting element 311 can be driven to turn on or off according to the first write signal S1. The operation principle will be described below.

Referring to FIG. 3, it is a schematic diagram of a write signal in the first embodiment of the present application. The second writing signal S2 is sent by a printing device. For the printing device, the resolution of the document to be printed is the second resolution. The printing device is a device having a printing head described in this case, such as a printer, a photocopier, and the like. In one embodiment, the second write signal S2 is sent by an electronic device, such as a computer, a mobile phone, and the like, connected to the printing device having the print head described in this case. The second write signal S2 is composed of a plurality of second clock intervals t2 in the same period, and the time length of the second clock interval t2 is defined by the second clock signal clk2. The state of each second clock interval t2 in the second write signal S2 can correspondingly control whether a pixel is printed with ink color. In other words, the first second clock interval t2 can control whether the first pixel is printed in ink color; the second second clock interval t2 can control whether the second pixel is printed in ink color, and so on analogy. The second clock interval t2 is in the all-high level state (that is, the high clock level is maintained during the second clock interval t2) or the all-low level state (that is, the low clock level is maintained in the second clock interval t2) ).

Here, if the second clock interval t2 is an all-high level state ("1"), it means that the ink color is to be output; if the second clock interval t2 is an all-low level state ("0"), it means that it is not output Ink color. In an embodiment, a low level interval may indicate that the ink color is not output, and a high level interval may indicate that the ink color is to be output.

However, in reality, the light-emitting elements 311 of the embodiment of the present invention are arranged at a density of a first resolution, and the light-emitting elements 311 correspond to the first clock interval t1 one-to-one in sequence, so the first write signal S1 is the first The number of clock intervals t1 should be one and a half of the second clock interval t2. Originally, only documents with the first resolution can be printed. However, after the second writing signal S2 is converted into the first writing signal S1 through the conversion circuit 500, a document with a second resolution can be printed according to the requirements of the printing device or the electronic device. The conversion method is such that the first clock interval t1 of the first write signal S1 includes at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state. The first clock interval t1 is turned on or off for a high level or a low level. The conversion circuit 500 sequentially converts every two second clock intervals t2 into one first clock interval t1. When two adjacent second clock intervals t2 are all in the high level state (ie, "11"), the first clock interval t1 is converted into the all high level state. When two adjacent second clock intervals t2 are all in the low level state (ie, "00"), the first clock interval t1 is converted into the all low level state. When two adjacent second clock intervals t2 are in the all-high level state and the all-low level state (ie, "10" or "01"), the first clock interval t1 is converted into a partial high-level state. Therefore, except that the light-emitting element 311 may be turned on (for example, at A) or turned off (for example, at B) in the first clock interval t1, some of the light-emitting elements 311 are not all in the first clock interval t1. Lights up from time to time (such as at C), so that the exposure time at C is shorter than the exposure time at A. Here, the high level period of some high level states is half of the high level period of all high level states, but this case is not limited to this. If you want to slightly increase the length of the ink color printed, you can extend the high-level period of some high-level states; conversely, if you want to slightly shorten the length of ink color printed, you can increase the high-level period of some high-level states shorten.

Here, the light-emitting element 311 is lit during the writing signal is in the high level state, and is turned off during the low level state. In one embodiment, the light-emitting element 311 can be turned on during the writing signal is in a low level state, and turned off during the high level state.

As shown in FIG. 3, as a comparison, the third write signal S3 and the third clock signal clk3 are also used to illustrate the control of the traditional first resolution. In the third clock interval t3 of the third clock signal clk, if the corresponding two second clock intervals t2 are all high level states or all low level states, the entire third clock interval t3 corresponds to It is all high level state (such as D position) or all low level state (such as E position). However, if the two second clock intervals t2 corresponding to the third clock interval t3 are an all-high level state and an all-low level state, the entire third clock interval t3 can only be selected as the all-high level state. State (such as at F) or all low level state (such as at G).

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are exposure schematic diagrams of the first write signal S1 and the third write signal S3 of the first embodiment of the present invention, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, it is shown that the photosensitive drum 100 receives the exposure light amount of the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to A and C in FIG. 3. Since the first clock interval t1 at A is in a full-height level state, the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to the A clock is turned on at all times in the first clock interval t1. Therefore, the photosensitive drum 100 continuously accumulates the received light amount in the first clock interval t1 at A, so it can be seen that the peak of the dotted wave on the left side of FIG. 4 exceeds 0.8 AU (arbitrary unit, arbitrary unit). On the other hand, the first clock interval t1 at C is only partially in a high level state, so that the light emitting element 311 corresponding to C is turned on only during the period corresponding to the high level state. Therefore, the photoreceptor drum 100 can accumulate the received light quantity only in the first clock interval t1 of part C, so it can be seen that the peak of the dotted wave on the right side of FIG. 4 is only about 0.4 AU. The superposition of these two dotted waves is the total accumulated light quantity (as shown by the solid line waves). Assuming that the photoreceptor drum 100 reaches 0.4 AU, the ink color can be printed. As shown in FIG. 4, the length of the printable ink color is about 63 micrometers (μm). Looking at FIG. 5, it shows that the photosensitive drum 100 receives the exposure light amount of the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to H and F in FIG. 3. Since the third clock interval t3 at both the H and F locations is at a high level at all times, the light-emitting elements 311 corresponding to the two H and F locations are lit at full time in the third clock interval t3. Therefore, the photoreceptor drum 100 continuously accumulates the received light amount in the third clock interval t3 of H and F. Therefore, it can be seen that FIG. 5 has two dotted waves with peaks exceeding 0.8AU. The superposition of these two dashed waves is the total accumulated light quantity (as shown by the solid line). Similarly, assuming that the photosensitive drum 100 reaches 0.4 AU in cumulative printing, the ink color can be printed. As shown in FIG. 5, the length of the printable ink color is about 84.6 micrometers (μm). In other words, the distance of the ink color printed in FIG. 4 is 1.5 dots at 600 dpi, and the distance of the ink color printed in FIG. 5 is 2 dots at 600 dpi. It can be seen that through the embodiment of the present case, the resolution limit of 600dpi can be broken and the printed line segments can be precisely controlled, which is similar to raising the resolution to 1200dpi.

Referring to FIG. 6, it is a schematic diagram of a write signal in the second embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment, the content of the second writing signal S2 is transformed, and the principle of converting the content into the first writing signal S1 and the third writing signal S3 is the same as described above, and the description is not repeated here. 7 and FIG. 8 are schematic diagrams of exposure of the first write signal S1 and the third write signal S3 of the second embodiment of the present invention, respectively. As shown in FIG. 7, it is shown that the photosensitive drum 100 receives the exposure light amount of the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to I to K in FIG. 6. Assuming that the photosensitive drum 100 reaches 0.4 AU, the ink color can be printed. As shown in FIG. 7, the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to J is used as the origin, and the range of ink color that can be printed is -42.3 μm from the origin To 42.3 μm. As shown in FIG. 8, it shows that the photosensitive drum 100 receives the exposure light amount of the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to L to M in FIG. 6. Similarly, assuming that the photosensitive drum 100 reaches 0.4AU in cumulative reception, the ink color can be printed. As shown in FIG. 8, the light-emitting element 311 corresponding to M is used as the origin, and the range of the ink color that can be printed is -63.4 from the origin μm to 21.1 μm. In other words, although the distance between the ink colors printed in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 is also two dots of 600 dpi, FIG. 7 can accurately control the position of the ink colors to be printed compared to FIG. 8.

As can be seen from the first and second embodiments described above, the first clock interval t1 (such as at C) of a certain high level state and at least one first clock interval t1 (such as at A ) Adjacent.

According to the above embodiments, this case also proposes a method for improving the print resolution of the print head, which first receives a second write signal S2 that supports the second resolution; then, converts the second write signal to support the first Resolution of the first write signal S1, wherein the first write signal S1 includes a plurality of first clock intervals t1 of the same period, and the first clock interval t1 includes at least one all-high level state and at least one all-low level State and at least a part of the high level state; finally, the first writing signal S1 is used to drive the light-emitting element 311 to turn on or off, wherein the light-emitting element 311 corresponds to the first clock interval t1 one-to-one, and The corresponding first clock interval t1 is turned on or off for a high level or a low level.

Although this case has been disclosed as above in implementation, it is not intended to limit the case. Any person skilled in this art can make various modifications and retouches without departing from the spirit and scope of the case. Therefore, the scope of protection of this case should be considered after The attached application patent shall prevail.

100‧‧‧photosensitive drum

200‧‧‧ lens array

210‧‧‧ lens unit

300‧‧‧light emitting module

310‧‧‧LED

311‧‧‧light-emitting element

400‧‧‧Drive circuit

500‧‧‧ conversion circuit

clk1‧‧‧ first clock signal

clk2‧‧‧Second clock signal

clk3‧‧‧ Third Clock Signal

S1‧‧‧First write signal

S2‧‧‧Second write signal

S3‧‧‧ Third write signal

t1‧‧‧first clock interval

t2‧‧‧ second clock interval

t3‧‧‧ third clock interval

A ~ M‧‧‧ clock interval

[Fig. 1] A schematic diagram of the print head sensitivity according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 2] A schematic block diagram of a print head according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 3] Schematic diagram of writing signals in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 4] An exposure schematic diagram of a first write signal in the first embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 5] Exposure diagram of the third write signal of the first embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 6] Schematic diagram of writing signals in the second embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 7] A schematic diagram of exposure of a first write signal in the second embodiment of the present invention. [Fig. 8] An exposure schematic diagram of a third write signal according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (10)

A printing head for improving printing resolution includes: a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in series according to a density corresponding to a first resolution; a conversion circuit for receiving a second writing signal supporting one of the second resolution, And converting the second write signal into a first write signal that supports the first resolution, wherein the first write signal includes a plurality of first clock intervals in the same period, and the first clock intervals Including at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state; and a driving circuit connected between the plurality of light emitting elements and the conversion circuit, and driven by the first write signal The plurality of light-emitting elements are turned on or off, wherein the plurality of light-emitting elements correspond to the plurality of first clock intervals one-to-one, and each of the light-emitting elements is at a high level or a low level according to the corresponding first clock interval The second write signal is composed of a plurality of second clock intervals, and the second clock interval is the all-high level state or the all-low level state, and the conversion circuit sequentially Every second The second section is converted to a clock of the first clock interval. The print head for improving print resolution as described in claim 1, wherein when two adjacent second clock intervals are in the full height level state, the first clock interval is converted into the full height Level state, when two adjacent second clock intervals are in the all low level state, the first clock interval is converted to the all low level state, and when two adjacent the second clock intervals are in the all low level state, When the clock interval is the all-high level state and the all-low level state, the first clock interval is converted to the partial high-level state. The print head for improving print resolution as described in claim 1, wherein the first clock interval that is a part of the high level state is adjacent to at least one of the first clock interval that is the full high state . The print head for improving print resolution as described in claim 1, wherein the high level period of the high level state of the part is half of the high level period of the full high level state. The print head for improving print resolution as described in claim 1, wherein the second resolution is twice the first resolution. A method for improving the print resolution of a print head. The print head includes a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in series according to a density corresponding to a first resolution. The method includes: receiving support for a second resolution; Two write signals; converting the second write signal into a first write signal supporting one of the first resolutions, wherein the first write signal includes a plurality of first clock intervals of the same period, and the first The clock interval includes at least one all-high level state, at least one all-low level state, and at least a part of high-level state; and driving the plurality of light-emitting elements to turn on or off with the first write signal, wherein the plurality of light-emitting elements One-to-one correspondence with the plurality of first clock intervals, and each of the light-emitting elements is turned on or off according to whether the corresponding first clock interval is high or low; wherein the second write signal Composed of a plurality of second clock intervals, and the second clock interval is the all-high level state or the all-low level state, the method further includes: sequentially converting every two of the second clock intervals into The first clock zone . The method for improving the print resolution of a print head as described in claim 6, wherein when the two adjacent second clock intervals are in the all-high level state, the first clock interval is converted into In the all-high level state, when two adjacent second clock intervals are in the all-low level state, the first clock interval is converted into the all-low level state. When the second clock interval is the all-high level state and the all-low level state, the first clock interval is converted to the partial high-level state. The method for improving print resolution of a print head as described in claim 6, wherein the first clock interval of the partial high level state is at least one of the first clock interval of the full high level state. adjacent. The method for improving the print resolution of a print head as described in claim 6, wherein the high level period of the high level state of the part is half of the high level period of the full high level state. The method for increasing the print resolution of a print head as described in claim 6, wherein the second resolution is twice the first resolution.