This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-044368 filed Feb. 21, 2003 which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink-jet head control circuit, an ink-jet head module, a data transmission method, and a liquid drop discharge apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An overview of a head unit of an ink-jet liquid drop discharge apparatus and a driving device thereof will be described with reference to
A latch signal LAT, which is obtained by delaying the print timing signal PTS for a predetermined amount of time, is supplied to the driving signal generator 915 from the high-rank unit. In addition, a static voltage VH of about 30 V is applied to the driving signal generator 915 and becomes a power source for a driving signal. The driving signal data input from a data bus is digital-to-analog (D/A) converted by the driving signal generator 915 and is output as the driving signal Vout.
Further, as shown in
An object substrate on which liquid drops are discharged using the aforementioned ink-jet liquid drop discharge apparatus has become larger. As the object substrate becomes larger, a distance that a head unit and a table on which a substrate is installed make a relative motion, that is, a main scanning distance becomes longer. The head unit and the driving device are connected through a flexible flat cable (FFC), for example. As the main scanning distance becomes longer, a signal path, such as an FFC, also becomes longer. If the signal path becomes longer, the ratio of the influence of noise from the outside becomes larger. Due to the influence of noise, the liquid drop discharge apparatus cannot perform a normal discharge operation. Further, for improvement of productivity, the number of head units or the number of nozzles tends to be increased. Thus, the data transmitted to the head unit increases. As such, the power consumption of the driving device or the head unit increases. For example, since the object substrate is large in a liquid drop discharge apparatus for industrial use, the influence of noise and the increase in power consumption cannot be ignored. The influence of noise and the increase in power consumption become larger when the main scanning distance is long and liquid drops are uniformly and consecutively discharged on the object substrate (so-called, the application of liquid drops to the entire surface of a region).
The present invention has been made to address the above problem in the prior art. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an ink-jet head control circuit, an ink-jet head module, a data transmission method, and a liquid drop discharge apparatus to reduce the influence of noise and to have low power consumption.
To address the problem and attain the object described above, according to the present invention, there is provided an ink-jet head control circuit comprising: a data storage unit, which respectively stores a first data block and a second data block following the first data block, for liquid drop discharge; and a data conversion unit, which calculates a state transition data block based on the first and second stored data blocks. If the first data block is the same as the second data block, the data conversion unit outputs a state transition data block having a first value, and if the first data block is different from the second data block, the data conversion unit outputs a state transition data block having a second value.
In a conventional head control circuit, a data block for liquid drop discharge is output to a head module. On the other hand, according to the present invention, a state transition data block calculated based on first and second data blocks for liquid drop discharge, instead of the data block for liquid drop discharge, is output. Here, the state transition data block is two-value data having a first value when the first data block is the same as the second data block and a second value when the first data block is different from the second data block. The value of the state transition data block varies only when there is a variation in a difference between data blocks to be compared. For example, when the first data block, the second data block, . . . , and an n-th data block have the same value, a difference between the compared data blocks is uniform, and there is no variation in the difference. Thus, in this case, the state transition data block maintains the first value. Only when there is a variation in the difference between the compared data blocks, the first value of the state transition data block is changed to the second value. The state transition data block reflects only varied information between original data blocks. For example, when the entire surface of an object substrate is to be treated, the same data block (discharge data) is consecutively output to the head module. In this case, since there is no variation in the data block, the amount of information of the state transition data block may be very small. The data conversion unit for the head control circuit converts the stored data block for liquid drop discharge into the state transition data steam. As a result, liquid drop discharge can be precisely performed using a small amount of information. Since the amount of information of the state transition data block is small, even when the main scanning distance is long, the influence of noise can be reduced. Further, since the amount of information of the state transition data block is small, the power consumption can be reduced.
In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ink-jet head control circuit is preferably provided in a driving device that outputs the state transition data block to an ink-jet head module for discharging liquid drops through a plurality of nozzles. Thus, state transition information can be transmitted simply by connecting the driving device to the head module.
In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the ink-jet head control circuit is preferably provided in a computer connected to a driving device that outputs the state transition data block to an ink-jet head module for discharging liquid drops through a plurality of nozzles. Thus, the driving device can be compact and the apparatus can be smaller.
According to the present invention, there can be provided an ink-jet head module for discharging liquid drops through a plurality of nozzles, comprising: a data storage unit, which stores a state transition data block calculated based on first and second data blocks for liquid drop discharge; and a data conversion unit, which converts the stored state transition data block into a data block for liquid drop discharge. If the state transition data block has a first value, the data conversion unit determines that the first data block to be the same as the second data block, and if the state transition data block has a second value, the data conversion unit determines that the first data block to be different from the second data block. In a conventional head module, discharge of liquid drops if performed based on a data block for liquid drop discharge from a driving device. On the other hand, according to the present invention, the head module receives the above-described state transition data block from the driving device. The data conversion unit also converts the state transition data block into a data block for liquid drop discharge. For this reason, liquid drop discharge can be precisely performed based on the state transition data block having a reduced amount of information. As a result, even when the main scanning distance is long, the influence of noise can be reduced. Further, since the amount of information of the state transition data block is small, the power consumption can be reduced.
According to the present invention, there can be provided a data transmission method of interfacing the above-described ink-jet head control circuit and the above-described ink-jet head module. Thus, data transmitted between the ink-jet head control circuit and the ink-jet head module can be output and input as state transition information having a compressed amount of data. As a result, even when the main scanning distance is long, the influence of noise can be reduced. Further, since the data amount of the state transition data block is small, the power consumption can be reduced. In particular, when the same data is repeatedly transmitted to same nozzle, an increased effect can be expected.
According to the present invention, there can be provided a liquid drop discharge apparatus comprising the above-described ink-jet head control circuit and the above-described ink-jet head module. The liquid drop discharge apparatus includes the ink-jet head control circuit and the ink-jet head module by combining them. Thus, state transition information having a small amount of data can be output from the head control circuit to the head module. As a result, even when the main scanning distance is long, the influence of noise can be reduced. Further, since the data amount of the state transition data block is small, the power consumption can be reduced.
a) and 2(b) are block diagrams of the driving device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
a)–7(h) are timing charts of data transmission according to prior art.
a)–8(h) are timing charts of a data transmission method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, an overview of a driving device 110 having an ink-jet head control circuit 105 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
A latch signal LAT, which is obtained by delaying the print timing signal PTS for a predetermined amount of time, is supplied to the driving signal generator 115 from the high-rank unit. In addition, a static voltage VH of about 30 V is applied to the driving signal generator 115 and becomes a power source for a driving signal. The driving signal data input from a data bus is digital-to-analog (D/A) converted by the driving signal generator 115 and is output as the driving signal Vout.
In addition, a data determination unit 112 that is the data conversion unit determines the contents of the stored data block. The data determination unit 112 will be described later in detail. A clock signal generator (not shown) generates an internal shift clock signal ICLK to drive the shift shifter 113 in the driving device 110 and an external shift clock signal SCLK to drive a shift register 151 in the head unit 150. The shift register 113 converts a parallel state transition data block into a serial data block SDATA and outputs the serial data block SDATA to the head unit 150. The state transition data block will be described later in detail.
Next, the schematic structure of the head unit 150 will be described. The shift register 151 to which the data block SDATA that is the serially converted state transition data block is input, is provided in the head unit 150.
In addition, the head unit 150 includes a nozzle driving unit 155 having an actuator for driving a nozzle (not shown) communicating with each of a plurality of liquid drop containers, and a selector 154 for selecting a driving nozzle. A data storage unit, that is, a latch circuit 153 for processing the data block SDATA transmitted from the driving device 110 and storing the processed data block for each nozzle is provided at the preceding stage of the selector 154. During signal input of the selector 154, a driving signal Vout transmitted from the driving device 110 is applied to the selector 154. During selective input of the selector 154, driving information distributed for each nozzle is applied to the selector 154. In the nozzle driving unit 155, actuators to which the driving signal Vout is applied are driven, thereby discharging liquid drops through a plurality of nozzles.
For example, assuming that the frequency of the external shift clock signal SCLK in sixty four (64) nozzle heads is 1 MHz, a latch signal LAT input into the latch circuit 153 is activated in synchronization with the driving signal Vout at a period of more than 64 μs. During this latch period, the data block SDATA that is a state transition data block at a next period, is input to a data processor 152 that is a data conversion unit, through the shift register 151. The data processor 152 calculates a data block for liquid drop discharge based on the state transition data block. The data processor 152 will be described later in detail. A data block for liquid drop discharge from the data processor 152 is latched in the latch circuit 153 and is input into the selector 154.
According to the operating timing in the above configuration, when the latch signal LAT is activated, the driving signal Vout and the data block SDATA which is a state transition data block before one latch period, are transmitted from the driving device 110 to the head unit 150. In the head unit 150, a corresponding nozzle is driven based on a variety of transmitted signals or the data block SDATA and liquid drops are discharged to a predetermined region of a medium to be printed.
a) is a block diagram schematically showing the liquid drop discharge apparatus 100 (
In
Next, the head unit 150 will be described with reference to
Specifically, when the state transition data block has a first value (Low), the data conversion unit 152 determines that the first data block is the same as the second data block. When the state transition data block has a second value (High), the data conversion unit 152 determines that the first data block is different from the second data block. The converted data block for liquid drop discharge is latched in the latch circuit 153. Next, the data block is input into n selectors S1 to Sn in parallel in accordance with discharge timing. Each of the selectors S1 to Sn is composed of, for example, analog switches. A signal from the driving signal generator 115 in the driving device 110 is input to all of the selectors S1 to Sn. Next, in accordance with the contents of the converted data block for liquid drop discharge input into each of the selectors S1 to Sn, liquid drops are discharged through the corresponding nozzles N1 to Nn. Specifically, when selective input of a selector is 1 (High), an input signal is output without changes, and when selective input of the selector is 0 (Low), the input signal is not output. Thus, liquid drops are discharged only through a nozzle having data of 1 for liquid drop discharge.
The driving device 110 according to the present embodiment will be described in greater detail with reference to
a) to 7(h) are the timing charts of a prior-art data transmission. Here, each of the rows N1 to N8 corresponds to a nozzle. For example, N1 corresponds to a first nozzle, and N8 corresponds to an eighth nozzle.
In addition, referring the second column T2, all the rows N1 to N8 include discharge data (=1) that is represented as black dots. In addition, with respect to the last column T17, all the rows N1 to N8 are non-discharge data (=0) that is represented as white dots. In the prior art, an input data block is output without changes regardless of the contents of the data block input into the shift register 113 of the driving device 110. As such, a data amount between the driving device 110 and the head unit 150 is increased. Thus, if the main scanning direction between the driving device 110 and the head unit 150 becomes long, the ratio of influence by noise is increased. In addition, the power consumption increases according to an increase in a data amount. This problem becomes more serious when the ratio occupied by the discharge data (=1) is high as shown in
a) to 8(h) are the timing charts of a data transmission method of the driving device 110 according to the present embodiment.
Here, the first column T1 is compared with the second column T2 with respect to each row. With respect to the rows N1, N2, and N5 to N8, both the first column T1 and the second column T2 are discharge data (=1) and show the same contents. As such, as shown in the second column T2 of
Next, the second column T2 is compared with the third column T3. Both the second column T2 and the third column T3 have discharge data (=1) and show the same contents for all the rows. As such, as shown in the third column T3 of
In addition, a column T15 corresponding to a third from a last column is shown in a fifteenth column T15 of
Next, the fifteenth column T15 is compared with a sixteenth column T16. With respect to the rows N1, N2, and N5 to N8 of the first column T1 and the second column T2, discharge data (=1) is changed into non-discharge data (=0), thereby making a difference in data. As such, as shown in the sixteenth column T16 of
Further, the last column T17 is shown in a seventeenth column T17 of
As shown in
In addition, in the present embodiment, the ink-jet head control circuit 105 is provided in the driving device 110 which outputs the data block SDATA as the state transition data block to the head unit 150 for discharging liquid drops through a plurality of nozzles. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the head control circuit 105 may be provided in a computer 200 (
As a result, a prior-art driving device may be used as the driving device. In addition, the computer 200 may execute and perform data conversion utilizing software, instead of a circuit board. Further, a computer (preferably other than the computer 200 for controlling the driving device 110) may be used as the computer in which the head control circuit 105 is provided.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-044368 | Feb 2003 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5543828 | Minowa | Aug 1996 | A |
6897887 | Miyajima et al. | May 2005 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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05-116282 | May 1993 | JP |
09039272 | Feb 1997 | JP |
2002-264366 | Sep 2002 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040223012 A1 | Nov 2004 | US |