Printing method and printer

Abstract

A printing method for printing a barcode forms a plurality of dots on a print medium from one end of the bars to the other end by discharging ink droplets from print nozzles assigned to print the bars from among a plurality of nozzles aligned in a direction intersecting the bars. The printing method divides the barcode in the direction of the length of the bars into a plurality of segments, changes which of the plural nozzles are assigned as print nozzles in each of the segments, and discharges ink from the print nozzles in each of the segments to print the barcode.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B show the arrangement of a printer according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B describe the arrangement of the nozzles in the print head of the printer according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the print head and control circuit of the printer according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 4A-4C describe the bitmap data of the printer according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 describes the arrangement of the print head driver and print head of the printer according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B describe the converted bitmap data of the printer according to the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 7A-7C describe the effect of the invention.

Claims

1. A printing method for printing a barcode by discharging ink droplets from print nozzles that are used for printing bars in the barcode, the printing method comprising: dividing the length of the bars of the barcode into a plurality of segments;changing which of the plurality of nozzles are used as print nozzles in each segment; andprinting the barcode by discharging the ink droplets from the print nozzles in each segment.

2. The printing method described in claim 1, wherein in said changing step, the plurality of print nozzles are reassigned so that bars in a first segment are shifted a predetermined direction relative to bars in a second segment.

3. The printing method described in claim 2, wherein the predetermined direction is towards the least significant digit of the information represented by the barcode when the barcode is seen from the front.

4. The printing method described in claim 1, wherein in said changing step, nozzles are offset a predetermined number of nozzles from print nozzles of a previous segment and are assigned as new print nozzles for a next segment.

5. The printing method described in claim 4, wherein the predetermined number of nozzles is one.

6. The printing method described in claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of nozzles is the same for each of said plurality of segments.

7. The printing method described in claim 1, wherein a number of said plurality of segments equals 3.

8. A printer for printing a barcode by discharging ink droplets from print nozzles that are used for printing bars in the barcode, the printer comprising: a CPU that divides the length of the bars of the barcode into a plurality of segments, changes which of the nozzles that are used as print nozzles in each segment such that the barcode is printed by discharging ink droplets from the print nozzles in each segment; anda head carriage mechanism for moving said print medium relative to said print nozzles.

9. A printer having a nozzle array comprised of a plurality of nozzles aligned in a row for discharging ink droplets to print barcodes composed of alternating bars and spaces by forming the bars by aligning a plurality of dots formed on a print medium by the ink droplets discharged from the nozzles, the printer comprising: a CPU that divides a bitmap data matrix into units of plural columns and converting the bitmap data to new bitmap data by shifting the data in each unit of plural columns in the row direction of the matrix, wherein the bitmap data matrix represents the bars and spaces of the barcode with the matrix rows corresponding to the bar length, and each matrix element is assigned to a particular nozzle and denotes whether the corresponding dot prints;a head carriage mechanism that moves the print medium and nozzle array relative to each other so that the print medium moves in a direction intersecting the nozzle array; anda head driver that discharges the ink droplets from the nozzles so that the bars extend along the direction of the relative movement of the nozzle array based on the new bitmap data.

10. The printing method described in claim 9, wherein the matrix is equal in size to the print resolution along the length of the bars and the print resolution perpendicular to the length of the bars.