Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Nippon Telegraph

Michio Tsuchiya

Masaaki Terazawa

Shuji Otsuka

Kouichi Mino

Yutaka Nonomura

Koji Matsumura

Hakudai Kondo

Eiichi Ohta

Kazuhiro Kuwabara

Suzuyo Murai

Tetsuo Harano

Hiroya Inagaki

Koji Takeyama

Takayuki Matsumoto

Kouzi Takeyama

Mutumi Otobe

Disclosed herein is a thermal recording apparatus used, in facsimile machines, printers, etc., comprising a thermal head, a driving circuit and a temperature compensation circuit. The head has heating resistors which, driven by the driving circuit, generate heat by which to thermally record images, characters and other information on a recording medium. The temperature compensation circuit, detecting thermal head temperatures, has a charging-discharging circuit whose output charging-discharging signal varies with the temperature detected. The compensation circuit also comprises a reference signal generation circuit and an output circuit, the reference signal generation circuit outputs a reference signal to the output circuit based on information by which to control the head temperature suitably under various internal and external conditions affecting the head temperature inside and apparatus. The output circuit acquires information on actual head temperatures from the charging-discharging signal. The circuit obtains information from the reference signal on the status of the apparatus and any external factors affecting it. Based on these types of information, the output circuit outputs a temperature compensation signal. The driving circuit drives the heating resistors according to the compensation signal.

Head driving pulse generation circuit for thermal recording apparatus

An optical image reading apparatus for photoelectrically reading images formed in at least two colors on a surface of an original having a base color different from the at least two colors, including a first reading device for obtaining a first image signal for each of a multiplicity of reading spots in a predetermined area on the original. The first image signal has two different levels one of which corresponds to the base color and the other of which corresponds to the at least two colors. The apparatus further includes a second reading device for obtaining a second image signal for the each reading spot. The second image signal cooperates with the first image signal to discriminate each of the at least two colors from the other of the at least two colors. Provisions are made for determining whether the levels of the first image signals for all of the multiplicity of reading spots are equal to the above-indicated one level corresponding to the base color, or not. If so, the second reading device is inhibited from operating to obtain the second inage signal for each reading spot.

Optical image reading apparatus capable of reading multi-colored original

A recording apparatus for recording images in the form of a multiplicity of dots, including a print head having a linear array of dot-forming elements for forming dots along a straight line, a supporting device for supporting a recording medium in facing relation with the print head, a feeding device for feeding the recording medium and the print head relative to each other in a feeding direction which intersects the straight line of dots, and a control device for controlling the dot-forming elements to effect a primary recording operation for recording a plurality of primary lines according to respective sets of primary line data, such that the primary lines are equally spaced from each other in the feeding direction. The control device controls the dot-forming elements to also effect a secondary or supplemental recording operation for recording at least one secondary line between adjacent two lines of the plurality of primary lines, according to secondary line data. The secondary line data is prepared based on at least one of the two sets of primary line data which represent the adjacent two primary lines, respectively, such that the secondary lines improve a quality of the images recorded on the recording medium.

Recording apparatus having linear array of dot-forming elements for

A thermal printer for printing on a planar recording medium, by heating and thereby coloring a thermally fusible material on the medium. The printer has a thermal print head having heat-generating elements each of which produces heat in contact with the surface of the recording medium, a feeding device for feeding the print head and the recording medium relative to each other, and an anti-sticking device for moving the print head and the recording medium relative to each other, to thereby prevent the print head and the surface of the recording medium from sticking to each other, when the heated thermally fusible material is solidified.

Thermal printer having control arrangement for protecting print head

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Michio Tsuchiya