The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 20, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 27, 1995
Hiroshi Izumi, Morioka, JP;
Alps Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method for controlling heat generated by the heat-generating elements of a thermal head, the elements being successively actuated to heat the thermal head in response to an electrical current which is applied to each of the plurality elements from a control circuit for a power-on time which is n times a minimum time period. The method includes determining a calculated power-on time for a selected element and assigning the power-on time for the selected element one of: a value equal to the calculated power-on time if the calculated power-on time is equal to n times the minimum time period; a value equal to the calculated power-on time, rounded up to a nearest multiple of the minimum time period, if the calculated power-on time is not equal to n times the minimum time period, and if the selected element is an even-numbered one of said plurality of elements; and an actual power-on time equal to the calculated power-on time, rounded down to a nearest multiple of the minimum time period, if the calculated power-on time is not equal to n times the minimum time period, and if the selected element is an odd-numbered one of said plurality of elements.