Interface circuit and thermal history control method

An interface circuit that is connected to both, a system controller that controls a system of a thermal printer, and a driving circuit that controls driving of a heat generating element installed in a thermal head, and that transfers a print data signal and a control signal output from the system controller, to the driving circuit, the interface circuit comprising:

• an operation controller that controls an operation state of the interface circuit;
• a converter that outputs divided print data signals, each divided print data signal of the divided print data signals resulting from division of the print data signal into the divided print data signals each having a predetermined bit width;
• a storage that stores the divided print data signals;
• a data controller that controls an order of each of writing of the divided print data signals into the storage and reading of the divided print data signals from the storage;
• a logical arithmetic module that performs logical arithmetic operations based on the divided print data signals, and a history pulse signal included in the control signal, and generates and outputs a history print data signal that defines heat generating time periods of dots corresponding to print lines that are printed on the basis of the divided print data signals;
• and
• a conversion clock synchronizer that outputs the history print data signal in synchronization with a driving signal for the thermal head.