Printing head, printing method and apparatus using same, and apparatus and method for correcting said printing head

A printing head having resistive elements for driving a plurality of printing elements and a circuit for performing printing by flowing a current through said resistive elements in dependence upon printing data, said printing head comprising:

• an input terminal for entering data related to leading-edge and trailing-edge timings of each pulse to be applied to said resistive elements;
• memory means for storing plural items of the data entered from said input-terminal;
• counting means for counting a clock signal and outputting a timing signal;
• detecting means for detecting resistance values or temperature values of said resistive elements;
• and
• electrifying means for generating the pulses to drive said resistive elements upon selecting any one of the plural items of the data stored in said memory means, in dependence upon the timing signal outputted by said counting means and the resistance values or temperature values detected by said detecting means.

A printing apparatus for printing an image on a printing medium by electrifying and driving a printing head, wherein said printing head has resistive elements for driving a plurality of printing elements, an input terminal for entering data related to leading-edge and trailing-edge timings of each pulse to be applied to said resistive elements, memory means for storing the data entered from said input terminal, counting means for counting a clock signal and outputting a timing signal, and electrifying means for generating the pulses to drive said resistive elements in dependence upon the timing signal outputted by said counting means and the data stored in said memory means, said apparatus comprising:

• characteristic information storing means for storing printing characteristics of said printing elements of said printing head;
• transfer means for selecting the data stored in said memory means, based on the printing characteristics which have been stored in said characteristic information storing means, and transferring the data to said printing head;
• and
• printing electrifying means for outputting the clock signal to said counting means when printing is performed by driving said resistive elements of said printing head in conformity with image data.