Achieving laser-quality medical hardcopy output from thermal print devices

A method of transmitting pulse information to a plurality of thermal elements, comprising:

• receiving a plurality of energy index values, the plurality of energy index values representing energy needed to create a specified optical density on a media by the plurality of thermal elements corresponding to the plurality of energy index values;
• comparing the plurality of energy index values to an activating energy level of a first pulse position in a pulse stream;
• generating an active pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the plurality of energy index values that is greater than the activating energy level of the pulse position in the pulse stream;
• and
• generating an inactive pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the plurality of energy index values that is less than or equal to the activating energy level of the pulse position in the pulse stream.

A method of transmitting pulse information to a plurality of thermal elements, comprising:

• receiving, at an engine controller that controls a print engine a row of energy index values;
• transmitting, from the engine controller, the row of energy index values;
• receiving, at a printhead controller, the row of energy index values;
• storing, in a frame buffer, the row of energy index values, each of the energy index values being stored in an active subregister;
• comparing, by comparison logic, the energy index values in each of the active subregisters to an activating energy level for a first bit position in a pulse activation table, the pulse activation table including a plurality of entries where each of the plurality of entries corresponds to a bit position in a pulse stream;
• generating an active pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is greater than or equal to the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• generating an inactive pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is less than the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• and
• transmitting an activation signal to the plurality of thermal elements, the activation signal based on the generated active pulse or the generated inactive pulse for each of the row of energy index values.

A method of transmitting pulse information to a plurality of thermal elements, comprising:

• receiving, at an engine controller that controls a print engine, a row of energy index values;
• storing, in a frame buffer, the row of energy index values, each of the energy index values being stored in an active subregister;
• comparing, by comparison logic in the engine controller, the energy index values in each of the active subregisters to an activating energy level for a first bit position in a pulse activation table, the pulse activation table including a plurality of entries where each of the plurality of entries corresponds to a bit position in a pulse stream;
• generating an active pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is greater than or equal to the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• generating an inactive pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is less than the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• and
• transmitting, from the engine controller, an activation signal to the plurality of thermal elements, the activation signal based on the generated active pulse or the generated inactive pulse for each of the row of energy index values.

A method of transmitting pulse information to a plurality of thermal elements, comprising:

• receiving, at host controller that controls a print engine, a row of energy index values;
• storing, in a frame buffer in the host controller, the row of energy index values, each of the energy index values being stored in an active subregister;
• comparing, by comparison logic in the host controller, the energy index values in each of the active subregisters to an activating energy level for a first bit position in a pulse activation table, the pulse activation table including a plurality of entries where each of the plurality of entries corresponds to a bit position in a pulse stream;
• generating an active pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is greater than or equal to the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• generating an inactive pulse for a duration of a pulse time for each of the row of energy index values that is less than the activating energy level of the first pulse position in the pulse stream;
• and
• transmitting an activation signal to the plurality of thermal elements, the activation signal based on the generated active pulse or the generated inactive pulse for each of the row of energy index values.