Printing apparatus and printing data control method effecting distributed driving of printing elements

#The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and printing data control method and, more particularly, to a technique of processing printing data in a printing apparatus which performs printing by scanning a carriage that supports a printhead having a plurality of printing elements arrayed in a predetermined direction, on a printing medium in a direction perpendicular to the printing element array direction.

#A printer which performs printing information such as a desired character or image on a sheet-like printing medium such as a paper sheet or film is widely used as an information output apparatus in a wordprocessor, personal computer, facsimile apparatus, and the like.

#Various methods are known as printing methods in the printer. Especially an ink-jet method has recently received a great deal of attention because this method can realize noncontact printing on a printing medium such as a paper sheet, easily prints in color, and is quiet. Because of low cost and easy downsizing, a popular ink-jet arrangement is a serial printing system in which a printhead for discharging ink in accordance with desired printing information is mounted and prints while the printhead is reciprocally scanned in a direction perpendicular to the convey direction of a printing medium such as a paper sheet.

#The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

#FIG. 1 is a view showing an arrangement example of a buffer memory according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control arrangement according to the embodiment of the present invention;

#Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail in accordance with the accompanying drawings.

#In the following embodiments, a printing apparatus utilizing an inkjet printing system is explained as an example.

#In this specification, “print” means not only to form significant information such as characters and graphics, but also to form, e.g., images, figures, and patterns on printing media in a broad sense, regardless of whether the information formed is significant or insignificant or whether the information formed is visualized so that a human can visually perceive it, or to process printing media.