5-4
5.2 THERMAL HEAD DIVISION DRIVE METHOD
In the thermal head of the printer, there are 6 blocks (every 64 dots) in 1 dot line for LTPD245D. There are 5
blocks (4 blocks are divided every 128 dots and 1 block is divided 64dots) in 1 dot line for LTPD345D. These
blocks are called physical blocks. DST signal is allocated to each physical block to activate it. To drive the
thermal head, physical blocks are activated in groups. The group of physical blocks is called a logical block.
The following two methods are available as thermal head division drive methods. Select one you desire.
(1) Fixed division method
Logical blocks (physical blocks to be driven at the same time) are predetermined for the fixed division
method.
In this method, high quality printing is available because the physical blocks are always driven in the
same order.
(2) Dynamic division method
Logical blocks are predetermined so that number of dots of the physical block does not exceed the
specified maximum number of the activating dots for every 1 dot line printing. Logical blocks are
predetermined for every 1 dot line printing.
The maximum current consumption can be controlled within a constant value.
Since the order of the printing block and print speed are changed in each dot line according to the
content of the print data, print quality in this method may be lower than that in fixed division method. If
print quality is regarded as important, printing in fixed division method is recommended.