Thermal printing control method and micro-processing chip

Abstract

The invention discloses a thermal printing control method and a micro-processing chip, and the thermal printing control method comprises the steps: responding to a printing request, and dividing pixel points of a to-be-printed line into at least a first group of pixel points and a second group of pixel points; the first group of pixel points are heated according to the heating pulses of the first sequence, the second group of pixel points are heated according to the heating pulses of the second sequence, and heating printing of the pixel points of the line to be printed is completed. The problems of overlarge instantaneous current, local overheating and the like caused by simultaneous heating of a plurality of pixel points in the thermal printing process are solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of image formation, and in particular to a thermal printing control method and a microprocessor chip. Background Art

[0002] Currently, thermal printing usually heats the heating element of the thermal print head to make it contact the thermal printing medium and form an image on the thermal printing medium. The working principle mainly relies on electric heating pulse control. According to different grayscale requirements, the depth of the image can be changed by controlling the heating time or the number of pulses.

[0003] In existing thermal printing, the thermal print head needs to reach a certain temperature before a clear image can be formed on the thermal printing medium. However, heating the entire row of pixels at the same time will cause the current load to increase instantly, which can easily cause overcurrent problems. In addition, when it is necessary to print a large area of ​​dark color, the continuous high current will cause the temperature to rise rapidly, causing local overheating problems, affecting the printing effect and shortening the service life of the print head. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal printing control method and a microprocessor chip to solve the problems of excessive instantaneous current and local overheating caused by simultaneous heating.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the present invention, a thermal printing control method is provided, the thermal printing control method comprising:

[0006] In response to a print request, dividing the pixel points of the to-be-printed row into at least a first group of pixel points and a second group of pixel points;

[0007] The first group of pixel points are heated according to the first sequence of heating pulses, and the second group of pixel points are heated according to the second sequence of heating pulses, thereby completing the heating printing of the pixel points of the to-be-printed row.

[0008] In some embodiments, the grayscale value of the pixel is achieved by a plurality of heating pulses with the same pulse width.

[0009] In some embodiments, heating and printing the pixel includes a total heating time;

[0010] The first sequence includes: at the beginning of the total heating time, continuously heating the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels;

[0011] The second sequence includes: when the total heating time ends, the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels complete continuous heating.

[0012] In this embodiment, by heating the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels with heating pulses in different orders, the number of pixels in the to-be-printed row that are heated simultaneously can be reduced, thereby avoiding excessive power.

[0013] In some embodiments, the heating pulses of the pixel points are represented by binary numbers, and the binary numbers include the number and order of the heating pulses of the corresponding pixel points;

[0014] The first sequence includes: performing byte conversion on the binary numbers corresponding to the first group of pixels so that the heating pulses heat continuously at the beginning of the total heating time;

[0015] The second sequence includes: performing byte conversion on the binary numbers corresponding to the second group of pixel points, so that the heating pulse completes continuous heating at the end of the total heating time.

[0016] In some embodiments, the grayscale value of the pixel is achieved by a plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths.

[0017] In some embodiments, the first sequence includes: heating the heating pulse corresponding to the first group of pixels at the beginning of the total heating time;

[0018] The second sequence includes: after completing the heating of the first sequence, heating the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels.

[0019] In this embodiment, the second group of pixels are heated after the heating pulse heating of the first group of pixels is completed, which can ensure that at most half of the pixels in the row to be printed are heated at the same time. When more grouping is performed, this embodiment can ensure that the maximum number of pixels in the row to be printed that are heated at the same time is further reduced.

[0020] In some embodiments, the first sequence comprises:

[0021] Heating the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels at intervals within the total heating time;

[0022] The second sequence includes: the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels are heated in the intervals of the first sequence.

[0023] In this embodiment, the pixels in the row to be printed are not heated continuously to avoid excessively high temperature of the pixels due to continuous heating.

[0024] In some embodiments, the first sequence includes: performing interval heating on the plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the first group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large;

[0025] The second sequence includes: performing interval heating on the plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the second group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large;

[0026] The first sequence of interval heating is complementary to the second sequence of interval heating.

[0027] In some implementations, the pixels of the to-be-printed row are divided into at least two groups, including:

[0028] The pixels of the to-be-printed line are divided into at least two groups according to the continuous pixels or the non-continuous pixels.

[0029] In this embodiment, grouping the pixel points of the to-be-printed row according to non-continuous pixel points can reduce the mutual influence of the temperatures caused by heating adjacent pixel points at the same time.

[0030] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a microprocessor chip is provided, wherein the microprocessor chip is used to execute the thermal printing control method as described above.

[0031] Compared with the prior art, the thermal printing control method and microprocessor chip of the present invention group the pixels of the to-be-printed row and adopt different heating sequences for staggered heating, thereby effectively avoiding the problem of excessive instantaneous current peak value caused by heating multiple pixels at the same time, optimizing the thermal printing process, improving the stability and service life of the thermal printing equipment, and ensuring the consistency of the printed output quality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Figure 1 A flow chart of a thermal printing control method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of group heating of the lines to be printed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of group heating of another line to be printed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of heating of another group of lines to be printed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0036] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of group heating of another to-be-printed row according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0037] Figure 6 It is a structural schematic diagram of a printing control device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0038] Figure 7 It is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] Here, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure.

[0040] A thermal printer is a printer that has a heating element installed on the thermal print head. When the heating element is heated and contacts the thermal print medium, the required pattern or text can be printed. Its principle is similar to that of a thermal fax machine. When the heating element is activated, it quickly heats up and contacts the thermal print medium, causing the thermal coating on the thermal print medium to heat up locally and undergo a chemical reaction, thereby changing color to form the printed pattern or text. To meet different grayscale requirements, the grayscale value of the image or text can be changed by controlling the heating time or the number of pulses.

[0041] In existing thermal printing, simultaneous heating of pixels will cause an instantaneous increase in current load, which can easily lead to overcurrent problems. In addition, when printing a large dark area, continuous heating will cause the temperature to rise rapidly, causing local overheating problems, affecting the printing effect and shortening the service life of the print head.

[0042] The present application provides a thermal printing control method and a microprocessor chip, which are intended to solve the above technical problems in the prior art.

[0043] The technical solution of the present application and how the technical solution of the present application solves the above-mentioned technical problems are described in detail below with specific embodiments. The following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments. The embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0044] Figure 1 A flow chart of a thermal printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method includes:

[0045] Step S101 : in response to a print request, dividing the pixel points of a to-be-printed row into at least a first group of pixel points and a second group of pixel points.

[0046] For example, the execution subject of this embodiment may be a thermal printing device, a terminal device, a thermal printing device or equipment, or other devices or equipment that can execute this embodiment, and this is not limited. In this embodiment, the execution subject is described as a thermal printing device.

[0047] When a print request is received, respond to the print request. The print request is used to print the original image data. The original image data includes pixels, and the pixel points include pixel positions and grayscale values ​​corresponding to each pixel point.

[0048] During the printing process, the original image data is specifically divided into multiple lines of data to be printed, and each line of data to be printed is a line to be printed. By reading the data to be printed line by line, the heating printing of each line is completed in sequence. Different grayscale values ​​are achieved by heating the pixel points through heating pulses, and the heating pulses of the pixels can be represented by binary numbers.

[0049] The original image data includes the grayscale value of each pixel, ranging from 0 to 255, for example, where 0 represents complete white, 255 represents complete black, and intermediate values ​​represent different degrees of gray.

[0050] During normal printing, the pixel point is realized according to the heating pulse represented by the above binary number, including heating the pixel point according to the number of heating pulses represented by the binary number. The more the number of heating pulses or the longer the pulse width of the heating pulse, the higher the corresponding heating temperature and the darker the corresponding grayscale, thereby realizing thermal grayscale printing. Taking the grayscale range of 0 to 255 as an example, when equal-width pulses are used, the number of heating pulses corresponding to each pixel point is at most 255 times, and 0 to 255 grayscales are realized in sequence according to the number of heating pulses; when pulses with different pulse widths are used, such as proportional pulses, the number of heating pulses corresponding to each pixel point is at most 8 times, and 0 to 255 grayscales are realized according to the combination of heating pulses with different widths.

[0051] The pixel points of the to-be-printed row are divided into at least a first group of pixel points and a second group of pixel points.

[0052] Exemplarily, each pixel in the line to be printed is divided into at least two groups, that is, the pixel in the line to be printed is divided into multiple independent groups. Each group contains different pixels, and the groups are staggered or heated in different time periods to reduce instantaneous current, avoid excessive current, and protect the print head. The number of groups is determined to be two, three, or even more groups according to actual conditions, and is not limited in this application.

[0053] In order to prevent the current from being too large and exceeding the hardware's carrying capacity, the number of groups can be adjusted according to the printer's power supply capacity and the maximum current carrying capacity of the print head. On the other hand, the number and distribution of pixels that need to be heated in the original image data will also affect the number of groups. If the original image data is complex and there are more pixels that need to be heated, the number of groups needs to be increased to disperse the current burden during heating. In order to prevent the print head from overheating, the number of groups can be adjusted according to the print head's heat dissipation capacity, so that each group has more time to dissipate heat after heating to avoid overheating.

[0054] For example, if the pixels of a row to be printed are divided into two groups, the pixels in the row will be divided into the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels for printing. If the pixels of the row to be printed are: 255, 254, 253, 252, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, it can be divided into:

[0055] The first group of pixels: 255, 254, 253, 252, 4, 3;

[0056] The second group of pixels: 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3;

[0057] Or, the first group of pixels: 255, 252, 4, 0;

[0058] The second group of pixels: 254, 3, 1, 2;

[0059] The third group of pixels: 253, 2, 1, 3.

[0060] The number of specific groups is not limited in this application. By grouping, the heating time of the pixels in the to-be-printed row is staggered so that not all required pixels are heated at one time, thereby reducing the instantaneous current.

[0061] In some implementations, the pixels of the to-be-printed row are divided into at least two groups according to continuous pixels or non-continuous pixels.

[0062] Continuous pixels refer to a group of continuous pixels in a line to be printed. Each group consists of adjacent pixels. For example, a number of continuous pixels on the left side of a line are the first group, and the continuous pixels on the right side are the second group.

[0063] Exemplarily, the pixels of the lines to be printed are: 11, 114, 89, 231, 37, 29, 61, 182;

[0064] According to the grouping of continuous pixels, they can be divided into:

[0065] The first group of pixels: 11, 114, 89, 231;

[0066] The second group of pixels: 37, 29, 61, 182;

[0067] Or the first group of pixels: 11, 114, 89;

[0068] The second group of pixels: 231, 37, 29;

[0069] The third group of pixels: 61, 182;

[0070] By grouping consecutive pixels, the number of pixels heated simultaneously can be reduced during the printing process, and the stability and continuity of heating can be maintained.

[0071] Non-continuous pixel grouping means that non-adjacent pixels in the line to be printed are divided into the same group, and each group of pixels is dispersed and not continuous in the physical position of the thermal print head. For example, the pixels at odd positions are grouped as the first group of pixels, and the pixels at even positions are grouped as the second group of pixels.

[0072] In some embodiments, the non-continuous pixel point grouping further includes selecting pixel points at intervals for grouping. Based on this, the pixel points in each group are not continuous in space, but are selected according to a certain interval rule, and the heating points are dispersed in space.

[0073] For example, the pixels of the lines to be printed are 11, 114, 89, 231, 37, 29, 61, and 182. The heating points are selected according to the intervals and can be divided into:

[0074] The first group of pixels: 11, 89, 37, 61;

[0075] The second group of pixels: 114, 231, 29, 182;

[0076] Or, the first group of pixels: 11, 231, 61,

[0077] The second group of pixels: 114, 37, 29;

[0078] The third group of pixels: 89, 29, 182;

[0079] By grouping continuous pixels, the number of pixels heated simultaneously can be reduced during the printing process; by grouping non-continuous pixels, the heating temperature instability caused by the mutual influence of adjacent pixels during the heating process can be avoided during the printing process.

[0080] Step S102: The first group of pixels are heated according to a first order of heating pulses, and the second group of pixels are heated according to a second order of heating pulses, to complete heating and printing of pixels in the to-be-printed row.

[0081] In some embodiments, the grayscale value of the pixel is realized by a plurality of heating pulses with the same pulse width. The first group of pixels are heated by the heating pulses with the same pulse width in a first order, and the second group of pixels are heated by the heating pulses with the same pulse width in a second order, to complete the heating printing of the pixels of the to-be-printed row.

[0082] Each pixel corresponds to a certain number of equal-width pulses according to the grayscale value. Pixels with higher grayscale values ​​correspond to more heating pulses and darker colors. The pixels in each group are heated one by one according to the equal-width heating pulses. The heating can be staggered between groups to avoid excessive instantaneous current.

[0083] In other embodiments, the grayscale value of the pixel is realized by a plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths. When a plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths, i.e., equal-proportional pulses, are used, each pixel corresponds to a combination of heating pulses of different widths according to the grayscale value of the pixel. The pixel may receive a combination of multiple heating pulses, such as T+2T+4T, to represent the grayscale value. The heating pulses of different groups are used to ensure that the pixels in each group are heated according to the heating pulses of different time sequences, so as to achieve staggered heating and reduce the instantaneous current. The heating pulse controls the heating when the pixel is printed, and during the printing process, the heating sequence of the heating pulses of the specific pixel is controlled by the heating sequence. The first sequence and the second sequence control are used to avoid the pixels in different groups from being heated at the same time, thereby avoiding excessive instantaneous current, reducing energy consumption and the thermal load of the print head.

[0084] By heating in groups at staggered times, a large number of pixels are not heated at one time during the printing process, thereby reducing instantaneous current.

[0085] like Figure 2 The figure shows a schematic diagram of group printing provided by the present application. All pixels of the row to be printed are divided into two groups, the pixels of the first group are heated according to the heating pulses of the first sequence, and the pixels of the second group are heated according to the heating pulses of the second sequence, so as to complete the heating printing of the pixels of the row to be printed.

[0086] Specifically, the first sequence includes: at the beginning of the total heating time, the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels are continuously heated; the second sequence includes: at the end of the total heating time, the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels complete continuous heating.

[0087] At the beginning of thermal printing, the first group of pixels are heated by their corresponding heating pulses. The first sequence of heating pulses controls the first group of pixels to be heated at the beginning of the total heating time, so that the first group of pixels are continuously heated at the beginning of printing. The second sequence of heating pulses controls the second group of pixels to complete heating before the end of the total heating time of printing. The heating time of the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels is staggered, reducing the number and time of pixels heated at the same time.

[0088] In one embodiment, the heating pulses of the pixel points are represented by binary numbers, and the binary numbers include the number and order of the heating pulses of the corresponding pixel points; the first order includes: byte conversion of the binary numbers corresponding to the first group of pixel points, so that the first group of pixel points are continuously heated at the beginning of the total heating time; the second order includes: byte conversion of the binary numbers corresponding to the second group of pixel points, so that the second group of pixel points completes continuous heating at the end of the total heating time.

[0089] Among them, byte conversion refers to rearranging the positions of heating pulses represented by binary numbers in the binary numbers, using "1" in the binary numbers to represent heating pulses that need to be heated, and "0" to represent heating pulses that do not need to be heated; by adjusting the position of "1" in the binary numbers, the order of the heating pulses is adjusted. Byte conversion of the binary numbers corresponding to the first group of pixels includes obtaining the grayscale values ​​of the first group of pixels and performing byte conversion on the heating pulses represented by the binary numbers. Byte conversion of the binary numbers corresponding to the second group of pixels includes obtaining the grayscale values ​​of the second group of pixels and performing byte conversion on the heating pulses represented by the binary numbers.

[0090] In this embodiment, the second order of the second group of pixels includes arranging the pixels to be heated at the end of the binary array. Exemplarily, the binary number corresponding to the original gray value is 1110 0000, which becomes 00000111 after byte conversion. The heating pulses are concentrated at the end of the binary number. Centrally arranging the heating pulses can better arrange staggered heating, reduce instantaneous current peaks, and reduce the current load caused by the simultaneous activation of pixels.

[0091] exist Figure 2 In the example, the first group of pixels are continuously heated at the beginning of the total heating time, and the second group of pixels are continuously heated at the end of the total heating time. According to receiving the first sequence heating pulse of the first group of pixels and the second sequence heating pulse of the second group of pixels, the first sequence of the first group of pixels and the second sequence of the second group of pixels are heated and printed simultaneously. Exemplarily, Figure 2 The maximum grayscale value is 255, and the total heating time is 255 heating times. In other examples, the total heating time can be greater than the maximum grayscale value. Obviously, the increase in the total heating time can reduce the situation where the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels are heated at the same time.

[0092] like Figure 3As shown, another schematic diagram of group printing provided by the present application is shown. The first sequence includes: the heating pulse corresponding to the first group of pixels is heated at the beginning of the total heating time; the second sequence includes: after the first group of pixels completes the heating of the first sequence, the heating pulse corresponding to the second group of pixels is heated. After the heating of the first group of pixels is completed, the heating of the second group of pixels is performed to avoid the overlap of the heating time of the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels, and to achieve staggered heating of the pixels.

[0093] For example, Figure 3 , 4 As shown, the original grayscale values ​​of each pixel in the line to be printed are: 255, 254, 253, 252, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, which will be divided into the following according to the continuous pixel points:

[0094] The first group: 255, 254, 253, 252, 4, 3;

[0095] Second group: 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3.

[0096] by Figure 3 Taking the equal width pulse as an example, after the first group of pixels are heated, the second group of pixels begins to be heated. Since the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels each contain half of the pixels of the line to be printed, each heating pulse heats only half of the pixels at most.

[0097] Exemplarily, the position of the heating pulse is represented by a binary number, and the heating pulse of the first group of pixels corresponding to the first order is concentrated at the beginning of the total heating time. For example, the first pixel point 3 is represented by a binary number: 11100000…0000…, wherein 1110 0000… corresponds to the total heating time of the first group of pixels, and 0000… corresponds to the total heating time of the second group of pixels; the heating pulse of the second group of pixels corresponding to the second order is heated after the first group of pixels completes the first order of heating. For example, the second group of pixels 3 is represented by a binary number: 00000000…1110….

[0098] like Figure 4 As shown, taking equal-proportional pulses as an example, the pixels of the to-be-printed row are divided into the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels. After the heating of the first group of pixels corresponding to the first order in the to-be-printed row is completed, the heating of the second group of pixels corresponding to the second order is started, and the heating time of the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels is staggered to ensure that too many pixels are not heated at the same time, thereby achieving the effect of time-sharing heating.

[0099] During the printing process, when the same pixel is heated continuously, the heat dissipation may not be timely, resulting in excessively high pixel temperature, affecting the printing effect.

[0100] Based on the above defects, in other implementations, such as Figure 5 As shown, the first sequence includes: heating the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels at intervals within the total heating time;

[0101] The second sequence includes: heating the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels in the interval of the first sequence;

[0102] Alternating heating controls each group of pixels through dynamic alternating operations within the total heating time, ensuring that the heating tasks of different groups do not overlap, thereby optimizing current distribution and heat dissipation performance.

[0103] For example, Figure 5 As shown, the first sequence includes: performing interval heating on the multiple heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the first group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large; the second sequence includes: performing interval heating on the multiple heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the second group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large; the interval heating of the first sequence is complementary to the interval heating of the second sequence.

[0104] When the line to be printed is divided into the first group of pixels and the second group of pixels, the first heating, that is, the heating pulse of the first heating, is the heating pulse of the first sequence; the second heating, that is, the heating pulse of the next heating, is the heating pulse of the second sequence; the heating pulse of the third heating is the heating pulse of the first sequence, the heating pulse of the fourth heating is the heating pulse of the second sequence, the heating pulse of the fifth heating is the heating pulse of the first sequence, and so on. Through the alternating heating printing of different groups, a short cooling time is provided to the pixels after each group heating is completed, so that the heat distribution is more uniform, the continuous heat accumulation is reduced, and the pixels have time to dissipate heat between different heating stages, so as to realize the alternating activation of the pixels and avoid local overheating caused by the simultaneous activation of consecutive pixels.

[0105] The thermal printing control method provided in the present application groups the pixel points of the to-be-printed row and adopts different heating orders for staggered heating, thereby effectively avoiding the problem of excessive instantaneous current peak caused by heating multiple pixel points at the same time, optimizing the thermal printing process, improving the stability and service life of the thermal printing equipment, and ensuring the consistency of the printed output quality.

[0106] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a thermal printing device provided in this application. The device includes:

[0107] The grouping module 610, in response to a print request, divides the pixels of the to-be-printed row into at least a first group of pixels and a second group of pixels;

[0108] Printing module 620, the first group of pixels are heated according to the first sequence of heating pulses, and the second group of pixels are heated according to the second sequence of heating pulses, to complete the heating printing of the pixels of the to-be-printed row.

[0109] The device of this embodiment can execute the technical solution in the above method. Its specific implementation process and technical principles are the same and will not be repeated here.

[0110] An embodiment of the present invention provides an image forming device, which includes the thermal printing device mentioned above.

[0111] Exemplarily, the present application provides a microprocessor chip, which is used to execute the thermal printing control method indicated in the above embodiment. For example, the microprocessor chip can be a microcontroller unit (MCU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an MPU (including a microprocessor unit and a memory protection unit), a micro central processing unit (CPU), etc., which can process digital signals, analog signals, or perform signal control functions, instruction processing and calculation functions, etc., or a micro central control chip or system-on-chip chip.

[0112] An embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device, such as Figure 7 As shown, Figure 7 The electronic device shown is only an example and should not bring any limitation to the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0113] like Figure 7 As shown, the electronic device is in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device may include, but are not limited to: one or more processors 710, a memory 730, and a communication bus 740 connecting different system components (including the memory 730 and the processor 710).

[0114] The communication bus 740 represents one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, a graphics acceleration port, a processor, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus structures. For example, these architectures include, but are not limited to, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MAC) bus, an enhanced ISA bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and a Peripheral Component Interconnection (PCI) bus.

[0115] Electronic devices typically include a variety of computer system readable media. These media can be any available media that can be accessed by the electronic device, including volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

[0116] The memory 730 may include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) and / or cache memory. The electronic device may further include other removable / non-removable, volatile / non-volatile computer system storage media. Figure 7 Not shown in the figure, a disk drive for reading and writing a removable non-volatile disk (e.g., a "floppy disk"), and an optical disk drive for reading and writing a removable non-volatile optical disk (e.g., a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc read only memory (DVD-ROM), or other optical media) may be provided. In these cases, each drive may be connected to the communication bus 740 via one or more data medium interfaces. The memory 730 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modules configured to perform the functions of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0117] A program / utility having a set (at least one) of program modules may be stored in memory 730, such program modules including but not limited to an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment. The program modules generally perform the functions and / or methods of the embodiments described herein.

[0118] The electronic device may also communicate with one or more external devices, one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device, or any device that enables the electronic device to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., a network card, a modem, etc.). Such communication may be performed through the communication interface 720. In addition, the electronic device may also communicate with the network adapter ( Figure 7 The network adapter can communicate with one or more networks (such as a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) and / or a public network, such as the Internet) through the communication bus 740. It should be understood that although Figure 7 Not shown, other hardware and / or software modules may be used in conjunction with the electronic device, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, disk arrays (Redundant Arrays of Independent Drives; hereinafter referred to as: RAID) systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0119] The processor 710 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the programs stored in the memory 730, for example, implementing a thermal printing control method provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0120] An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and the computer instructions enable the computer to execute a thermal printing control method provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

[0121] The above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium can adopt any combination of one or more computer-readable media. The computer-readable medium can be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium can be, for example, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or device, or any combination of the above, but is not limited to this. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of computer-readable storage media include: an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or flash memory, an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above. In this document, a computer-readable storage medium can be any tangible medium containing or storing a program, which can be used by an instruction execution system, device or device or used in combination with it.

[0122] Computer-readable signal media may include data signals propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, which carry computer-readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination of the above. Computer-readable signal media may also be any computer-readable medium other than a computer-readable storage medium, which may send, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0123] The program code contained on the computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wire, optical cable, radio frequency (RF), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0124] The above are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, several modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the creative concept of the present invention, which all belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A thermal printing control method, characterized in that: The thermal printing control method comprises: In response to a print request, dividing the pixel points of the to-be-printed row into at least a first group of pixel points and a second group of pixel points; The first group of pixel points are heated according to the first sequence of heating pulses, and the second group of pixel points are heated according to the second sequence of heating pulses, thereby completing the heating printing of the pixel points of the to-be-printed row.

2. A thermal printing control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The grayscale value of the pixel point is achieved by a plurality of heating pulses with the same pulse width.

3. A thermal printing control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Heating and printing the pixels includes the total heating time; The first sequence includes: at the beginning of the total heating time, continuously heating the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels; The second sequence includes: when the total heating time ends, the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels complete continuous heating.

4. A thermal printing control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Representing the heating pulses of the pixel points by a binary number, wherein the binary number includes the number and order of the heating pulses corresponding to the pixel points; The first sequence includes: performing byte conversion on the binary numbers corresponding to the first group of pixels so that the heating pulses heat continuously at the beginning of the total heating time; The second sequence includes: performing byte conversion on the binary numbers corresponding to the second group of pixel points, so that the heating pulse completes continuous heating at the end of the total heating time.

5. A thermal printing control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The grayscale value of the pixel point is achieved by a plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths.

6. A thermal printing control method according to claim 2 or 5, characterized in that: The first sequence includes: heating the heating pulse corresponding to the first group of pixels at the beginning of the total heating time; The second sequence includes: after completing the heating of the first sequence, heating the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels.

7. A thermal printing control method according to claim 2 or claim 5, characterized in that: The first sequence includes: Heating the heating pulses corresponding to the first group of pixels at intervals within the total heating time; The second sequence includes: the heating pulses corresponding to the second group of pixels are heated in the intervals of the first sequence.

8. A thermal printing control method according to claim 5, characterized in that: Said The first sequence includes: performing interval heating on the plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the first group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large; The second sequence includes: performing interval heating on the plurality of heating pulses with different pulse widths corresponding to the second group of pixel points in order of pulse width from small to large; The first sequence of interval heating is complementary to the second sequence of interval heating.

9. A thermal printing control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Divide the pixels of the line to be printed into at least two groups, including: The pixels of the to-be-printed line are divided into at least two groups according to the continuous pixels or the non-continuous pixels.

10. A microprocessor chip, characterized in that: The microprocessor chip is used to execute the thermal printing control method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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