Abstract: The present subject matter relates to accessing memory units in a memory bank. In an example implementation, a bank select transistor is common to a plurality of memory units in a memory bank. The bank select transistor facilitates accessing a memory unit of the plurality of memory units based on a bank select signal.

Abstract: A thermally actuated fluidic optical switching circuit that includes a heater substructure having heater resistors and thermally conductive regions associated with the heater resistors and configured to tailor the thermal characteristics of the heater substructure.

Abstract: Fault tolerance is incorporated within the integral electric heaters of a reworkable electronic semiconductor component, such as a reworkable multi-chip module, to increase production yield and longevity of the rework feature. Components of the foregoing kind contain a multi-layer substrate to bond to a printed wiring board, and, for rework, the component includes a plurality of electric heaters arranged side by side on a bottom layer of the substrate. When energized with current, the heaters generate sufficient heat to weaken the adhesive or solder bond to the printed wiring board without delaminating the layers of the substrate, allowing the electronic semiconductor component to be pulled away from the printed wiring board for rework. Additional circuitry is included to automatically route heater current around, that is bypass, any current-interrupting break(s) as may form in any of the electric heaters giving the heaters a fault tolerance.

Abstract: The object of the invention is to enable the input of the data of a high energy part and the data of a low energy part to one memory in a thermal head having heating means for heating by different energy. To achieve the object, in a thermal head provided with a shift register to which first energy print data the printing by first energy of which is controlled by heating control means is written and to which second energy print data the printing by second energy of which is controlled by the heating control means is written, the shift register is provided with first shift register elements to which first energy print data is written and second shift register elements to which second energy print data is written, and the first shift register elements and the second shift register elements are connected in series.

Abstract: A thermal head comprises a substrate having a main surface bounded by a peripheral edge, an electrode formed on the surface of the substrate, and a heater disposed on the surface of the substrate and electrically connected to the electrode. A driver IC is disposed on the surface of the substrate and is electrically connected to the electrode for providing a drive signal to drive the heater. An encapsulation element is disposed over the IC for protecting the IC. The encapsulation element has a surface portion which extends to the peripheral edge of the substrate.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a plurality of drive ICs (7) are mounted on a thermal printhead (1) which has a predetermined number of heating dots (3). The number of output bits of each drive IC (7) is set to be a divisor of 1/4 of the predetermined number of the heating dots (3) and a multiple of 8 which is no less than 48. Thus, it is possible to divide the plurality of drive ICs (7) into 2 or 4 groups and to control the groups of drive ICs by time division. Further, when the number of output bits of each drive IC (7) is set to be a common divisor of 1/4 and 1/3 of the predetermined number of the heating dots (3), it is possible to drive the thermal printhead (1) by 3-divisional control in addition to 2- and 4-divisional control. Specifically, the number of output bits of each drive IC (7) is preferably any one of 72, 144 or 216, in particular 144.

Abstract: A thermal printer that performs thermal printing by employing a commonly-used thermo-sensitive recording sheet. In the thermal printing, a thermal head starts heating the recording sheet from the back side of a base that covers a recording surface in order to print, so that the recorded information is effectively hidden from view. When the thermal printer performs thermal printing by using a two layer thermo-sensitive recording sheet, high quality images with sharp edges can be reliably recorded. The thermal printer uses two types of thermo-sensitive sheets to perform thermal recording.

Abstract: A thermal head comprising heating resistors connected in series and arranged on an edge portion of a substrate, first group switching elements respectively connected to first group electrode patterns, second group switching elements respectively connected to second group electrode patterns, and a selecting circuit for selecting one group or the other group of every other switching elements in the second group switching elements, and for selecting at least one of the first group switching elements, whereby a high quality of printing is attained without using diode array.