DE69421862T2 - Color jet print head with troubleshooting - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention

The present invention relates to an ink-jet head substrate effective for stable printing without causing malfunction due to noise, an ink-jet head using the substrate, and an ink-jet printing apparatus such as a printer using the head.

State of the art

The great advantage of an ink jet recording method (liquid jet recording method) is that noise generated during operation is so small that it can be ignored, high-speed printing is possible, and so-called uncoated paper can be used for printing without requiring special fixing treatment. It has become the predominant method of printing.

A liquid jet recording method as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-51837 and German Patent Laid-Open No. 28 434 064 has in particular a certain feature in that a driving force for ejecting liquid droplets is obtained by supplying thermal energy to the liquid, which is in contrast to other liquid jet recording methods, for example, a method of ejecting liquid droplets by supplying mechanical pressure.

That is, the recording method as disclosed in the above-mentioned publications is characterized in that the liquid subjected to heat energy causes a state change with a rapid increase in volume so that liquid droplets are ejected through orifices at an upper end of the ink jet head due to an operating force based on the state change and are attached to a recording medium to perform recording.

The liquid jet recording method as disclosed in German Laid-Open Publication No. 2 843 064 has particularly features that it is not only relatively effectively applicable to a so-called drop-on-demand recording method, but also can provide the image with a high resolution and a high quality rate because the ink jet head with a high density arrangement of ejection openings as well as the full line type can be easily realized.

The ink jet head used in the above-described recording method comprises a liquid ejection part having ejection openings provided for ejecting the liquid, and liquid passages connected to the ejection openings, each of which has as an associated part a thermal actuator in which heat energy is supplied to the liquid for ejecting liquid droplets, the liquid ejection part being formed from a head substrate (heat generating plate) having electricity-heat conversion elements (heat generating elements) as means for generating heat energy and a ceiling plate with grooves for forming ejection openings and liquid channels.

Recently, the head substrate has been designed in such a way that it not only has a plurality of heat generating elements on one substrate, but also provides in the same substrate respective heat generating element drivers, a shift register for parallel transfer of serially input image data to the respective drivers and having the same number of bits as the heat generating elements, and a latch circuit for temporarily storing data output from the shift register.

In Fig. 4, an example of a conventional circuit structure on the substrate is shown. Here, reference numeral 400 denotes a substrate, reference numeral 401 a heat generating element, reference numeral 402 a power transistor, reference numeral 403 a latch circuit, and reference numeral 404 a shift register. In addition, for the purpose of miniaturizing a printer main power source by reducing the number of heat generating elements to be driven simultaneously to reduce instantaneous current flow, a time-division drive block selection logic 405 such as a decoder for dividing a group of heat generating elements into blocks each of which is composed of a predetermined number of elements and is provided for carrying out the division with each block driven as a unit, and a logic system latch 406. The input signals include signals for the clock for operating the shift register, the image data serially inputted from received image data, a latch clock for holding data in the latch circuit, a block enable signal for block selection, a drive pulse width input signal (heat pulse width input signal) for externally controlling the turn-on time (on-time) of the power transistor, that is, the time for driving the heat generating elements, a logic circuit drive power source (5 V), GND, and a heat generating element drive power source, these signals being respectively inputted via pads 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, and 414.

A drive sequence first includes transferring image data from the printer main body to the substrate in the head in synchronism with the clock and serially, the data being read in the substrate by the shift register 404. The read data is temporarily stored in the latch circuit 403 so that block selection is made in time division until next image data is held in the latch circuit. At each block selection, if a pulse from the heat pulse 411 is input, block selection is made, and if image data is present, one or more power transistors 402 are turned on. Block selection is made, and if image data is present, a current flows through one or more heat generating elements to carry out the drive.

As described above, recently, the integration of the logic circuit such as a driver, a shift register, a latch, etc. into the head substrate has been advanced, but the current pulse flowing through each heat generating element reaches 100 to 200 mA immediately, and if the heat generating elements turned on at the same time are eight elements, for example, a current pulse of about 1 to 1.5 A flows through the heat generating element driving power source line and GND line. The problem encountered here is that the logic circuit on the head substrate may cause a malfunction due to noise with inductive coupling generated in the flexible wiring or metallization from the printer main body to the ink jet head or the wiring or metallization in the ink jet head.

Here, although the noise is naturally perceived with a capacitance coupling, the clock frequency of the ink jet head is approximately several MHz at most, and if the logic power source voltage is around 5 V, there is little possibility of affecting the operation, and the former inductive noise has a greater effect to cause the malfunction. In particular, if the clock or the latch clock in the head substrate malfunctions due to the noise, there is a high possibility that the image data in the head substrate is completely different from the data transmitted from the printing main device, which has a significant negative effect on the printing quality. Since the level of the inductive noise is higher with larger current changes per unit time, if the number of of ejection ports is increased for high-speed printing, the number of simultaneously turned on elements is expected to be further increased, so that the instantaneous value of the current pulse is further increased and the noise level is increased.

To solve such a problem, some measures have been devised. One example is to reduce the number of heat generating elements turned on simultaneously by increasing the number of blocks so as to limit the magnitude of the current pulse. However, when high-speed printing is carried out, the interval for holding data by the latch circuit from one time to the next time, i.e., the ejection time period, is shortened so that the time allocated to each block is shortened by the increased number of blocks, and there is a risk that sufficient energy for ejecting the ink cannot be obtained.

Another solution has also been devised which involves providing a capacitor for power supply on a carriage itself or around a carriage for the printer main body which supports the ink jet head to reduce inductive noise on the flexible substrate, or adding a noise countermeasure component to prevent malfunction. In practice, there are many cases of applying such a measure to the carriage part for the ink jet printer. In such a case, however, this measure cannot avoid increasing the size of the carriage part, resulting in a problem that the printer main body cannot be reduced in size. and the cost of the countermeasure component may increase.

The problem described above can be observed not only in an ink jet head having heat generating elements arranged at a high density and capable of achieving high-speed printing, but also in other print heads, such as a thermal head having heat generating elements arranged lengthwise or a print head having arrayed recording elements driven by the drive pulse, which may cause a malfunction due to noise.

JP-A-57-173172 describes an ink jet recording apparatus of the pressure pulse type, wherein each of the recording elements is sequentially controlled.

An object of the present invention is to solve the noise problem with the ink in an inkjet head without changing the substrate manufacturing process for the inkjet head, which would increase the manufacturing cost, and without requiring to provide a dedicated noise countermeasure component on the printer main body side or to make a design change to provide the countermeasure.

According to the invention, a printhead assembly according to claim 1 is provided.

In one embodiment, a shift register for outputting serially input image data in a parallel format and a signal memory are provided on the substrate. A memory circuit for temporarily storing data output from the shift register is provided. The heat generating elements, the drive means, the input part, the block selection part, the shift register and the latch circuit are formed on the substrate by a film forming process, the integration circuit being in the form of a CR integration circuit consisting of a resistance component of a diffusion layer used in the film formation of the drive means and a capacitive component using a gate oxide layer used in the film formation of a drive logic system comprising the shift register and the latch circuit, the CR integration circuit being formed simultaneously in the film forming process.

According to an embodiment, a print head assembly includes a plurality of recording elements, a driver for driving the plurality of recording elements in accordance with image data, a shift register for outputting serially input image data in a parallel format, and a latch circuit for temporarily storing data output from the shift register, which are formed on a substrate, and a hysteresis circuit is formed on an input part for the signal for a drive control logic system having the shift register and the latch circuit drive input signal, so that the input data threshold value may be different depending on whether the signal is rising or falling.

The recording elements, the drive device, the shift register and the signal storage circuit can formed on the substrate by using a film forming process, and the hysteresis circuit may be in the form of a resistor made from a resistance component of a diffusion layer used in the film structure of the drive device, the resistor being formed simultaneously in the film forming process.

Both the integration circuit and the hysteresis circuit may be provided and further formed simultaneously in the film forming process.

According to one embodiment, the printhead assembly also includes a member that, in combination with the substrate, forms fluid channels in communication with the heat generating elements and ink ejection orifices at one end of the fluid channels for an inkjet head.

The recording elements may be heat generating elements for generating thermal energy.

The present invention also provides a printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium using the print head.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an input hysteresis circuit and a CR integration circuit for an input pulse width signal (heat pulse width signal) are formed together with recording elements (heat generating elements) and components for a logic discharge control circuit such as a driver, a shift register and the like, thereby generating noise against the increased number of ejection ports which is indispensable for high-speed printing and the increased number of recording elements to be driven simultaneously which is associated with the high-density packaging, and stable operation can be achieved due to the increased limit for the noise. Consequently, no special noise countermeasures are required for the carriage part of the main device or for the ink jet head itself, which causes the lower cost and the reduced size of the apparatus to be realized.

Also, if an integration circuit and a hysteresis circuit are formed on the substrate using a layer structure of each element, noise problems associated with an ink jet recording head can be solved without requiring to change the conventional substrate manufacturing process, i.e., without increasing manufacturing costs, and without providing the noise countermeasure component to the printing apparatus main body, the flexible substrate, or the carriage, or making design changes to the conventional driving sequence or providing a countermeasure circuit on the printing apparatus main body side.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. They show:

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of an inkjet head substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Fig. 2A and 2B are arrangement diagrams of two examples of a hysteresis circuit in the ink-jet head substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Fig. 3 is a timing chart of a heat pulse waveform, a drive current waveform and a noise waveform in the ink jet head substrate according to the prior art and according to the present embodiment,

Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of a conventional ink jet head substrate,

Fig. 5 is a typical perspective view of a construction example of an ink jet head using the substrate shown in Fig. 1 and

Fig. 6 is a typical perspective view of a construction example of a printer using the head shown in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 1, an example of a circuit arrangement of an ink jet head substrate according to the present invention is shown. Reference numeral 101 denotes a circuit for providing hysteresis in the input threshold value. Here, according to the embodiment, latch parts 202 used in a conventional head substrate logic system input part (shown in Fig. 2A) and further additional resistors 201 connected thereto are provided as shown in Fig. 2B. This can be achieved simply by using a resistance component of a diffusion layer used in the layer structure of a driver. The ratio of the resistance value R1 to R2 of the resistor 201 is 1 to 2.5.

In this structure, the threshold value for the conventional signal is 2.5 V, which serves as a decision criterion between a high level and a low level, regardless of whether it is rising (from LOW to HIGH) or falling (from HIGH to LOW), whereas in the embodiment, the threshold value is 3.5 V in the rising period and 1.5 V in the falling period. That is, there is less possibility that the noise level exceeds the threshold value. Since the frequency of the signal to be supplied to the ink jet head substrate is not high as described in the SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION section and there is no problem with the response delay due to hysteresis provided in the input, the prevention of malfunction is very effective with the structure according to the embodiment.

It is apparent that the width of the hysteresis can be changed by varying the resistance ratio R1 to R2 of the resistor 201, and it is desirable to have an appropriate resistance ratio with respect to the variation of the resistance component of the diffusion layer.

In Fig. 1, reference numeral 102 denotes a CR integration circuit having three parts, which includes a latch, a resistance component of a diffusion layer used in the layer structure of a driver 402, and a capacitive component using a gate oxide layer used in the layer structure of a logic control circuit, wherein the integration circuit is provided in a heat pulse signal line corresponding to elements whose number is equal to the number of elements included in the same block minus 1. In the conventional signal line part of a heat pulse 411, the signal is transmitted in parallel and simultaneously to all the elements, whereas in the embodiment, since one block consists of four elements, three CR integration circuits are provided to form four kinds of lines 103, and the wiring is designed such that the time of passage of a heat pulse to four elements simultaneously turned on by a block selection circuit 405 is shifted in practice by 10 to 20 nsec between each element, and preferably by 10 to 200 nsec.

Here, in order to make a comparison between the structure for providing a CR integration circuit 102 and the conventional structure, consider the elements (heat generating elements) A, B, C, D selected at the same time by the block selecting circuit 405 shown in Fig. 1, and assume that while the signal from the signal latch 403 is HIGH (active) as a whole, i.e., the heat pulse is HIGH (active), the power transistor 402 is turned on to pass current to the heat generating elements 401. Referring to Fig. 3, the operation of the embodiment will be described below.

In Fig. 3, for the conventional example (on the left side in the figure) and for this embodiment (on the right side in the figure), the voltage waveforms are shown, in which a heat pulse is applied to each of the four elements A, B, C, D and the time at which it exceeds a threshold value, the current pulse waveform passing through the heat generating element driving power source line and the GND line at that time, and the voltage waveform of the logic system signal subjected to inductive noise generated by the associated current pulse for two cases where the practical level of the associated logic system signal is LOW (0 V) and HIGH (5 V) (for comparison of the hysteresis circuit 101 between the conventional example and this embodiment).

In the conventional circuit structure, a heat pulse is applied to four elements A, B, C, D at the same time and simultaneously exceeds the threshold value to turn on the power transistor 402, so that a current starts flowing instantaneously, that is, the current change per unit time in the rising part is four times that when one heat generating element 401 is turned on, thereby increasing the noise level generated in the logic system signal line by that amount. Thus, the threshold value of the logic system signal line is exceeded to cause a malfunction and change the image data.

However, when the CR integration circuit 102 is constructed as described in this embodiment, the waveform in which the heat pulse of the heat generating element A is integrated becomes a heat pulse of the heat generating element B as can be seen from the heat pulse waveform of Fig. 3, and the time at which the heat generating element B is turned on after the heat pulse of the heat generating element A is integrated becomes a heat pulse of the heat generating element B as can be seen from the heat pulse waveform of Fig. 3, and the time at which the heat generating element B is turned on after the heat pulse of the heat generating element A is integrated becomes a heat pulse of the heat generating element B. generating element B has practically exceeded the threshold value is delayed by the time required for switching on the heat generating element A.

Similarly, since the heat generating elements C, D are also delayed, the current pulse flowing through the heat generating element driving power source line is stepwise according to the preceding delay, as shown in Fig. 3. That is, the current change per unit time is not very different from that at which a heat generating element is turned on, so that the noise level is significantly reduced.

While this embodiment has been described with an example in which four elements are selected as a block at the same time and the heat pulse transfer time is shifted for each element, it is apparent that the number of elements constituting a block may be appropriately determined, or several elements may be combined until the noise level no longer poses a problem, so that any number of elements can be turned on simultaneously by increasing or decreasing the elements of the CR integration circuit and by making appropriate wiring or metallization.

The above-mentioned hysteresis circuit 101 and the CR integration circuit 102 can be formed at the same time by forming the drive control logic system including the heat generating elements, the drive means, the shift register and the latch circuit, the pulse width input part 411 and the block selection circuit 405 on the substrate by the film forming process and without changing the manufacturing process of the head substrate 400. Consequently, since no large changes are required in the number of pads in the input part of the substrate or other circuitry in the substrate, the cost of the substrate itself does not increase significantly. Since the noise in the head can be suppressed without the need to mount parts such as a capacitor for the countermeasure in the carriage part, the apparatus main body can be realized at a lower cost and in a smaller size.

As shown in Fig. 5, on the thus-configured head substrate, a liquid channel wall part 501 for forming liquid channels 505 connected to a plurality of ejection openings 500 and a ceiling plate 502 having an ink supply port 503 are mounted to obtain a recording head of the ink jet recording system. In this case, the ink supplied through the ink supply port 503 is stored in a common liquid chamber 504 provided inside, from which the ink is supplied to each liquid channel 505. The ink is ejected from the ejection openings by driving heat generating elements 506 on the substrate 400 in this state.

By attaching a recording head 510 having the above-described structure to the recording apparatus main body and supplying a signal from the apparatus main body to the recording head 510, an ink-jet recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording and high-image-quality recording can be obtained.

An ink jet recording apparatus using a recording head according to the present invention will now be described with reference to Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, an external perspective view showing an example of an ink jet recording apparatus 600 to which the present invention is applied is shown.

A recording head 510 is mounted on a carriage 620 which is engaged with a screw groove 621 of a lead screw 604 which is rotated via drive force transmission gears 602, 603 connected to the forward rotation or reverse rotation of a drive motor 601, and which is reciprocated in the directions of arrows a, b along a guide 619 together with the carriage 620 by the motive force of the drive motor 601. A paper pressing plate 605 for the recording sheet P to be conveyed on a roller 606 by a recording medium feeding unit not shown presses the recording sheet P against the roller 606 along the carriage moving direction.

Reference numerals 607, 608 denote photocouplers which are origin position detecting means which switch the rotation direction of the drive motor 601 by confirming that a lever 609 of the carriage 620 is located in this area. Reference numeral 610 denotes a support member for supporting a cap member 611 for covering the entire surface of the recording head 610. Reference numeral 612 denotes a suction member for sucking the ink inside the cap member 611 to effect suction recovery of the recording head 510 through an opening 613 in the cap. Reference numeral 614 denotes a cleaning blade, and reference numeral 615 denotes a moving member for allowing the blade to move in a forward and backward movements supported on a main body support plate 616. It will be understood that for the cleaning blade 614, besides the form described above, a well-known cleaning blade can be applied in this embodiment. Reference numeral 617 also denotes a lever for starting suction of the suction recovery operation, which is moved along the movement of a cam 618 engaged with the carriage 620, the driving force from the drive motor 610 for the movement being controlled by well-known transmission means such as a clutch switch. A pressure control unit for supplying a signal to the heat generating elements 506 provided in the recording head 510 or for controlling the drive control of each mechanism as described above is provided on the side of the apparatus main body (not shown).

The ink jet recording apparatus 600 having the above-described structure performs recording on a recording sheet P conveyed on the roller 606 by the recording medium feeding device while the recording head 510 is reciprocated over the entire width of the recording sheet P, and the high-precision and high-speed recording can be performed since the recording head 510 is manufactured by the above-described method.

While according to the above description the substrate is adapted for the recording head of the ink jet system, it is apparent that the inventive Substrate is also applicable to a thermal head substrate.

The present invention has an excellent effectiveness among various ink jet recording systems, particularly in a recording head or a recording device of the system which includes means for generating heat energy (e.g., electricity-heat conversion elements or a laser beam) as energy to be used for ink ejection and which causes state changes of the ink due to the heat energy. With such a system, the recording can be obtained with a higher density and a higher resolution.

As the typical structure and principle thereof, a basic principle used in practice, for example, disclosed in U.S. Patents 4,723,129 and 4,740,796, is preferable. The system is applicable to both a so-called on-demand type and a continuous type. In particular, the case of the on-demand type is effective because by supplying at least one drive signal which instructs a rapid temperature increase exceeding the nuclear boiling point in accordance with the recording information to electrothermal conversion elements arranged corresponding to the sheets or the liquid channels holding a liquid (ink), heat energy is generated at the electrothermal conversion elements to cause film boiling at the heat actuating surface of the recording head and consequently the bubbles in the liquid (ink) can be formed one after another in accordance with the drive signals. By ejecting the liquid (ink) through a At least one droplet is formed at the orifice for ejection by growth and contraction of the bubble. By generating the driving signals in pulse form, growth and contraction of the bubbles can be caused instantaneously and appropriately to perform more preferable ejection of the liquid (ink) which is excellent in response characteristics in particular. As the driving signals of such pulse form, those disclosed in U.S. Patents 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Furthermore, excellent recording can be performed by employing the conditions described in the invention of U.S. Patent 4,313,124 concerning the temperature increase rate of the above-mentioned thermal actuation surface.

As the structure of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the ejection port, the liquid passage and the electro-heat conversion element (a linear liquid passage or a rectangular liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective patents, the present invention also includes the structure using U.S. Patent No. 4,558,333 or 4,459,600 which discloses a structure having a thermal actuator disposed in a bent portion. In addition, the present invention can also implement a structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-123670 in which a structure using a slit common to a plurality of electro-heat conversion elements as an ejection part of the electro-heat conversion element is disclosed, or as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-138461 in which a structure having an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of the heat energy corresponding to the ejection part. That is, the present invention enables safe and effective recording to be carried out in whatever form the recording head is.

Furthermore, the present invention is effectively applicable to the full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum width of a recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus. As such a recording head, either a structure satisfying the corresponding length by a combination of a plurality of recording heads or a structure integrally formed as a single recording head can be used.

In addition, among the in-line type recording heads as mentioned above, the present invention is effective for a recording head fixedly mounted on the main device, a freely replaceable chip type recording head which enables electrical connection with the main device or ink supply from the main device by mounting on the main device, or a cartridge type recording head having an ink container integrally provided with the recording head itself.

Also, it is preferable to add an ejection recovery device for the recording head, a preparatory auxiliary device, etc. provided as a structure of the recording apparatus of the present invention, since the effect of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific Examples For this purpose, the recording head may comprise a capping device, a cleaning device, a printing or suction device, electricity-heat conversion elements or other types of heat generating elements, or preliminary heat generating elements according to an associated combination, and a pre-ejection device which carries out ejection separate from the recording.

Regarding the type or number of recording heads mounted, the present invention is effective for a single recording head provided corresponding to a single color ink or a plurality of recording heads corresponding to a plurality of inks having, for example, different recording colors or densities. That is, the present invention is extremely effective as a recording mode of the recording apparatus not only for the recording mode of only a primary color such as black, etc., but also for an apparatus provided with at least one of a plurality of different colors or a full color by color mixing, whether the recording head is either integrally constructed or assembled from a plurality of numbers.

In addition, although in the above-described embodiment, ink is assumed to be a liquid, other inks may also be used which are solid below room temperature and soften or liquefy at or above room temperature, or liquefy when a recording signal is outputted as used in the ink jet apparatus in general, so that the viscosity of the ink is controlled to be in a certain A stable ejection range is maintained by adjusting the temperature of the ink in a range of 30°C to 70°C. In addition, in order to prevent the temperature increase due to the heat energy by positively utilizing the heat energy as energy for the solid-liquid state change or to prevent evaporation of the ink, an ink which stiffens in the solid state and liquefies by heating may be used. In any case, in the present invention, use of an ink having a property of liquefying only upon application of heat energy, such as the inks which liquefy upon application of heat energy in accordance with a recording signal so as to eject liquid ink or which can solidify before reaching a recording medium, is also applicable. In such a case, the ink may be held liquid or solid in cavities or through holes of a porous sheet placed opposite to the electro-heat converting elements, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-56847 or No. 60-71260. The most effective method for the inks as described above in the present invention is based on film boiling.

Furthermore, the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention can be used as an image output terminal in an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a copying machine in combination with a reading device or a facsimile terminal having transmission and reception characteristics.

As described above, in the present invention, in forming an ink jet head substrate, a hysteresis circuit is provided at the input part and a CR integration circuit for an input pulse width signal (heat pulse width signal) is formed together with recording elements and components for a logic ejection control circuit such as a driver, a shift register and the like, whereby the noise generated by the increased number of ejection ports indispensable for high-speed printing and the number of recording elements to be driven simultaneously associated with the high-density packaging can be suppressed and the stable operation due to the increased limit of the noise can be achieved. Consequently, it is not necessary to provide the special noise countermeasure for the carriage part of the main device or for the ink jet head itself, causing the recording apparatus to be realized at a lower cost and a smaller size.

Claims (15)

1. A print head assembly comprising a substrate having formed thereon components comprising a plurality of recording elements (401), a drive means for driving the recording elements (401) in accordance with image data, an input means (411) for supplying a signal for defining the width of a drive pulse to be supplied to the recording elements by the drive means, and means for dividing the plurality of recording elements into blocks each consisting of a predetermined number of recording elements and for causing the blocks to be selected one after the other in time, characterized in that an integration circuit is coupled to the input means for causing a shift in the supply time of the drive pulse to individual recording elements from one recording element to another recording element in a block selected by the block selection means (410, 405). 2. The printhead assembly of claim 1, wherein the integration circuit (102) comprises a capacitor-resistor network. 3. Printhead assembly according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the components comprise a shift register (404) for converting serially input image data into a parallel format and a latch circuit (403) for temporarily storing data output from the shift register. 4. The printhead assembly of claim 3, wherein the components are components formed by a layer process and the integration circuit is formed simultaneously with the other components and comprises a resistance component in the form of a diffusion layer used in forming the driver and a capacitive component using a gate oxide layer used in forming a driver control logic system comprising the shift register and the latch circuit. 5. The printhead assembly of claim 3, comprising a hysteresis circuit (101) provided at an input of a drive control logic system comprising the shift register (404) and the latch circuit (403) for causing an input data threshold to vary in response to a rise or fall of the signal. 6. The printhead assembly of claim 4, wherein a hysteresis circuit (101) is provided at an input of a drive control logic system comprising the shift register (404) and the latch circuit (403) to cause an input data threshold to vary in response to a rise or fall of the signal, and wherein the hysteresis circuit is in the form of a resistor formed using a diffusion layer used in forming the drive means. 7. Printhead assembly according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the recording elements are heat generating elements for generating heat energy in response to a drive pulse. 8. A printhead assembly according to claim 7, which can be used in an inkjet printhead that can eject a printing fluid using the heat generating elements. 9. A printhead assembly according to claim 1, wherein the integration circuit is operable to generate the drive pulses shifted by a predetermined interval for application to the recording elements in a block in response to the input of a signal defining the width of the drive pulse. 10. Printhead with a printhead assembly according to at least one of claims 1 to 7. 11. A print head having a print head assembly according to claim 7, with ejection openings corresponding to the heat generating elements for ejecting printing fluid. 12. Printing device with a print head according to claim 11 and with a conveying device for conveying the print head relative to a recording medium. 13. A method of manufacturing a print head assembly, comprising the steps of forming components on a substrate which have a plurality of recording elements (401), a drive device for driving the recording elements (401) in accordance with image data, an input device (411) for supplying a signal for defining the width of a drive pulse to be supplied to the recording elements by the drive means, and means for dividing the plurality of recording elements into blocks each consisting of a predetermined number of recording elements and causing the blocks to be selected one after the other in time, characterized in that an integration circuit is also formed on the substrate and coupled to the input means for causing a shift in the supply time of the drive pulse to individual recording elements from one recording element to another recording element in a block selected by the block selection means (410, 405). 14. A method according to claim 13, comprising the step of forming a shift register (404) for converting the serially input image data into a parallel format and a latch circuit (403) for temporarily storing data output from the shift register, the components being formed by a film forming process and the integration circuit being formed simultaneously with other components, and comprising a resistance component in the form of a diffusion layer used in forming the drive device and a capacitive component using a gate oxide layer used in forming a drive control logic system comprising the shift register and the latch circuit. 15. The method according to claim 13, comprising the steps of forming a shift register (404) for converting the serially input image data into a parallel format and a latch circuit (403) for temporarily storing data output from the shift register, the components being formed by a layer forming process, and forming a hysteresis circuit (101) on the substrate provided at the input to a drive control logic system comprising the shift register (404) and the latch circuit (403) for causing an input data threshold to vary depending on a rise or fall of the signal, the hysteresis circuit being in the form of a resistor formed using a diffusion layer used in forming the drive device.