Patent attributes
A printer controller for an inkjet printer comprises a purpose-specific microprocessor; connections for linking the microprocessor to an external USB module, a printhead, a paper transport mechanism and a print media sensor; a memory module; a power source connection and an authentication chip. The microprocessor represents an integrated circuit fabricated on a single substrate. The integrated circuit includes a data bus and purpose-specific functional units connected to the data bus. The functional units include a JPEG decoder, a compressed bi-level expander, a halftoner, and a printhead interface. A general-purpose processor may also be connected to the data bus for controlling the functional units. The processor may be connected to run software that coordinates the functional units to receive, expand and print pages.
