THERMAL PRINTER AND DRIVING METHOD THEREOF

PURPOSE:To prevent abnormal heating of a thermal head and irregular density in printing by applying a first pulse having a downtime between a standard pulse and a correction pulse at first after an interruption of printing. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head 1, a drive circuit 2, and a temperature sensor 4 are provided. The drive circuit 2 comprises a control circuit 2a, a memory 2b, and a signal generating circuit 2c. When a printing is to be restarted, a first pulse P having a pulse width t is applied to the thermal head 1. A substrate temperature detected by the temperature sensor 4, a downtime t1 corresponding to the substrate temperature stored in the memory 2b, and a correction pulse P2 having a pulse width t2 are inputted in the signal generating circuit 2c as control signals. A standard pulse P0 having a pulse width t0, the downtime t1, and the correction pulse P2 are to be inputted to the thermal head 1 from the signal generating circuit 2c as driving signals of the first pulse P of t=t0+t1+t2.