JP2761236B2 - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer in which a predetermined printing area provided on an ink sheet is detected by a position indicator.

[Prior Art] In a thermal transfer printer, an ink sheet coated with a heat-meltable or heat-sublimable ink is superimposed on printing paper, and the ink in the ink sheet is heated by a thermal head. Recording is performed by being selectively transferred to the printing paper side by the action.
In the thermal head, a large number of resistive heating elements for printing are arranged in a line in the main scanning direction so as to generate a heat pattern according to image recording information.

On the other hand, some of the above-mentioned ink sheets have a configuration in which a fixed printing area for printing one screen, for example, a color printing area for each color is continuously arranged for many screens. In such an ink sheet, a position indicator is provided corresponding to each of the above-described printing regions. By detecting each of these position indicators, cueing of each printing region or color determination is performed. It has become. In general,
The above-mentioned position indicator is formed from a barcode or the like,
Light is detected by a light detector or the like.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as described above, in the conventional apparatus in which the position indicator is detected by the light detection method and the cueing of the printing area or the color determination is performed, the portion directly below the thermal head, that is, the thermal The photodetector cannot be installed at the same position as the head, and the photodetector is installed at a position away from the thermal head by a fixed amount. In response to this, the position indicator on the ink sheet side is also set slightly shifted from the original position to be detected,
The configuration in which the position indicator is installed only at the first portion of the ink sheet is adopted.In a sequence operation for cueing the ink sheet or performing color determination, a predetermined correction operation corresponding to the shift amount of the position indicator is performed. Is being done. However, such a shift amount of the position indicator or the sequence correction operation is performed in a different state by each device, and the set amount or the correction amount must be changed for each device. Therefore, there is a problem that the ink sheet used in the conventional apparatus is not versatile.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of reliably performing cueing of a printing area of an ink sheet or color determination while ensuring versatility of the ink sheet.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a thermal head in which a number of resistance heating elements are arranged in a line in the main scanning direction, and a fixed head for printing one screen. An ink sheet formed by arranging a plurality of printing areas so as to be continuous for a large number of screens, and a position indicator provided on the ink sheet so as to detect the position of each printing area of the ink sheet. In the thermal transfer printer described above, the position indicator is:
The thermal head is formed of a good heat conductive member provided at a boundary portion of each printing area, and the resistance heating element of the thermal head is provided with heat detection means for detecting a temperature resistance characteristic of the resistance heating element. Configuration.

[Operation] When the cueing or color discrimination of each printing area of the ink sheet is performed by the means having the above configuration, first, a predetermined energization is performed to a part of the resistance heating element of the thermal head to generate minute heat. Is performed. Then, when the boundary between the printing areas of the ink sheet is positioned immediately below the thermal head, the thermal head is provided via a position indicator made of a good heat conductive member installed at the boundary between the printing areas. The minute heat is thermally conducted to the other resistance heating element, and the temperature of the other resistance heating element is increased. Due to this temperature rise, the temperature resistance characteristic of the resistance heating element fluctuates in a fixed relationship, which is detected by the heat detecting means to detect the position of the ink sheet, and to locate each printing area of the ink sheet. Alternatively, color discrimination is performed. Therefore, the cueing or color discrimination of the ink sheet is performed in the area directly below the thermal head, and accordingly, the position indicator on the ink sheet side is also set at the original position itself to be detected. ing.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 2 shows an outline of a printing drive section of a thermal transfer printer as an example of an image printing apparatus.
In FIG. 2, the ink sheet 1 is pulled out from a sheet feed roll 2 through a guide roller 3, a sheet pull-out length is detected by a sheet transfer detecting means 4, and an ink sheet 1 described later is detected by a detection sensor 5.
While the position of each printing area is detected, the ink sheet 1 is sandwiched between printing portions between the thermal head 6 and the platen drum 7. Ink sheet 1
Is further pulled out from the printing section, and is taken up by a sheet take-up roll 9 as ink sheet drawing-out means through a guide roller 8. On the other hand, the printing paper 10 is in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the platen drum 7 by the pressing force of the pressing roller 11.

When the printing operation is performed, the thermal head 6 is lowered, and the ink sheet 1 and the printing paper 10 are brought into close contact with the printing portion between the thermal head 6 and the platen drum 7 so as to be superimposed. Has become. The thermal head 6 has a function of generating a heat pattern according to the image recording information, and the heat of the thermal head 6 causes the ink of the ink sheet 1 to be selectively put on the printing surface of the printing paper 10. The printing and recording operation is performed by the transfer. At this time, printing is performed while the three members of the platen drum 7, the ink sheet 1, and the printing paper 10 are transported in synchronization with one line cycle of the image data sent to the thermal head 6, respectively. .

When the printing is completed, the thermal head 6 is raised, and the printing paper 10 is discharged by the feeding action of the capstan roller 12 and the pinch roller 13.

The ink sheet 1 is formed from a band as shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), and is arranged such that a fixed printing area for printing one screen is continuous for many screens. Has been established. The ink sheet 1 in this embodiment is 3
In the color ink sheet, yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) color printing areas are arranged in order from the upstream side in the feeding direction of the ink sheet 1.
In printing, first, the cueing of the ink sheet 1 described later is performed, and then the fixed printing areas Y, M, and
The printing and recording operation on the printing paper 10 is performed while the respective screen areas of C are sequentially sent out. In the case of an ink sheet that can be used a plurality of times, if the above-described printing operation is performed once, the sheet feed roll 2 is reversed and the ink sheet 1 is rewound to the original printing start position. When the fixed printing areas Y, M, and C of the ink sheet 1 are returned to the printing start position, the screen areas of the fixed printing areas Y, M, and C of the ink sheet 1 are sequentially sent out again and the second printing is performed. A copying and recording operation is performed, and a similar printing and recording operation is repeated a plurality of N times.

As described above, the printing operation is performed with each printing area of Y, M, and C for one recording as one set, and the position as a position indicator is located at the boundary between the printing areas of each set. An instruction mark 14 is provided. The position indication mark 14 is formed of a good heat conductive member such as an aluminum member, and is located just before the ink sheet feeding direction in the Y color printing area.
It is provided to extend in the width direction of the ink sheet. The position indication mark 14 is provided on the ink layer 1a as shown in FIG.
It is good also as being installed on.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, the thermal head 6 is provided with a resistive heating element 6a for printing in a line in the main scanning direction so as to form an element row for generating a thermal pattern according to image recording information. Many are juxtaposed. A heat detector 6b for detecting a temperature resistance characteristic of the resistance heating element 6a is attached to the printing resistance heating element 6a constituting the element array. The heat detector 6b detects the temperature resistance characteristic of the resistance heating element 6a as shown in FIG. 4, for example, and changes the resistance value (vertical axis) corresponding to the temperature change (horizontal axis) of the resistance heating element 6a. Axis) is detected. Accordingly, the position of the position indication mark 14 provided on the ink sheet 1 is detected, and the feeding control of the ink sheet 1 is executed.

That is, when performing cueing of the ink sheet 1,
First, the ink sheet 1 and the thermal head 6 are brought into close contact with each other, and a voltage slightly lower than that at the time of printing is applied to a part of the resistive heating element 6a for printing of the thermal head 6, and the voltage is applied. A small amount of heat is generated from a part of the resistance heating elements 6a so that the ink of the ink sheet 1 is not melted or depleted. When the ink layer 1a of the ink sheet 1 is disposed immediately below the thermal head 6 at the time when the cueing of the ink sheet 1 is being performed, the heat transfer coefficient of the ink layer 1a of the ink sheet 1 is low. The minute heat generated from a part of the resistance heating elements 6a of the thermal head 6 does not affect the other resistance heating elements 6a. Therefore, at the time when the cueing of the ink sheet 1 is being performed, the change in the resistance value is not detected by the heat detector 6b. When the position indication mark 14 is to be disposed immediately below the thermal head 6 at the time when the cue of the ink sheet 1 is performed, the position indication mark 14 is formed from a good heat conducting member. The minute heat generated from a part of the resistance heating elements 6a of the thermal head 6 is transmitted to the other resistance heating elements 6a via the position indication marks 14, and the other resistance heating elements 6a are heated. With the temperature rise of the resistance heating element 6a, the resistance value of the resistance heating element 6a is changed according to, for example, a temperature resistance characteristic as shown in FIG. 4, and this change in the resistance value is detected by the heat detector 6b. Is detected. Then, based on this detection operation, it is detected that the position indication mark 14 is located immediately below the thermal head 6, that is, that the head has been located.

At this time, if position indicating marks having different thermal conductivities are provided at each boundary portion between the printing areas of the ink sheet 1, not only cueing of each printing area but also color discrimination can be performed. Becomes possible.

As described above, in the above-described embodiment, the cueing of the ink sheet 1 or the color discrimination is performed in the area immediately below the thermal head 6, and the position indicator on the ink sheet 1 side corresponding to the original should also be detected. It is designed to be installed at the location itself.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a heat detector 20 made of a thermistor or the like is installed at a place other than the printing portion of the thermal head 6. In such an embodiment, the same operation and effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

Note that the present invention can be similarly applied to an apparatus using an ink sheet that performs energization transfer. In this case, the current flow is directly detected when cueing the ink sheet or determining the color. The Rukoto.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the position indicator provided on the ink sheet side is installed at the position of the original position to be detected, and the cueing of the ink sheet or the color determination of the thermal head is performed. A position indicator made of a good heat conducting member is installed at a boundary portion of each printing area so that the thermal head can be performed in the area directly below, and the heat conducted through the position indicator made of the good heat conducting member causes the thermal head to move. The temperature of the resistance heating element is raised, and a change in the resistance value of the resistance heating element caused by the temperature rise of the resistance heating element is also detected by the heat detecting means to detect the position of the ink sheet. Therefore, it is not necessary to dispose the position indicator even if it is shifted to the device side, and a predetermined sequence correcting operation corresponding to the shift amount of the position indicator is performed. This eliminates the necessity, and makes it possible to favorably perform cueing or color discrimination of each printing area of the ink sheet while securing versatility of the ink sheet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 (a) and 1 (b) are a plan view and a side view illustrating the configuration of an ink sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating an example of a drive system of a thermal transfer printer. FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a schematic configuration of a thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing temperature characteristics of a resistance heating element, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a thermal head according to the embodiment. 1 ... ink sheet, 6 ... thermal head, 10 ... printing paper, 6a ... resistance heating element, 6b, 20 ... heat detector, 14 ...
Position indication mark.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thermal head in which a number of resistance heating elements are arranged in the main scanning direction, and an ink in which a fixed printing area for printing one screen is continuously arranged for a number of screens. A thermal transfer printer comprising a sheet and a position indicator provided on the ink sheet so as to detect the position of each printing area of the ink sheet, wherein the position indicator has a boundary between the printing areas. The thermal head of the thermal head is provided with a heat detecting means for detecting a temperature resistance characteristic of the resistance heating element. Thermal transfer printer.