FR2716412A1 - Thermal transfer colour printing ribbon with coded cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

The ribbon has a strip which has on one of its faces a succession of sequences of transferable colourants (1,2,3). The colourants are transferred to a surface by heating. Each colourant is preceded on the ribbon by an index mark (4). The index mark is separated from the colourant by a separator region (5) that has different characteristics to the index, to allow clear identification of the index. The separator may be of a different colour to the index, or may be the same colour but of different length. The index carries a code (7) that indicates the characteristic of the colourant following, and this code is read by the printer to control operation of the print head.

Description

TAPE FOR THERMAL TRANSFER
COLORS AND CODED CASSETTE
The present invention relates to a ribbon for the thermal transfer of dyes and substances transferable by this technique as well as its use in the form of a cassette for the use of card printing machines, in particular made of plastic.

It is known the technology of thermal transfer in which the dye is deposited and fixed on the support to be printed thanks to the resistors which compose a thermal print head heating a ribbon coated with dyes by means of a modulated electric current.

It is also known the technology of plastic tape on which are sequentially deposited primary colors, yellow, magenta, cyan, making it possible to obtain by combinations of the different wavelengths known as subtractive a palette of several million colors and shades.

In the patent application entitled: "PRINTER MACHINE
IN COLORS "filed today by the applicant, a color printing machine has been described in which the card to be printed passes successively several times under the same thermal print head under which the ribbon runs in sequential colors.

In such a machine, after printing the first color, the thermal print head is raised to allow the card to return to its starting point. The card then passes again under the thermal print head in the low position for printing the second color. The cycle starts again for the printing of the third and last color.

In such a printing machine, it is necessary to precisely synchronize the movements of the card, the ribbon and the thermal print head.

This synchronization is obtained by using a sequential color ribbon which has characteristics according to the invention.

The invention therefore relates to a ribbon for thermal color transfer using a thermal printing head comprising a strip which has on one side a succession of sequences of dyes or other substances transferable on a medium to be printed by thermal effect. , each sequence of dyes or other substances being preceded by an index, characterized in that each dye or other substance in a sequence is preceded by a separator whose characteristics are different from those of the index so as to allow their detection and their discrimination.

Furthermore, from one ribbon to another, the colorimetric and heating time characteristics of the colors can change, which has an effect on the colors obtained on the card. It is therefore necessary to notify the user so that he modifies certain parameters, in particular the temperatures to be applied to the heating elements of the thermal print head.

The invention also relates to a ribbon of sequential colors, as defined above, the first color sequence of which, in the direction of travel of the ribbon, is preceded by a code which indicates the characteristics of the colors of each sequence of the ribbon .

In a variant, this code can be repeated, with or without modification, at certain places on the ribbon, for example before the start of each color sequence.

In another variant according to which the ribbon is presented in the form of a cassette, the code is printed on the cassette itself.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear on reading the following description of a particular exemplary embodiment, said description being made in relation to the attached drawing in which - Figure 1 shows part of a support tape
of dyes according to the invention, and - Figure 2 is a view of a cassette containing a
dye support tape according to the invention and
bearing a code according to the invention.

The ribbon 10 is in the form of a plastic support of variable length, the width of which is adapted to that of the cards to be printed. On this support, are deposited a succession of sequences of the three known primary dyes, yellow 1, magenta 2, cyan 3, each over a variable length depending on the one hand, on the total length of the card to be printed and, on on the other hand, the length of areas to be printed in certain colors.

For reasons of simplification of the manufacture of such ribbons, the lengths of the dyes are identical and are equal to the maximum length of the cards to be printed by the printing machine. These areas of dyes can be followed by an area 6 on which is deposited another substance, for example a transferable protective film.

The succession of the three dyes 1,2 and 3 and the protective film 6 is called a segment; it is separated from the following segment by an index strip 4, while inside each segment, the dyes 1,2 and 3 and the protective film 6 are delimited by a separator 5.

Indexes (4) and separators 5, of different lengths, of colors also different from those of the dyes constitute a distinctive marking of each element.

The separators (5) have a length substantially equal to less than half that of the indexes (4) in order to clearly differentiate them. Index (4) and dividers 5 can be black.

By way of nonlimiting example, the indexes 4 have a length of about fifteen millimeters while the separators 5 have a length of five and a half millimeters. The index (4) is used, on the one hand, to identify the start of a sequence and, on the other hand, to measure a precise distance on the tape using a detection device and according to characteristics which are described in the French patent application entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DRIVING THE WINDING OF A
TAPE ON A RECEIVING COIL "filed today by the plaintiff.

In other embodiments, the internal organization of a sequence may be different from that described above with the presence of filtering or protective films to obtain special effects.

According to a first variant of the invention, the ribbon comprises on its leader coded information or code 7 relating to the organization of the sequences, the colorimetric characteristics of the dyes deposited, the conditions of thermal use of the dyes and other substances deposited, the dimensional and color characteristics of the indexes and separators as well as any other useful information.

Mounted on a full reel 9 and having an empty take-up reel 8, the ribbon 10 can, in a preferred embodiment, be in the form of a cassette 12 facilitating the operations of placing the ribbon in a machine to print (not shown). One of the sides of the cassette 12 has a zone 13 containing the same coded information (or code 7) as described for that contained on the leader of the ribbon.

The scrolling in the direction of arrow 14 of the primary colors under a thermal printing head is announced by an index strip 4, each color being preceded by a separator 5. The indexes (4) and separators (5) are detected and discriminated by a detection device (not shown) which comprises, for example, two elementary optical detection cells which are separated by a precise distance, for example seven and a half millimeters.

The code 7, on the leader of the ribbon 10 or on the cassette, is read by a detection device (not shown) and the signals resulting from the decoding are used to implement the resistors which make up the thermal print head in depending on the colorimetric characteristics of the dyes and their thermal conditions. The same goes for the protective film to be transferred thermally after printing as well as for the other substances which it is necessary to deposit according to this same process.

The separator 5 is used to identify the start of a color in a sequence and to position the color of the sequence relative to the thermal printing head.

Claims (7)

1. Ribbon for thermal transfer of colors using a thermal printing head comprising a strip which has on one side a succession of sequences of dyes (1,2,3) or other substances (6) transferable on a support to be printed by thermal effect, each sequence of dyes or other substances being preceded by an index (4), characterized in that each dye or other substance of a sequence is preceded by a separator (5) whose characteristics are different from those of the index (4) so as to allow their detection and their discrimination. 2. Tape according to claim 1, characterized in that the indexes (4) and the separators (5) are of different colors. 3. Tape according to claim 1, characterized in that the indexes (4) and the separators (5) are of the same color but of different lengths. 4. Ribbon according to claim 3, characterized in that the indexes (4) and the separators (5) are black. 5. Tape according to one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that the separators (5) have a length which is equal to half that of the indexes (4). 6. Ribbon according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the primer of the ribbon before the first index (4) includes a code (7) which indicates in particular the characteristics of the dyes (1,2,3) and other substances (6), said code being intended to be read by a detection device which supplies signals to the thermal print head for its adjustment. 7. Ribbon according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 5 in the case where the ribbon is enclosed in a cassette comprising a storage reel (9) and a receiving reel (8), characterized in that the cassette comprises a code ( 7) which indicates, in particular, the characteristics of the dyes (1,2,3) and other substances (6), said code being intended to be read by a detection device which supplies signals to the thermal printing head in view of its setting.