JP2000000983A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute printing of a clear image on various kinds of printing papers. SOLUTION: This thermal transfer printer comprises a foundation printing time setting section 28 for setting a number of times of foundation printing and a control section 25 for controlling the foundation printing to execute the number of times of the printing set by the foundation printing time setting section 28. As the number of times of the foundation printing is set, a clear image is printed on each of various kinds of papers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for performing printing by selectively transferring the ink of a heat generating ink ribbon of a heating element of a thermal head to an image receiving paper, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printer capable of underprinting. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, thermal transfer printers have been widely used as output devices such as computers and word processors because of their high print quality, low noise, low cost, and ease of maintenance.

In such a thermal transfer printer, a plurality of heating elements formed on a thermal head are selectively driven and controlled to melt and transfer ink on an ink film to an image receiving paper (printing paper), thereby obtaining a desired image. The image is printed.

[0004] That is, a polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyacrylate, etc.
Using an ink film in which an ink layer that becomes solid at room temperature is uniformly applied to a thickness of about 0.5 to 10 microns on a heat-resistant film having a thickness of about 5 to about 5 microns, and passing through the ink film and the image receiving paper. With the thermal head pressed against the platen, the heating element of the thermal head is selectively driven and controlled based on the print signal to melt the ink layer of the ink film and transfer it to the image receiving paper. Then, the ink film is pulled from the image receiving paper. By peeling off, a desired image is printed.

[0005] In such a thermal transfer printer, when the surface of the printing paper is not smooth, or when the surface of the printing paper is coated, some ink does not adhere to the printing paper, There was a problem that the ink transferred to the paper was peeled off by rubbing, and a clear printing result could not be obtained.

For this reason, before printing with ink of a predetermined color, a transparent ink or white ink is printed in advance for the purpose of smoothing the surface of the paper or making the ink easily transferable. A printing method has been proposed in which an ink of a predetermined color is overprinted on the base print, and a transparent ink is overprinted on the upper surface of the print image in order to improve abrasion.

[0007] As a thermal transfer printer using such a printing method, a plurality of ribbon cassettes each containing an ink ribbon, which is a kind of ink film, are held at a portion facing the carriage, and automatically operated in accordance with printing. A so-called auto-changer type thermal transfer printer has been proposed in which a desired ribbon cassette is selected and exchanged for printing.

[0008]

The types of printing paper include various types of paper, such as plain paper, postcards, bond paper, OHP paper, and photographs. In order to print a clear image on such paper, there are various types of printing paper. In some cases, it is necessary to perform printing with color inks after performing base printing instead of printing directly with color inks.

[0009] However, with only one base printing,
It was found that it was not possible to completely fill in the irregularities on the surface of the printing paper, or to be affected by the background color of the printing paper, so that clear printing could not be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of printing clear images on various printing papers.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.
It has a base printing number setting unit for setting the number of times of base printing for the same part, and a control unit for controlling to perform the base printing for the number of times set by the base printing number setting unit. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to set the number of times of base printing and print clear images on various printing papers.

A feature of the thermal transfer printer according to the second aspect of the present invention is that the background printing number setting section selects the number of times of background printing in accordance with the type of printing paper. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to set the number of times of printing of the base according to the type of printing paper, and to print a clear image without wasting the ink ribbon for printing the base. Can be.

A feature of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention is that the background printing number setting section selects the number of times of background printing in accordance with the type of image to be printed using color ink. is there. Then, by adopting such a configuration, the number of times of base printing is set according to the image to be printed, so that the base printing process according to the required image can be performed.

A feature of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention according to claim 4 is that it has one ribbon cassette for underprinting and performs all underprinting using this ribbon cassette. And by adopting such a configuration,
The installation space for the ribbon cassette can be reduced.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention has a plurality of ribbon cassettes for underprinting, and performs underprinting using each ribbon cassette. And, by adopting such a configuration, the underprinting can be performed using a plurality of ribbon cassettes for underprinting. Therefore, the ribbon cassette for underprinting does not need to be changed very frequently.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, in a thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment, a flat platen 2 has a printing surface 2a substantially perpendicular to a desired position of a frame (not shown). A guide shaft 3 is disposed below and in front of the platen 2 in parallel with the platen 2. A vertically divided carriage 4 is movably supported by the guide shaft 3. One carriage 4a shown below is a lower carriage 4a supported by the guide shaft 3, and the other carriage 4 shown above is The carriage 4b is provided with a ribbon cassette 5 containing an ink ribbon, which will be described later, and the lower carriage 4b.
upper carriage 4b which can be moved up and down with respect to a
It has been.

The carriage 4 drives an appropriate driving belt 6 wound around a pair of pulleys (not shown) by driving means (not shown) such as a stepping motor, so that the carriage 4 is driven by the guide shaft 3. It is driven so as to be able to reciprocate along.

The carriage 4 has a thermal head 7 which is opposed to the platen 2 and which can be freely moved toward and away from the platen 2 by a well-known head moving mechanism (both not shown) operable with the driving force of a drive motor. The thermal head 7 prints on the image receiving paper conveyed onto the platen 2 in a pressure contact state (head down state) in contact with the platen 2. The thermal head 7 includes a plurality of heating elements (not shown) arranged and arranged to selectively generate heat based on desired print information input by an appropriate input device (not shown) such as a keyboard. It has.

In the thermal head 7, the control section 25 described later selectively controls the energizing energy in 15 stages, that is, the energizing time for each heating element is controlled in 15 stages.

The carriage 4 will be described in more detail.
The upper carriage 4b, which is substantially parallel to the upper surface of the lower carriage 4a, is attached to the lower carriage 4a by a parallel crank mechanism 8 such that the upper carriage 4b can move parallel to and move away from the lower carriage 4a. As shown in FIG. 3, the parallel crank mechanism 8 is provided at each of the left and right ends of the carriage 4 and has a pair of links 9a and 9b crossing each other in an X shape. Are pivoted by a pin 10a, and the ends of the links 9a, 9b are connected to the pins 10b, 10c, 1
The lower carriage 4a and the upper carriage 4b are slidably locked by long holes (not shown) formed at upper end portions on left and right sides of the lower carriage 4a and the upper carriage 4b, respectively.

The lower carriage 4a is provided with a rotary crank mechanism 11, and the rotary crank mechanism 11 operates to move the upper carriage 4b in parallel. This rotary crank mechanism 11
The rotary carriage 12 includes a rotary plate 12 serving as a rotary member supported to be rotatably driven by the lower carriage 4a, and a connection link 14 serving as a connection member pivotally connected to an eccentric position of the rotary plate 12 by a pin 13a. The distal end of the link 14 is pivotally connected to the upper carriage 4b by a pin 13b. The rotating plate 12 is rotatably driven by a suitable driving means (not shown) such as a motor.

Returning to FIG. 1, a plate-like arm is formed on each of the left and right sides of the upper carriage 4b as an engaging portion 15a having a tip gently curved inward and a projection formed at the upper and lower ends. Reference numerals 15 stand upright at intervals substantially equal to the width of the ribbon cassette 5. And the upper carriage 4b
A pair of rotatable bobbins 16, 16 are disposed at a central portion in the width direction of the printer so as to protrude upward at a predetermined interval from each other. It is possible to travel in the direction. One of the pair of bobbins 16 is a delivery bobbin 16a for delivering the ink ribbon 17, and the other is a take-up bobbin 16b for winding the ink ribbon 17.

On the edge of the carriage 4 farther from the platen 2, a photo sensor 18 a is disposed as a sensor 18 for detecting the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the ribbon cassette 5. I have. In this embodiment, a reflection type photosensor is used as the photosensor 18a. And the photo sensor 1
Reference numeral 8a is connected to a control unit 25 that controls the printing operation and the like of the thermal transfer printer 1 disposed at a desired position of the thermal transfer printer 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, above the carriage 4, there is provided a frame (not shown) which is openably and closably supported by a frame (not shown) as shown by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. A plate-shaped canopy 19 is provided. The canopy 19 functions as a paper presser on the exit side of a paper feed mechanism (not shown) in the closed state, and is disposed so as to face the carriage 4. And the length is almost the same.

A plurality of cassette holders (not shown) for holding the ribbon cassette 5 are provided at predetermined positions on the lower surface of the canopy 19 facing the carriage 4 in parallel, and three kinds of cassette holders are provided. The three ribbon cassettes 5 in which the ink ribbons 17a, 17b, and 17c are individually stored are arranged in the moving direction of the carriage 4.

The ink ribbon 17a is used for printing a base F with a transparent or white ink FI. This ink ribbon 17a
Has a base material 30 made of a PET film having a thickness of 4.5 μm as an example, as shown in FIG.
The thermal head 7 is in direct contact with the back of the substrate 30 to prevent the thermal head 7 from sticking to the substrate 30 due to the heat of the thermal head 7 and to prevent the thermal head 7 from slipping between the thermal head 7 and the ink ribbon 17a. A back layer 31 made of a fluorine-based resin for improving the property is laminated with a thickness of 0.3 μm as an example.

On the other hand, on the surface of the substrate 30 opposite to the back layer 31, a release layer 32 made of a resin material is laminated with a thickness of 0.2 μm as an example. Also,
On the surface of the release layer 32 opposite to the base material 30, an image receiving layer 33 made of a thermoplastic elastomer for facilitating the ride of the voice cord main body VM by the color ink CI is laminated with an appropriate thickness. Further, on the surface of the image receiving layer 33 on the side opposite to the release layer 32, a white ink layer 34 containing titania having an action of hiding a photographic image is laminated with an appropriate thickness. Furthermore, on the surface of the white ink layer 34 on the side opposite to the image receiving layer 33, mainly a thermoplastic elastomer, waxes, higher fatty acid amides, esters,
Add an anti-blocking agent such as fluororesin,
An adhesive layer 35 for good adhesion to the surface of the substrate is laminated.

In the present embodiment, the number of the ribbon cassettes 5a containing the ink ribbons 17a for the base printing is limited to one. However, it is also possible to mount a plurality of ribbon cassettes 5a. is there.

Next, the ink ribbon 17B is used for printing an image on a base. As shown in FIG. 5, the ink ribbon 17b has a substrate 40 made of a PET film having a thickness of 2.5 μm as an example, and the back of the substrate 40 has the same structure as the back layer 31. The back layer 41 made of a silicon-based material having the above function is laminated with a thickness of 0.25 μm as an example.

On the other hand, on the surface of the base material 40 opposite to the back layer 41, a release layer 42 made of a wax-based material is laminated with a thickness of 1.0 μm as an example. Also, on the surface of the release layer 42 on the side opposite to the substrate 40,
Overcoat OC composed of rosin-based tackifier as described later
As an example, the intermediate layer 43 for improving the
It is laminated with a thickness of μm. Further, on the surface of the intermediate layer 43 on the side opposite to the release layer 42, a colored ink layer 44 made of a resin-based material contributing to forming the voice code main body VM is laminated with a thickness of 1.2 μm as an example. Have been.

Further, the ink ribbon 17C is used for overprinting an overcoat for improving abrasion on an exposed base, image, or the like. As shown in FIG. 6, the ink ribbon 17c has a base 50 made of a PET film having a thickness of 4.5 μm as an example, and the back layers 31, 41 are provided on the back of the base 50. A back layer 51 made of a fluorine-based resin having the same function as that described above is laminated with an appropriate thickness.

On the other hand, on the surface of the substrate 50 opposite to the back layer 51, a transparent ink layer 52 made of a resin-based material is provided.
Are laminated with an appropriate thickness. The surface of the transparent ink layer 52 on the side opposite to the base material 50 is made of the same material as the adhesive layer 35, and is used for improving the adhesiveness between the base F and the voice code main body VM. 53
Are laminated.

Further, at the end of each ink ribbon 17, as shown in FIG. 7, a striped end mark 60 used to detect the ribbon end of each ink ribbon 17 is formed. I have.

Returning to FIG. 1, the lower carriage 4a on the side of the thermal head 7 is opposed to the opening (not shown) of the ribbon cassette 5 mounted on the upper carriage 4b. End mark 60 of ribbon 17
A photo sensor 27 is provided as a detection unit for detecting the. The photo sensor 27 is connected to the control unit 25 of the thermal transfer printer. When the photo sensor 27 detects the end mark 60 of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the ribbon cassette 5, this detection signal is sent to the control unit 2
5 is output. The control unit 2
5 is provided with a notifying unit 26 for notifying the user of the ribbon end by a display or voice when a detection signal from the photo sensor 27 is input.

The control section 25 is connected to a base printing frequency setting section 28 for selecting the number of times of printing of the base on the same portion according to the type of printing paper or the image mode for printing. This background printing number setting unit 28
Are a plurality of buttons 29, 29... Each of which is displayed to set the number of background printings.
The display unit 30 in which the type of paper or the image mode to be printed corresponding to the number of times of printing of the background in the above is described.
When the operator presses the button 28 corresponding to the display unit on which the type of paper to be used or the image mode to be printed is described, the base printing of this number is set. .

The types of paper displayed on the display unit 30 include plain paper, postcards, bond paper, OHP paper, photographs, and the like. The image modes displayed on the display unit 30 include heat fusion, There are a transfer type such as thermal sublimation, a color type such as a single black color, a single color color, and a full color, and an image quality type such as a clear image quality and a rough image quality.

The number of underprints set by the underprint number setting unit 28 is output to the control unit 25, and the control unit 25 performs various controls for underprint according to the number. Has become.

Each of the ribbon cassettes 5 is selected between the canopy 19 and the upper carriage 4b by the operation of the parallel crank mechanism 8 which operates in conjunction with the rotary crank mechanism 11, as shown by a double arrow B in FIG. The delivery is done in a regular manner.

Each of the ribbon cassettes 5 of this embodiment has the same shape regardless of the type of the ink ribbon 17.
A pair of rotatably supported reels (not shown) and a pair of rotatably supported ribbon feed rollers (not shown) are housed in a case body 20 having the same dimensions and a pair of upper and lower planes and substantially rectangular planes. And a plurality of guide rollers facing the rotatably supported ribbon path.

The ink ribbon 1 is placed between a pair of reels.
7 is wound, and an intermediate portion of the ink ribbon 17 is led out. When the ribbon cassette 5 is mounted on the upper carriage 4b, one of the pair of reels is a take-up reel that winds the ink ribbon 17 of a portion used for printing, and the other sends out the ink ribbon. It is a sending reel. On the inner peripheral surface of each reel, a plurality of key grooves are formed in a spline shape at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the inner peripheral surface of the take-up reel is formed by the winding bobbin 16b.
Is formed as a take-up hole 21b, and the inner peripheral surface of the delivery reel is provided with a delivery hole 21a with which the delivery bobbin 16a is engaged.
It has been.

On the surface of the ribbon cassette 5 which is mounted on the carriage 4 and faces the platen 2, there is formed a concave portion 22 in which the thermal head 7 faces the outside. Is derived.

Further, an identification mark 23 for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 is provided on the rear surface of the ribbon cassette 5 extending parallel to the surface on which the concave portion 22 is formed. Are located. The identification mark 23 of this embodiment is formed by a reflective seal 24 having a different number of striped non-reflective portions 24a depending on the type of the ink ribbon 17.

Then, the identification mark 23 is detected by the photo sensor 18a provided on the carriage 4, and this detection signal is output to the control unit 25 of the thermal transfer printer 1, where the identification mark on each ribbon cassette 5 is The number of the ribbon cassette 5
Ink ribbons 17a, 17b, 17 stored in
The types c and 17d are determined.

That is, in the ribbon cassette 5a shown on the leftmost side in FIG. 1, a reflective seal 24A having three non-reflective portions 24a is arranged as the identification mark 23. The left end of the rear surface of the ribbon cassette 5 shown on the front side in FIG. 1 is a reference position BP for detecting the identification mark 23, and the right end surface of the non-reflection portion 24a located at the right end of the identification mark 23 in FIG. The distance L to all the identification marks 23 is the same, and a desired non-reflective portion 24a for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 17a is formed within the distance L. The carriage 4 can be stopped when the photo sensor 18a detects the identification mark 23 to be used. When the carriage 4 is stopped, the ribbon cassette 5 stored in the cassette holder is moved to the upper carriage 4b. It has been handed over.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described.

Information about the voice code to be printed by the host computer or the like is transmitted to the control unit 25 to the thermal transfer printer of the present embodiment, and the paper used or the image to be printed is By pressing a button 29 for setting the number of backgrounds corresponding to the display unit 30 in which the mode is described, the number of times of printing of the background is input to the control unit 25. The carriage 4 is moved, and the photo sensor 18a provided on the carriage 4 detects the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5. Then, the photo sensor 18 a
Each identification mark 2 having a configuration such as an arrangement of a and a pitch
3 is sent to the control unit 25, and the control unit 25
It is determined whether or not the mark is the identification mark 23 corresponding to the base print command issued in step. If the identification mark 23 corresponds to the base print command, the movement of the carriage 4 is stopped.
In this embodiment, since printing is performed in the order of the base, the image, and the overcoat, first, the ribbon cassette 5a that stores the base ink ribbon 17a is identified.

Then, the ribbon cassette 5a containing the selected base ink ribbon 17a is moved from the canopy 19 by the parallel crank mechanism 8 and the rotary crank mechanism 11 as shown by a double arrow B in FIG. The ribbon cassette 5a is selectively transferred to the upper carriage 4b, the ribbon cassette 5a is mounted on the carriage 4, and the operation of selecting the ribbon cassette 5a ends.

Next, the paper on which the voice code is to be printed is set between the platen 2 and the thermal head 7 manually or by a paper feeding device (not shown), and printing of the base is started. Then, according to a command from the control unit 25, the thermal head 7 is moved down and the ink ribbon 1 is moved down.
The carriage 4 is moved while being pressed against the platen 2 via the sheet 7a and the sheet. As described above, when the heating elements of the thermal head 7 corresponding to the entire area of the image forming portion are heated while moving the thermal head 7 with respect to the sheet, the thermoplastic elastomer and the white ink of the image receiving layer 33 of the ink ribbon 17a are formed. The white ink of the layer 34 is peeled off from the peeling layer 32 and transferred to the paper. By the way, in the case where the number of times of the base printing is plural, the ribbon cassette 5a
Without replacing the ink ribbon 1, the thermal head 7 is moved up, the carriage 4 is returned to the initial position again, and then the thermal head 7 is moved down.
7A and the paper are pressed against the platen 2 via the paper, and the carriage 4 is moved to perform the base printing again corresponding to the entire area of the image forming portion.

When the printing of the base has been completed one or more times in this manner, the ribbon cassette 5a used for printing the base is transferred from the upper carriage 4b to the canopy 19 by the reverse operation to that described above. The ribbon cassette 5b storing the ink ribbon 17b used for printing is identified, and the ribbon cassette 5b is transferred from the canopy 19 to the upper carriage 4b, and printing of an image is started.

That is, according to a command from the control unit 25,
The thermal head 7 is moved down while being pressed down to the platen 2 via the ink ribbon 17b and the paper, and the carriage 4 is moved. When the heat generating elements of the thermal head 7 corresponding to the image are heated while the thermal head 7 is moved with respect to the sheet, the rosin-based tackifier and the colored ink layer 44 of the intermediate layer 43 of the ink ribbon 17b are formed. Is peeled from the peeling layer 42 and transferred to the photograph P, and printing of the image is completed. In addition,
If the image is a color image, the ink ribbon 17b
Alternatively, an ink ribbon in which three primary color inks are sequentially and repeatedly formed may be used, or a plurality of ribbon cassettes in which three primary colors are individually stored may be used.

When the printing of the image is completed in this way,
The ribbon cassette 5b used for printing this image is moved from the upper carriage 4b to the canopy 1 by the operation reverse to that described above.
9, the ribbon cassette 5c containing the ink ribbon 17c used for overcoat printing is identified, and the ribbon cassette 5c is transferred to the canopy 19.
To the upper carriage 4b, and printing of the overcoat is started.

That is, according to a command from the control unit 25,
The thermal head 7 is moved down while being pressed down to the platen 2 via the ink ribbon 17c and the paper, and the carriage 4 is moved. As described above, when the thermal head 7 is moved with respect to the sheet and the heating elements of the thermal head 7 corresponding to the entire area of the image and the exposed base are heated, the transparent ink layer 52 of the ink ribbon 17c becomes transparent. The ink and the adhesive mainly composed of the thermoplastic elastomer of the adhesive layer 53 are peeled off from the base material 50 and transferred to the paper, and the printing of the overcoat for improving the abrasion of the image is completed.

When the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 17 stored in a certain ribbon cassette 5 is exhausted and the photo sensor 27 detects the end mark 60, the detection signal is input to the control unit 25, and the notification unit 26 is notified. Informs by sound and / or display that the ink ribbon 17 in which the end mark 60 has been detected has run out. Therefore, the operator may replace the ribbon cassette 5 with a new one.

As described above, the number of times of printing of the base can be set in accordance with the type of printing paper or the image mode for printing.
A clear image can be printed by forming an image on the base printing without wasting 7a.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes can be made as necessary. For example, the number of underprints is not limited to one and two, but may be three or more. Further, overcoating is not always required.

[0056]

As described above, according to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, clear images can be printed on various types of printing paper according to the type of paper used or the image mode in which printing is performed.

That is, there is provided a base printing number setting unit for setting the number of base printings for the same portion, and a control unit for controlling so as to perform the number of base printings set in the base printing number setting unit. Therefore, clear images can be printed on various types of printing paper by setting the number of times of base printing.

Further, since the number-of-base-prints setting section sets the number of base prints in accordance with the type of printing paper, the number of base printing can be set in accordance with the type of printing paper. In addition, it is possible to print a clear image without wasting the ink ribbon for base printing.

Further, the background printing number setting section selects the number of background printing in accordance with the type of image to be printed using the color ink, so that the number of background printing is set in accordance with the image mode to be printed. Since the setting is made, it is possible to perform a base printing process according to a required image.

Further, by having one ribbon cassette for the base printing and performing all the base printing using this ribbon cassette, the installation space for the ribbon cassette can be reduced.

In addition, by providing a plurality of ribbon cassettes for underprinting and performing underprinting using each ribbon cassette, underprinting can be performed using a plurality of ribbon cassettes for underprinting. It is not necessary to change the ribbon cassette for the printer so frequently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing details of the vicinity of the carriage in FIG. 7;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing details of a parallel crank mechanism and a rotary crank mechanism of FIG. 7;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of an underprint printing ink ribbon.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of an ink ribbon for image printing.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of an overcoat printing ink ribbon.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing an end mark of the ink ribbon.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer printer 2 Platen 4 Carriage 4a Lower carriage 4b Upper carriage 5 (5a, 5b, 5c) Ribbon cassette 7 Thermal head 8 Parallel crank mechanism 11 Rotary crank mechanism 17 (17a, 17b, 17c) Ink ribbon 18 Photo for ribbon cassette identification Sensor 19 Canopy 25 Control unit 26 Notification unit 27 Photosensor for detecting the end of ink ribbon 28 Underprint number setting unit 29 Underprint number setting button 30 Paper type display unit 60 Termination mark

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Noriko Takigawa, Inventor, 1-7 Yukiya Otsukacho, Ota-ku, Tokyo Alps Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Asabu, 1-7 Yukiya Otsukacho, Ota-ku, Tokyo Alps Electric Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C065 AA02 AB03 CJ01 CJ02 CJ03 CJ06 CJ08 DC06 DC07 DC10 DC29 DC32 2C068 AA01 AA06 AA15 AA22 BD23 BD31 BD49 KK11 KK36 LL07 LL14 LL17 LL21

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Using a plurality of ink ribbons, first, a base print is performed by a thermal head as necessary, and then a print is performed by the thermal head using an ink ribbon having a predetermined color ink on the base. In the thermal transfer printer configured as above, a base printing number setting unit that sets the number of times of the base printing for the same portion, and a control unit that controls so as to perform the base printing the number of times set in the base printing number setting unit. A thermal transfer printer comprising: 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the underprinting number setting section selects the underprinting number according to the type of printing paper. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the underprinting number setting unit selects the underprinting number according to the type of an image to be printed using the predetermined color ink. A thermal transfer printer as described. 4. The thermal transfer according to claim 1, further comprising one ribbon cassette for underprinting, and performing all underprinting using the ribbon cassette. Printer. 5. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of ribbon cassettes for underprinting, wherein underprinting is performed using each ribbon cassette.