JP2000141629A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a good image with low bleeding even when using a normal paper as a recording paper in terms of a recorder wherein a visible image is formed by ejecting liquid drops on an intermediate transferring body and the visible image is transferred to the recording paper. SOLUTION: Printing data is generated by processing image information from an external device 1 by a data processing section 3 and a visible image is formed from the printing data by a printing section 4. A set agent which can be solved and swelled by a liquid drop and raise a viscosity of the liquid drop is applied on a whole surface of an intermediate transferring body, then the liquid drop is ejected in accordance with a signal, thereby forming a visible image on the intermediate transferring body. Next, the visible image is transferred to a recording paper. The amount of the set agent to be applied on the intermediate transferring body is varied with a kind (text, image, monochrome, color) of the image information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for forming an image by ejecting droplets containing a coloring material in accordance with an image signal, as in ink-jet recording. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that forms an image by ejecting the image onto a body and transfers the image to recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recording apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus which performs recording by ejecting a liquid containing a coloring material as liquid droplets in accordance with an image signal, recording is performed with less bleeding on plain paper such as high quality paper. That is an important technical issue. For this reason, various inventions have conventionally been proposed. These conventional techniques for plain paper can be roughly divided into the following three methods.

(1) When ink is dropped on recording paper,
Alternatively, a method in which an ink curing agent is dropped at the same place before and after that. For example, JP-A-6-92009 and JP-A-6-92009
The invention described in Japanese Patent Application No. 92010 discloses a method in which ink is dropped on recording paper only in an area where ink droplets are dropped on plain paper, or simultaneously or before and after the ink is dropped on the same place on recording paper. To prevent bleeding on the recording paper. However, in the present invention, means dedicated to the ink curing liquid is required, and since it takes time to cure,
There is a disadvantage that the recording time is longer than usual.

[0004] (2) A method in which a coating agent for reducing ink bleeding is applied to recording paper in advance, and after recording, the coating agent is fixed on the recording paper. For example, the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-97720 discloses a method in which particles for reducing ink bleeding are previously applied to plain paper, and after the ink is fixed, the particles are fixed on the paper. However, in the present invention, since the particle agent shows a reaction such as dissolution with respect to the ink, there is a possibility that after the particles are fixed, a reaction such as dissolution with water or oil as the ink solvent on the recording paper may occur. And storage stability after recording is poor.

(3) A method of using an intermediate transfer member to increase the viscosity of ink before transferring it to recording paper. For example, JP-A-7-8
The invention described in Japanese Patent No. 9067 is a recording apparatus called an intermediate transfer body type ink jet head, in which an ink image is once formed on an intermediate transfer body, and is transferred to a recording paper when a moderate viscosity is reached. To solve the ink bleeding.

However, the invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-89067 discloses a method in which a surfactant is applied to an intermediate transfer member in advance to increase the wettability. It takes time, and therefore, bleeding occurs on the intermediate transfer body and eventually on the recording paper, which is not suitable for high-speed recording.In particular, the bleeding is large in the case of a solid image. Even so, there was a limit to speeding up in this bleeding point.

The present applicant has already proposed an invention for solving the problems in these methods (Japanese Patent Application No. 9-3).
No. 59208). According to the present invention, high-speed and good images can be obtained using plain paper, but the types of output images are various, and the transferability and image quality are different depending on the types of images. It was difficult to obtain a satisfactory image.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has a configuration in which a setting agent is formed in advance on the entire surface of an intermediate transfer member, and droplets are ejected in accordance with a signal to perform intermediate transfer. In a recording apparatus that forms a visible image on the body and then transfers the visible image onto recording paper, even if plain paper is used as recording paper, bleeding with ink is as small as possible, excellent in water resistance, and after printing. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus having excellent paper storability, and to obtain good images for various image types by simple means.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data processing unit for processing image information from an external input device to form print data, and based on the print data formed by the data processing unit. A recording device comprising a printing unit for forming a visible image, wherein a setting agent which can be dissolved or swelled by droplets in advance and can increase the viscosity of the droplets is formed on an intermediate transfer body surface, Is formed in accordance with a signal to form a visible image on the intermediate transfer body, and then, in a recording apparatus that transfers the visible image onto recording paper, the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer body is determined. , According to image information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the amount of setting agent to be formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is text data or image data. It is intended to be.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is monochrome or color. It is like that.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on the coloring area.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, an apparatus for determining the type of image information is provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus which allows a user to input the type of image information.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, a setting agent applying apparatus 10, an intermediate transfer body apparatus 20, a printing apparatus 30,
It comprises a paper feeding device 40, a transfer device 50, and a paper discharging device 60. However, a cleaning device 70 for the remaining set agent on the transfer member is provided as needed (the cleaning device 70 is provided in this embodiment).

First, when a print start signal is received, the set agent application device 10 causes the intermediate transfer belt 2 of the intermediate transfer body device 20 to operate.
1 is coated with a setting agent. Set agent is acrylic resin,
Water-absorbing powder such as acrylic acid / methacrylic acid copolymer resin, methacrylic acid resin, starch, etc., having a particle size of about 0.1 to 30 μm.

When the setting agent applying device 10 operates, the intermediate transfer member device 20 also operates, and the setting agent is applied onto the intermediate transfer member 21 by the contact between the setting agent applying device 10 and the intermediate transfer member device 20. The intermediate transfer body has at least a surface on which the setting agent is applied is an elastic body such as silicone rubber, fluorine rubber, or epichlorohydrin rubber, and the elastic body is provided on a resin belt surface such as PET or polyimide, or a metal drum. It is also possible to provide a structure in which the above-mentioned elastic body is provided. The intermediate transfer device 20 has three rollers 22, 23, 2
4, an intermediate transfer body 21, a drive motor (not shown), a position control encoder, a housing thereof (not shown), and the like.

When the set agent is applied to the intermediate transfer body 21 and the applied portion moves to the position of the printing device 30, a printing operation starts, and the printing device 30 prints an image or the like on the set agent on the intermediate transfer member 21. Text etc. are printed. In the present embodiment, the printing device is drawn in a shuttle system,
One or three or more line heads may be used.
When the printing mechanism is constituted by the line head, printing and transfer can be continuously performed.

The transfer paper 41 is sent out from the paper feeder 40 in synchronization with the printed portion on the intermediate transfer body 21 reaching the transfer device 50 as the intermediate transfer body 21 moves, and the registration unit To the registration roller 42.

The transfer paper 41 is sent out from the registration roller 42 in timing with the image or text printed on the intermediate transfer body 21, and the image or text on the intermediate transfer body 21 is transferred by the transfer roller 51 of the transfer device 50. The image is transferred onto the paper 41 and is discharged and stocked by the discharge device 60.

Normally, the set agent not involved in printing on the intermediate transfer body 21 is not removed, and only the consumed portion of the set agent is supplied through the set agent application device 10 for the next printing. Become a process. But,
As in this embodiment, a cleaning device 70 may be provided to remove unused setting agents on the intermediate transfer body 21.
When the recording device is not used for a long time, it is better to clean the unused setting agent with the cleaning device 70.

When the setting agent is in the form of a powder, the powder has a large surface area and therefore has good contact with the droplets.
The droplet can dissolve or swell the earliest. Further, since the powder is easily entangled with the pulp of the recording paper, the powder has excellent stability on the paper after being formed into the recording paper, and can be easily removed from the paper.

The setting agent application device 10 includes a setting agent supply roller 11 and a blade 12. The set agent is
The required amount is determined by the information amount of the image to be printed and the like, and the required amount is supplied from the supply roller 11 to the intermediate transfer member 2.
1 is supplied by rotating the supply roller 11. The setting agent supplied on the intermediate transfer member 21 is the intermediate transfer member 2
It moves with the movement of No. 1 and passes between the blade 12 and the transfer body 21 to be uniform. The blade 12 may be an elastic body such as urethane or silicone rubber. The roller 11 is made of foamed silicone rubber, foamed polyurethane, foamed E
Any elastic body such as PDM may be used. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 1, the supply roller 11 and the blade 12 are used.
A method using a brush for replenishment, a method using a brush instead of the blade, and the like are also possible. The application amount of the setting agent on the transfer member can be adjusted by changing the rotation speed of the supply roller 11, the gap width between the blade 12 and the transfer member 21, and the contact pressure between the blade 12 and the transfer member 21.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system for controlling the recording apparatus according to the present invention. When image / text data is sent to the apparatus by a personal computer or another input device 1, the operation is performed by a sequence control unit 2. The data processing unit 3 performs data reception / transmission / printing data generation, and the printing unit 4 performs operations such as application / printing / feeding / transferring / discharging / cleaning of a set agent. At this time, the data processing unit 3 determines the image information, performs gamma correction, color adjustment, filtering, and the like according to the image information, and generates print data. In accordance with the print data, ink is ejected from the printing device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of recording according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, a droplet 6 containing a coloring material is formed on a substrate (intermediate transfer member) 5 in accordance with image information. Before reaching the substrate 5, a powder setting agent 7 that is soluble or swellable with respect to the droplets 6 and increases the viscosity of the droplets 6 is applied on the substrate 5 in advance (FIG. 3). (A)).

The droplet 6 ejected according to the image signal reaches the substrate 5 and immediately dissolves or swells (6 ') the setting agent 7 by the droplet 6. The viscosity of the droplet 6 increases due to the entanglement of the molecules of the setting agent that has reacted with water and the evaporation of moisture from the surface (FIG. 3B).

At this time, as shown in the figure, the droplet 6 spreads on the surface of the substrate 5, and this spread depends on the affinity between the droplet 6 and the powder 7 and the affinity between the droplet 6 and the substrate 5. You.
Spreading stops as the viscosity increases (FIG. 3 (C)). The liquid droplet (6 ″) having increased viscosity is fluidized by pressing the transfer material 8 and applying a stress, and is transferred to the transfer material 8 (FIG. 3).
(D)).

At this time, if the amount of the setting agent 7 applied beforehand is smaller than the amount of the droplet 6, the liquid is separated at the time of transfer, and as a result, a part of the droplet 6 remains untransferred (6a). (See FIG. 3 (E-1)). It is considered that this is because the density of the setting agent 7 in the droplet 6 is small, the cohesive force of the droplet 6 due to entanglement of molecules, etc. is insufficient, and the droplet 6 is separated. On the other hand, if the amount of the pre-applied setting agent 7 is too large relative to the amount of the liquid droplets 6, transfer is partially not performed at all (6b), resulting in transfer unevenness, resulting in blurring. (Fig. 3 (E-
2)). It is considered that this is because the contact between the transfer material 8 and the droplet 6 deteriorates, and the adhesive force between the two does not work sufficiently.

Then, under the following conditions, the amount of the setting agent formed on the intermediate transfer member was changed, and the bleeding, transferability, and change in image quality depending on the type of image (text, image, etc.) were examined. . Droplet recording device: water-based inkjet printer Intermediate transfer member: silicone belt Recording paper: Ricoh TYPE6200 Set agent: polyacrylic acid resin (average particle size: 0.5 μm) Changing the amount of set agent on the intermediate transfer member As an example, characters and photographs were output, and bleeding and transferability were evaluated.

As a result, the adhesion amount of the polyacrylic acid resin to the character image was about ²⁰ to 50 μg / cm ² , and a good transfer was possible and an image without bleeding was obtained. For photographic images, good transfer was possible without blurring at about 50 to 150 μg / cm ² . In the case of a character image, when the polyacrylic acid resin was 60 μg / cm ² , transfer failure occurred partially, and the character was cut off. In the photographic image, bleeding occurred when the polyacrylic acid resin was 20 μg / cm ² .

When the viscosity of the ink on the transfer member before the transfer was measured, good transfer was obtained at about 100 to 1000 P, and the image did not blur. On the transcript,
The viscosity was measured when it was not hardened and transfer was not sufficiently performed. When the pressure was 5000 P or more, the transferred image was loose and partial transfer residue occurred on the intermediate transfer member.

Next, by changing the amount of the set agent to be applied, the change in transferability and image quality due to the difference between monochrome and color images is evaluated.
I tried it in the same way under the following conditions. Droplet recording device: water-based inkjet printer Intermediate transfer member: silicone belt Recording paper: RICOH TYPE6200 Set agent: methacrylic acid resin (average particle size: 10 μm) For monochrome images and color images, the amount of the set agent is changed. The range in which a good image was obtained was examined.
When a good image was obtained with respect to a monochrome image, the amount of the setting agent applied was about 0.6 to 0.9 mg / cm ² ,
About 7 mg / cm ² was most stable. For a color image, an adhesion amount of about 1 to 3 mg / cm ² is good, and about 2 mg / cm ² is most stable.

Under the above conditions, when a monochrome image and a color image are output, the setting amount of the setting agent on the intermediate transfer member is set to the above-mentioned stable amount, so that a good image can be stably obtained. Was done. Further, the distinction between the monochrome image and the color image was controlled by judging from the header part of the input data from the personal computer.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for judging an image from data and determining the level of the amount of set agent adhering on the intermediate transfer member. The data signal input from an input device such as a personal computer is a data signal. It is input to the processing unit, and it is first determined whether or not the type of image is image data (S1). Those determined to be not image data are set to level 1 (S2). The type of the image is determined based on the header of the data. If the header does not include information as to whether or not the data is image data, the data is passed through. Next, it is determined from the header whether or not the image is a color image (S3). Here, the image which is determined not to be a color image is set to level 2 (S4). After the image processing, the print data is temporarily stored in the image buffer. At this time, the number D of colored pixels is counted at the entrance of the buffer (S5). The count value D is compared with a preset threshold value Thr to determine the level (S6).
Level 3 (S7) when threshold value is smaller than threshold value Thr, threshold value Th
In the case of r or more, the level is set to level 4 (S8).

Here, a polyacrylic acid resin (average particle size of about 0.5 μm) was used as a setting agent, and the level of the amount of the attached intermediate transfer member was about 20 μg / cm ² for level 1, and 40 μg for level 2 / Cm ² , level 3 is 70 μg / c
The experiment was conducted by setting the coating machine so that m ² and level 4 became 100 μg / cm ² .
A good image was obtained without bleeding.

In place of the above-described data judging from the header of the data, an external input button is provided, and the button is used to select text / image, monochrome / color, and to set the setting agent on the intermediate transfer member. When the amount of adhesion was set as described above, a good image was naturally obtained.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the entire surface of the intermediate transfer member is
Forming a setting agent that can be dissolved or swelled by droplets in advance, and that can increase the viscosity of the droplets, ejects the droplets according to a signal to form a visible image on the intermediate transfer body, Then, by transferring the visible image onto recording paper, a good image can be obtained at high speed and without bleeding.Furthermore, the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer body can be reduced. By changing according to the image information, a good image can be obtained more reliably even for images of different types.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the amount of the set agent formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is text data or image data. In both the image data and the image data, a good image without blur can be obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the amount of the set agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is monochrome or color, so that a monochrome image For both color images,
An image without bleeding can be obtained.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the amount of the setting agent to be applied is determined based on the colored area of the image, it is possible to perform control in accordance with the characteristics of the image, and to obtain a good image more reliably. Can be

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, by providing a device for determining the type of image, it is possible to determine an appropriate amount of application of the set agent without changing the amount of application of the setting agent depending on the image without the user's judgment. .

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, by providing a device that allows the user to input the type of image, it is possible to reflect the user's judgment when changing the amount of the set agent applied according to the image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a main part for describing an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a control system of the recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the principle of recording according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment of a procedure for setting the setting agent adhering amount according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input device, 2 ... Sequence control part, 3 ... Data processing part, 4 ... Printing part, 5 ... Base (intermediate transfer body), 6 ... Droplet, 7 ... Set agent, 8 ... Transfer material (recording paper), DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Setting agent application apparatus, 11 ... Setting agent supply roller, 12 ... Blade, 20 ... Intermediate transfer body device, 21 ... Intermediate transfer body, 2
2, 23, 24 rollers, 30 printing device, 40 paper feeding device, 41 transfer paper, 42 registration roller, 50 transfer device, 51 transfer roller, 60 paper ejection device, 70 cleaning device.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Satoru Tomita 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Toshio Kawakubo 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Nobuyuki Yanagawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Ricoh Co., Ltd. (Reference) 2C056 EB58 EC06 EC28 FD13 HA41 2C057 DD09 DE10 2H086 BA03

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording device for processing image information from an external input device to form print data, forming a visible image on an intermediate transfer body based on the print data, and transferring the visible image to recording paper. Forming, on the surface of the intermediate transfer member, a setting agent that can be dissolved or swelled by droplets in advance and that can increase the viscosity of the droplets, and ejects the droplets in accordance with a signal to form the intermediate agent. In a recording apparatus for forming a visible image on a transfer body and then transferring the visible image on recording paper, the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer body is changed according to the image information. Recording device. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an amount of the setting agent to be formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is text data or image data. Characteristic recording device. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of the setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed depending on whether the image information is monochrome or color. Recording device. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of setting agent previously formed on the intermediate transfer member is changed according to the colored area. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a device for determining a type of the image information. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a device that allows a user to input a type of the image information.
The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein