JP2001063110A - Method for printing image by laminating and thermal transfer printing using the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the occurrence of a wrinkle pattern on an image without wasting energy irrespective of a size of photographic paper. SOLUTION: In this image printing method, when performing printing of an image by laminating, a controller 110 supplies and writes laminate image printing data into a line memory in a line memory section 105. At that time, the image printing data to be written into each address of the line memory is changed corresponding to a size of a photographic paper detected by a side detecting means 107D. The image printing data is read from the line memory by each one line to be transferred to a thermal head 101. The heat is applied to a ribbon region of which the width is the same as that of the photographic paper by means of the thermal head 101 irrespective of the size of the photographic paper, and then a film type sheet is transferred on an image. A portion on the ribbon which has a difference in thermal contraction and expansion is in the edge section of the photographic paper so that the possibility of occurrence of a wrinkle pattern on the image can be markedly reduced. Even when the size of the photographic paper is varied, the heat is not applied to a redundant region, thereby preventing waste of energy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laminate printing method and a thermal transfer printer using the same. Specifically, when thermally transferring the film-like sheet from the ribbon on which the film-like sheet is arranged onto the image printed on the photographic paper, the thermal head is applied to the area of the ribbon having a width equal to or larger than the width according to the size of the photographic paper. By applying heat to thermally transfer the film-like sheet, it was attempted to greatly reduce the possibility of generating wrinkle-like patterns on the image without incurring energy waste, regardless of the size of the photographic paper. It relates to a laminating printing method and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a thermal transfer printer capable of thermally transferring a film-like sheet from a ribbon on which a film-like sheet is disposed by using a thermal head on an image printed on a printing paper and laminating the film-like sheet. . As described above, the following first and second methods have conventionally been proposed as a method of applying heat to the ribbon when the film-shaped sheet is thermally transferred. In the first method, as shown in FIG. 9A, heat is applied to a width La which is the same as the width of the image 210 printed on the printing paper 200 to thermally transfer the film-like sheet. In the second method, as shown in FIG. 9B, heat is applied to a fixed width Lb wider than the width of the image 210 printed on the printing paper 200 to thermally transfer the film-like sheet.

[0003]

According to the first method described above, the width of the ribbon on which the film-like sheet is arranged is set to the width L.
Heat is applied to the area a, but no heat is applied to the area outside the area a. Therefore, a difference in the thermal expansion and contraction of the ribbon occurs between these regions, and the slack of the ribbon occurs near the boundary, and the possibility that a wrinkle-like pattern is generated on the image 210 increases.

Further, in the above-mentioned second method, the place where the difference in thermal expansion and contraction occurs is located outside the end of the image 210 by an amount that the constant width Lb to which the heat is applied is wider than the width of the image 210. Compared with the first method, the possibility that the wrinkle-like pattern described above occurs on the image 210 can be reduced. However, as shown in FIG.
When b is smaller than the width of the photographic paper 200, the possibility that a wrinkle-like pattern is generated on the image 210 cannot be greatly reduced.

Therefore, the fixed width Lb to which heat is applied is set to
It is conceivable to greatly reduce the possibility that a wrinkle-like pattern will be generated on the image 210 by setting the width to 00 or more. In this case, when there are a plurality of types of photographic paper having different widths, if the constant width Lb to which heat is applied is set to be equal to or larger than the width of the maximum width photographic paper,
When other photographic papers are used, heat is applied to unnecessary areas of the ribbon by the difference in width, thereby wasting energy.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a laminate which can greatly reduce the possibility of wrinkle-like patterns on an image, regardless of the size of photographic paper, without wasting energy. It is intended to provide a printing method and the like.

[0007]

According to a laminate printing method of the present invention, a plurality of heating elements are formed on an image printed on a printing paper by a ribbon on which a film-like sheet is arranged in a width direction of the printing paper. A laminating printing method for thermally transferring the film-like sheet using a thermal head that is arranged, wherein heat is applied to the ribbon area larger than the width of the printing paper by a thermal head to thermally transfer the film-like sheet, and the thermal head transfers the film-like sheet. The ribbon area to be heated is changed according to the size of the printing paper.

Further, a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention comprises:
A thermal transfer printer that thermally transfers a film sheet from a ribbon on which a film sheet is arranged on an image printed on photographic paper using a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in the width direction of the photographic paper. And a size detecting means for detecting the size of the photographic paper, and controlling the thermal head to apply heat to a ribbon area larger than the width of the photographic paper when performing thermal transfer of the film-like sheet. Control means for changing the ribbon area to be applied based on the size detected by the size detection means.

For example, there is provided a line memory for storing, at each address, laminate printing data used for driving a plurality of heating elements of a thermal head when a film-like sheet is thermally transferred, and the control means detects the size. The laminating print data stored in each address of the line memory is changed based on the size detected by the means.

In the present invention, heat is applied to a ribbon area larger than the width of the printing paper by a thermal head, and a film-like sheet is thermally transferred on an image. Therefore, the location where the difference in thermal expansion and contraction occurs in the ribbon is at the edge of the photographic paper or outside thereof. Thereby, the possibility that a wrinkle-like pattern is generated on an image can be greatly reduced.

Further, in the present invention, the ribbon area to which heat is applied by the thermal head is changed according to the size of the printing paper. That is, when the photographic paper is wide, the area of the ribbon to which heat is applied is widened, while when the width of the photographic paper is small, the area of the ribbon to which heat is applied is narrowed. This prevents heat from being applied to unnecessary areas of the ribbon and prevents energy waste regardless of the size of the photographic paper.

It is to be noted that the heat generated by the heating elements existing in the area corresponding to the image printed on the photographic paper may be suppressed lower than the heat generated by the heating elements existing in the other areas. Good. In this case, it is possible to prevent the difference in thermal expansion and contraction of the ribbon at the boundary between the image portion (the portion where the image is printed) of the printing paper and the margin portion (the outer portion of the portion where the image is printed). Unless a laminating effect is required, energy can be saved without any problem.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a circuit configuration of a thermal transfer printer 100 as an embodiment. The printer 100 can use A4 size and A4 plus size photographic paper.

The printer 100 prints yellow, magenta, and cyan images on a printing paper (not shown in FIG. 1), and thermally transfers a film-like sheet onto the images to perform laminating printing. 101. As shown in FIG. 2, the thermal head 101 includes a plurality of heating elements 10 in the width direction of the printing paper 200.
2 are arranged. In this case, the plurality of heating elements 102 include an image data area corresponding to a portion (image portion) on which the image 210 of the photographic paper 200 is printed, the photographic paper 2.
The photographic paper 200 is divided into a blank area corresponding to a part outside the image part (margin part) and an area outside the photographic paper corresponding to the outside of the photographic paper 200.

In this embodiment, the thermal head 1
No. 01 has 2560 heating elements 102 arranged linearly, and the width of A4 plus size photographic paper 200 is 2304.
It is assumed that the width of the A4 size photographic paper 200 corresponds to 2048 pieces. A4 as photographic paper 200
When the size is used, the central image data area includes 1536 heating elements 102, and the blank areas on both sides include 256 heating elements 102, respectively. 256 in the outer area
The heating elements 102 are included. On the other hand, when an A4-plus size photographic paper 200 is used, 1536 heating elements 102 are included in the central image data area, and 384 heating elements 102 are included in the margin areas on both sides thereof. Further, 128 heat generating elements 102 are included in the non-printing paper area on both sides thereof, respectively.

Returning to FIG. 1, the printer 100
It communicates with a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as “PC”) 150 as an image data transmission device, and receives an image data from the PC 150 via an interface unit 103. An image memory unit 104 for storing image data for one screen each of magenta and cyan.

The printer 100 has a line memory unit 105 having a line memory for storing print data used to drive a plurality of heating elements 102 of a thermal head 101 described later at respective addresses. . Here, the line memory units 105 correspond to the 2560 elements of the thermal head 101 described above, respectively.
Two line memories 105a and 105b having addresses of 000 to 009FF are provided.

The control of writing and reading of the line memories 105a and 105b is performed as follows at the time of printing each of the yellow, magenta and cyan images. That is, in the odd-numbered lines, as shown in FIG. 3A, one line of image data (1536 dots) and non-image data 0 (1024 dots) are supplied as write data WD from the image memory unit 104 to the line memory 105a. 00 corresponding to the image data area of the thermal head 101 (including 1536 heating elements 102).
The image data is 000 in the address of 200 to 007FF.
The non-image data 0 is written to the addresses 0000-001FF and 00800-009FF, and one line of image data (1536 dots) written in the immediately preceding even-numbered line from the address 0000-009FF of the line memory 105b. The non-image data 0 (for 1024 dots) is read, and the read data RD is supplied to an image processing unit 106 described later. Conversely, in the even line, as shown in FIG.
Line image data and non-image data 0 are supplied to and written to the line memory 105b, and one line of image data and non-image data 0 written in the immediately preceding odd line are read from the line memory 105a.

The line memories 105a and 105a
The control of writing and reading of 5b is performed as follows at the time of lamination printing. In this case, after the same laminate print data is supplied from the system controller 110 to be described later to the line memories 105a and 105b, writing is performed.
From 05b, the laminate print data is read from the line memory 105a for even lines. Here, the laminated printing data written in the line memories 105a and 105b depends on whether the printing paper 200 is of A4 size or A4 plus size.
It is changed as follows.

That is, when an A4 size photographic paper 200 is used, as shown in FIG. 4A, 00200-007FF corresponding to the image data area (including 1536 heating elements 102) of the thermal head 101 is used. Data of “7F” is written in the address, and 00100 to 001FF, 00800 to 00800 corresponding to blank areas on both sides of the address (each including 256 heating elements 102).
Data of “4F” is written in the address of 008FF, and 0000 to 00 corresponding to the non-printing paper area (each including 256 heating elements 102) on both sides thereof.
The address of 0FF, 00900-009FF has "0
"0" data is written.

On the other hand, when an A4 plus size paper is used as the photographic paper 200, as shown in FIG. 4B, 20000-007FF corresponding to the image data area (including 1536 heating elements 102) of the thermal head 101.
The data of “7F” is written in the address of “0800”, and “00080” to “001FF”, “00800” to “00800” corresponding to the blank areas on both sides thereof (each including 384 heating elements 102).
At the address of 0097F, data of “4F” is written, and further, 0000-00 corresponding to the non-printing paper areas (including 128 heating elements 102) on both sides thereof.
The address of 07F, 00980-009FF is "0
"0" data is written.

Returning to FIG. 1, the printer 100
The image processing unit 1 performs correction processing and the like on the image data output from the line memory unit 105 and sends the image data on which the correction processing and the like have been performed to the thermal head 101.
06. The laminated print data output from the line memory unit 105 is stored in the image processing unit 10.
In step 6, the ink is supplied to the thermal head 101 without any processing.

In this case, at the time of printing each of the yellow, magenta, and cyan images, 0000 to 009 of the line memories 105a and 105b of the line memory unit 105 are used.
The 2560 heating elements 102 included in the image data area of the thermal head 101 are driven by the image data read from the addresses of the FFs. On the other hand, at the time of laminating printing, the 0000-009F of the line memories 105a and 105b of the line memory unit 105 is used.
The image data area of the thermal head 101 by the laminate print data read from the address of F,
Each of the 2560 heating elements 102 included in the margin area and the photographic paper outside area is driven.

Further, the printer 100 feeds and discharges the photographic paper 200, locates each color ink area of the ink ribbon and a laminating ribbon portion described later, and transfers the ink ribbon and the photographic paper 200 to the platen roller by the thermal head 101. It has a mechanical mechanism 107 for performing pressure bonding and the like. The mechanical mechanism 107 also includes a size detecting unit 107D for detecting the size of the printing paper 200.

FIG. 5 shows an outline of the size detecting means 107D. As shown in FIG.
An A4 size photographic paper 200 is placed in the tray 11, and the paper feed tray 111 is inserted into a tray storage portion (not shown) in the storage direction Q.
In this case, the detection lever 112 is not pressed by the photographic paper 200, and in this case, the photographic paper 200 is detected as A4 size. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5B, an A4 plus size photographic paper 200 is put in the paper feed tray 111, and this paper feed tray 111 is stored in the tray storage section (not shown) by sliding in the storage direction Q. In this case, the detection lever 112 is
In this case, the photographic paper 200 is detected as A4 plus size.

FIG. 6 schematically shows a mechanical mechanism near the thermal head 101. When printing yellow, magenta, and cyan images and when printing a laminate, the ink ribbon 113 and the printing paper 200 are printed by the thermal head 101.
Are pressed against the platen roller 114, and heat is applied to the ink ribbon 113 by the thermal head 101 to perform printing.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the configuration of the ink ribbon 113 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-40637). In the ink ribbon 113, an ink area in which a yellow dye Y, a magenta dye M, and a cyan dye C are applied in a predetermined length, respectively, is formed for each page, and the film-like sheet L is formed. Are formed at a predetermined length to form a laminate ribbon portion. At the beginning of each page, a page start mark PH1 having a half length of the ribbon width is formed on one end side from the center in the width direction. In addition, cueing marks YH, MH, CH, and LH each having a half length of the ribbon width are formed on the other end side of the center portion in the width direction at the leading end of each ink region and the laminated ribbon portion.

In the ink ribbon 113 having the structure shown in FIG. 7, cueing for one page is performed using the cueing mark PH1 and cueing marks YH, MH, CH, L.
Using H, the cueing of each ink region and the laminate ribbon portion is performed. Then, a yellow image is printed using the ink area to which the yellow dye Y is applied, and a magenta image is printed using the ink area to which the magenta dye M is applied, and the cyan dye is applied. A cyan image is printed using the ink area thus obtained, and a thermal transfer (lamination printing) of the film-like sheet is performed using the laminating ribbon portion.

Returning to FIG. 1, the printer 100
A key operation unit 108 for the user to perform various operations;
For example, a printer display unit 109 composed of a liquid crystal display element for displaying a printer state, the above-described interface unit 103, image memory unit 104, and line memory unit 1
05, a system controller 110 that controls the operations of the image processing unit 106, the mechanical mechanism unit 107, and the printer display unit 109. Key operation unit 108 described above
Are connected to the system controller 110.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of the above-described printer 100 will be described. When the power is turned on, first, in step ST1, the mechanical mechanism 107
The size of the photographic paper 200 is detected by the size detecting means 107D. Then, in step ST2, the PC 15
It is determined from 0 whether or not there is a print command. If there is a print command, the process proceeds to step ST3. Step ST
In step 3, image data for one screen each of yellow, magenta, and cyan from the PC 150 is received by the interface unit 103 and stored in the image memory unit 104. The photographic paper 200 is also fed.

Next, in step ST4, a yellow image is printed on the printing paper 200. In this case, cueing of the ink ribbon 113 is performed before starting printing so that the ink area to which the yellow dye Y is applied is used. When printing the yellow image, the image memory unit 1
04, the yellow image data is sequentially read out one line at a time, and the line memory 105 of the line memory unit 105 is read out.
a and 105b are alternately written to the addresses 0000-009FF, and the yellow image data is sequentially read one line at a time from the line memory on the side opposite to the writing side, and the read data is read by the image processing unit 1.
06 and transferred to the thermal head 101. In this case, the thermal head 1 uses image data for one line that is sequentially read from the line memories 105a and 105b.
01, 2560 heating elements 102 are driven, and a yellow image is formed on the printing paper 200.

Similarly, in step ST5, the printing paper 2
At step ST6, a magenta image is printed. At step ST6, a cyan image is printed on the printing paper 200. In this case, the magenta and cyan images are printed over the yellow image, and as a result, a color image is formed on the photographic paper 200.

Next, in step ST7, the laminate printing data is supplied from the system controller 110 to the two line memories 105a and 105b of the line memory unit 105 and written. In this case, the size of the photographic paper 200 is A
Depending on whether it is 4 size or A4 plus size,
As shown in FIG. 4 described above, the line memories 105a, 1
The laminate print data written to each address 05b is changed.

Next, in step ST8, a film-like sheet is thermally transferred onto the image printed on the printing paper 200 to perform lamination printing. In this case, the cue of the ink ribbon 113 is performed before the start of printing so that the laminated ribbon portion on which the film sheet L is disposed is used. Then, the lamination print data is alternately read from the line memories 105a and 105b for each line, and the read data is transferred to the thermal head 101 via the image processing unit 106.

At this time, the line memories 105a, 105
The 2560 heating elements 102 included in the image data area, the margin area, and the area outside the printing paper of the thermal head 101 are respectively driven by the laminated print data read from the addresses of 0000 to 009FF of b. Therefore, high heat corresponding to the data “7F” is generated from the heating elements 102 included in the image data area, and a film-like sheet is formed on the image 210 printed on the printing paper 200 from the lamination ribbon portion of the ink ribbon 113. Heat transferred.

The heating elements 102 included in the blank areas on both sides of the image data area generate relatively low heat corresponding to data "4F". In this case, the printing paper 200
Although the film-like sheet is not thermally transferred from the lamination ribbon portion of the ink ribbon 113 to the blank portion,
The occurrence of a difference in thermal expansion and contraction of the ink ribbon 113 at the boundary between the image portion and the margin portion of the printing paper 200 is prevented. Further, the heating elements 1 included outside the printing paper on both sides of the margin area
02 does not generate heat because it is driven by data “00”.

The printing paper 200 on which the lamination printing has been performed is discharged and prepared for the next printing operation. After the process in step ST8, the process returns to step ST2. Until there is a print command, the photographic paper size is detected in step ST1, so that there is no problem even if the size of the photographic paper 200 is changed after the power is turned on. And
When a print command is issued from the PC 150, printing of yellow, magenta, and cyan images and laminating printing are performed by the same processing as described above.

As described above, in this embodiment, during lamination printing, heat is applied by the thermal head 101 to the area of the ink ribbon 113 having the same width as the printing paper 200, so that the film sheet is thermally transferred onto the image 210. Is done. Therefore, the place where the difference in thermal expansion and contraction occurs in the ribbon is the end of the photographic paper 200, and the possibility that a wrinkled pattern is generated on the image 210 can be greatly reduced.

In this case, the size of the printing paper 200 is detected, and the width of the printing paper 200 is the same as the width of the printing paper 200 at the time of laminating printing, regardless of whether the printing paper 200 is of A4 size or A4 plus size. Heat is applied to the area of the ink ribbon 113 by the thermal head 101. Therefore, even if the size of the photographic paper 200 changes, heat is not applied to an unnecessary area of the ink ribbon 113, and waste of energy can be prevented.

In this embodiment, the printing paper 2
In response to the heat generated by the heating element 102 of the thermal head 101 corresponding to the image portion 00, the heating element 10 of the thermal head 101 corresponding to the margin of the photographic paper 200
The heat generated in 2 is kept low. In this case, the film-shaped sheet is not thermally transferred to the blank portion of the printing paper 200, but it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a difference in thermal expansion and contraction of the ink ribbon 113 at the boundary between the image portion and the blank portion of the printing paper 200, and to save energy. Can be planned.

In the above-described embodiment, the thermal head 101 has 2560 heating elements 102 arranged linearly, and the width of the A4 plus size photographic paper 200 is 2304 pieces, and the width of the A4 size photographic paper 200 is 2304 pieces. The width of 200 is 20
A case where the image data width is equivalent to 48 and the image data width is 1536 is shown, but the present invention is not limited to these numerical values.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the ink ribbon 1 having the same width as the printing paper 200 is printed at the time of laminating printing.
Although the thermal head 101 applies heat to the area 13, the thermal head 101 may apply heat to an ink ribbon area wider than the width of the photographic paper 200. In this case, if the area to which heat is applied is too large, energy will be wasted.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to A4 size and A4 plus size photographic paper 200.
Although the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer printer 100 that can use the photographic paper 200, the present invention can of course be similarly applied to a thermal transfer printer 100 that uses other sizes of photographic paper 200.

[0044]

According to the present invention, heat is applied to the ribbon area larger than the width of the printing paper by the thermal head to thermally transfer the film-like sheet, and the laminate printing is performed on the image. Therefore, the place where the difference in thermal expansion and contraction occurs in the ribbon is at the edge of the photographic paper or outside thereof, and the possibility that a wrinkled pattern is generated on the image can be greatly reduced.

According to the present invention, the ribbon area to which heat is applied by the thermal head is changed according to the size of the photographic paper. That is, when the photographic paper is wide, the area of the ribbon to which heat is applied is widened, while when the width of the photographic paper is small, the area of the ribbon to which heat is applied is narrowed. Therefore, heat is not applied to unnecessary regions of the ribbon, and waste of energy can be prevented regardless of the size of the printing paper. Further, according to the present invention, the heat generated in the heating element existing in the area corresponding to the image printed on the printing paper is suppressed to be lower than the heat generated in the heating element existing in the other area. It is. In this case, it is possible to prevent a difference in thermal expansion and contraction of the ribbon at the boundary between the image portion and the blank portion of the photographic paper, and to save energy without any problem unless a laminating effect is required for the blank portion. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a thermal transfer printer as an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating details of a thermal head.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a line memory unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an address map of a line memory in A4 size and A4 plus size.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an outline of a size detection unit.

FIG. 6 is a view schematically showing a mechanical mechanism near a thermal head.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an ink ribbon.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of the printer.

FIG. 9 is a view for explaining how to apply heat to a ribbon during conventional laminating printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

100: Thermal transfer printer, 101: Thermal head, 102: Heating element, 103: Interface unit, 104: Image memory unit, 105: Line memory unit, 105a, 105b ... Line memory,
106: image processing unit, 107: mechanical mechanism unit, 1
07D: size detection means, 108: key operation unit, 109: printer display unit, 110: system controller, 111: paper feed tray, 112 ...
.Detection levers, 113... Ink ribbons, 114.
・ Platen roller, 200 ... photographic paper, 210 ...
image

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A thermal head comprising a plurality of heating elements arranged in a width direction of a photographic paper from a ribbon on which a film sheet is disposed on an image printed on the photographic paper. A laminate printing method for thermally transferring a sheet, wherein heat is applied to a region of the ribbon that is equal to or greater than the width of the photographic paper by the thermal head to thermally transfer the film-like sheet, and heat is applied to the ribbon by the thermal head. A laminate printing method, wherein an area is changed according to the size of the printing paper. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heat generated by the heating element in an area corresponding to an image printed on the printing paper is
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein heat generated by the heating elements existing in other regions is suppressed to a low level. 3. A film head formed by arranging a plurality of heating elements in a width direction of the photographic paper from a ribbon on which a film sheet is disposed on an image printed on the photographic paper. A thermal transfer printer for thermally transferring a sheet, comprising: a size detection means for detecting a size of the photographic paper; and a thermal head for transferring the heat to the ribbon region having a width equal to or greater than the width of the photographic paper when thermally transferring the film-like sheet. A thermal transfer printer, comprising: a control unit that controls so as to apply heat and changes a region of the ribbon to which heat is applied by the thermal head based on the size detected by the size detection unit. 4. A line memory for storing, at each address, laminated print data used for driving each of the plurality of heating elements of the thermal head when thermally transferring the film-shaped sheet, 4. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 3, wherein the printer changes the laminated print data stored in each address of the line memory based on the size detected by the size detecting unit. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the heat generated by the heating element in an area corresponding to an image printed on the printing paper is:
4. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 3, wherein heat generated by the heating elements existing in other areas is suppressed low.