JP2001270256A - Printing paper for heat-transfer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively use a printing paper while preventing a mistake in the setting direction when the printing paper is set in a paper feeding tray from occurring in the printing paper for heat-transfer which is divided after the printing. SOLUTION: This printing paper for heat-transfer comprises a sheet-form base material and a coloring material-receiving layer which is provided on one surface of the sheet-form base material. On such a printing paper for heat- transfer, a dividing line 3 which divides the printing paper for heat-transfer into a printing region 2a and a non-printing region 2b is formed. At the same time, on the non-printing region 2b, a mark 4 to discriminate the non-printing region 2b from the printing region 2a is formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photographic paper for thermal transfer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When performing thermal transfer recording with a general thermal transfer type color printer, as shown in FIG.
1 and a thermal transfer photographic paper (thermal transfer receiving sheet) 22 are overlapped so that an ink layer (not shown) of the ink ribbon 21 and a color material receiving layer (not shown) of the thermal transfer photographic paper 22 are brought into contact with each other. To the printer, and the heating unit 23a of the thermal head 23 according to the print information.
Is heated to melt or sublime the color material of the ink layer of the ink ribbon 21 and transfer the color material to the color material receiving layer of the thermal transfer printing paper 22 to perform transfer recording. Here, the ink ribbon 21 is unwound from the unwinding roll 24, and is wound up on the winding roll 25 after the thermal transfer recording. Further, the photographic paper 22 for thermal transfer is fed from the paper feed tray 26 to the feed roller 2.
7, the paper is sent to a pair of capstan rollers 29 via a pair of guide rolls 28, and the capstan rollers 29 further heat the grip roller 30 and the heating section 23 a of the thermal head 23.
And further transported out of the printer.

[0003] By the way, as an application of such a thermal transfer photographic paper, as the performance of a digital still camera has been improved,
Applications for digital photographic printing paper, which replace silver halide photographic paper, are expanding.However, in consideration of the fact that borderless prints occupy the majority of silver halide photographic paper, However, it is required that a borderless type print be possible.

For this reason, as shown in FIG.
(The direction orthogonal to the photographic paper transport direction (arrow in the figure)) is dealt with by making the print width Tw of the thermal head slightly larger than the photographic paper width 31w. With respect to the longitudinal direction of the photographic paper 31 (the direction in which the photographic paper is transported), the non-printing area 31 that can be divided from the printing area 31a at the leading end and the rear end in the transporting direction of the photographic paper 31 (arrow in the figure).
b is provided. Here, the boundary between the printing area 31a and the non-printing area 31b is divided (separated) from each other.
A perforation 32 is formed with a micro-perforation so as to be possible. Here, the print area 31a and the non-print area 31
The reason why b is divided at the perforations 32 is that it is necessary to chuck the printing paper with a pair of capstan rollers, the heating section of the thermal head, and the grip roller at the start of printing (see FIG. 2).

[0005]

However, if only the chucking is performed, it is sufficient to provide the non-printing area only at the leading end of the thermal transfer photographic paper in the conveying direction. In order to eliminate mistakes in the setting direction when setting photographic paper on the photographic paper, non-printing areas must be provided at both ends of the leading and trailing ends of the photographic paper for thermal transfer in the transport direction, and the effective use of the photographic paper for thermal transfer There was a problem in that.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to prevent erroneous setting of a photographic paper in a thermal transfer photographic paper which is divided after printing when the photographic paper is set on a paper feed tray. It is another object of the present invention to enable photographic paper to be used effectively.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present inventor has provided a non-printing area which can be divided from a printing area only at the leading end of the thermal transfer recording paper in the conveying direction, and can distinguish the non-printing area from the printing area. The present invention has been completed by forming marks.

That is, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer photographic paper comprising a sheet-like substrate and a colorant receiving layer provided on one side thereof, wherein the thermal transfer photographic paper has a print area and a non-print area. A thermal transfer printing paper characterized in that a dividing line for separation is formed, and a mark for distinguishing from a printing area is formed in a non-printing area.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an example of the photographic paper for thermal transfer of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the thermal transfer printing paper 1 of the present invention has a general layer structure composed of a sheet-like base material and a color material receiving layer provided on one side thereof. The planar structure is composed of a printing area 2a and a non-printing area 2b, which can be separated by a perforation as the dividing line 3, and the non-printing area 2b has
A hole is formed as a mark 4 for distinguishing from the printing area 2a.

As described above, the printing area 2 is added to the non-printing area 2b.
By forming the mark 4 for distinguishing the printing paper from the printing paper a, it becomes possible to distinguish the leading end and the trailing end of the printing paper when setting the printing paper on the paper feed tray. If the non-printing area is provided only in the photographic paper, an appropriate photographic paper setting can be performed. Accordingly, the photographic paper can be effectively used.
In addition, by shifting the mark 4 in either direction in the width direction of the photographic paper, the front and back of the photographic paper can be determined at the position of the mark 4. Therefore, it is possible to omit printing for distinguishing between front and back on the back of the photographic paper.

Further, if a mark corresponding portion is provided on the paper feed tray in correspondence with the mark 4, the user does not need to determine the front, back, front and back of the photographic paper when setting the photographic paper on the paper feed tray. As a result, the front and back and front and back of the photographic paper can be uniquely determined. Specifically, a projection corresponding to the hole as the mark 4 is provided on the sheet feeding tray.

In FIG. 1A, a hole is shown as the mark 4, but cuts 5 to 7 as shown in FIGS. 1B to 1D may be used. There is no particular limitation on the shape, size, or number of the cuts. For example, if the cuts are too large, there is a problem that skewed conveyance occurs or the print area is broken when the non-print area is divided (cut off). Therefore, it is necessary to appropriately adjust these conditions so as not to cause any trouble in transporting the printing paper or dividing the non-printing area.

Further, in FIG. 1A, a perforation is exemplified as the dividing line 3, but other means that can be divided may be employed, for example, a half cut line. When a printed material such as a silver halide photograph is obtained, the dividing line 3 may be provided so as to be orthogonal to the conveying direction of the thermal transfer photographic paper, but may be arcuate, jagged or the like as necessary. Other shapes may be used.

When it is desired to divide the printing area into a plurality of areas, a dividing line 3 may be further formed in the printing area 2a as shown in FIG.

The sheet-like substrate, the colorant receiving layer, the heat-resistant lubricating layer and the like in the thermal transfer photographic paper of the present invention have the same constitution as the known thermal transfer photographic paper used in the conventional thermal transfer recording. Can be.

In the photographic paper for thermal transfer of the present invention, after forming a colorant receiving layer on a sheet-like substrate, a dividing line is formed by a device such as a micro sewing machine or a half cutter, and before or after forming the dividing line. A mark may be formed in a non-printing area by a stamper or the like.

The thermal transfer printing paper of the present invention is useful as a sublimation thermal transfer recording medium or as a hot-melt thermal transfer recording medium.

[0019]

EXAMPLE A sheet-like substrate (140 mm long × 100 mm wide) obtained by laminating a 60 μm-thick polypropylene film on both sides of a 50 μm-thick coated paper by a usual method was applied to a sublimable dye-accepting material. A mixture of a synthetic resin, a sensitizer, and a solvent was applied to a dry thickness of about 7 μm and dried to form a colorant receiving layer. Further, on the other surface of the sheet-like substrate, an inorganic filler is dispersed in the resin for the back coat layer, and a coating material in which a lubricant such as a fatty acid is mixed with silicone oil is applied and dried to form a heat-resistant lubricating layer. A photographic paper was obtained.

The obtained photographic paper is perforated from the color material receiving layer side so as to penetrate in the width direction at a position 14 mm inward from the end, and further, FIGS. 1 (b) to 1 (d). (In the case of FIG. 1B, a cut of a right-angled isosceles triangle having an equal side length of 5 mm; in the case of FIG. 1C, a cut of an equilateral triangle having a height of 7 mm;
In the case of FIG. 1 (d), a square notch having a side of 7 mm (however, R is added to the corner) is provided. As a result, a photographic paper for thermal transfer of the present invention was obtained.

In the obtained thermal transfer printing paper, it was examined whether or not the perforations were difficult to be divided by providing the cuts. There was no difference between before and after the printing, and each was properly and easily divided. I was able to.

The obtained thermal transfer printing paper was set on a paper feed tray of a digital photo printer (DPP-MS300, manufactured by Sony Corporation) on which a sublimation transfer type ink ribbon (manufactured by Sony Corporation) was set. The distinction between the leading edge and the trailing edge of the paper and the distinction between the front and the back can be easily distinguished, so that the paper can be set without making a mistake in the setting direction.

Further, on the obtained thermal transfer printing paper, thermal transfer recording of a predetermined printing pattern (personal image, landscape image, color bar, step, solid black) (printing environment = room temperature (23
C, 60% RH), high temperature (40 C, 30% RH), low temperature (0 C), high humidity (35 C, 80% RH), low humidity (25
5 ° C., 20% RH) for each printing environment. At that time, when the paper feeding / discharging properties (double feeding, paper jam, etc.), the presence or absence of oblique printing, and the presence or absence of color misregistration were examined, no abnormality was observed.

[0024]

According to the photographic paper for thermal transfer of the present invention, compared with the case where the non-printing areas are provided at the leading end and the trailing end of the photographic paper, about 10 times in terms of the A6 size photographic paper model.
% Area can be reduced. In addition, since it is easy to determine the setting direction to the sheet feeding tray, it is possible to reduce an operation error at the time of printing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a printing paper for thermal transfer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram in a case where thermal transfer recording is performed by a thermal transfer type color printer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a conventional thermal transfer printing paper.

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Printing paper for thermal transfer, 2a printing area, 2b non-printing area, 3 dividing lines, 4 marks

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer photographic paper comprising a sheet-like base material and a colorant receiving layer provided on one side thereof, wherein the thermal transfer photographic paper has a division for separating a print area and a non-print area. A thermal transfer printing paper, wherein a line is formed, and a mark for distinguishing the printing area from the printing area is formed in the non-printing area. 2. The printing paper for thermal transfer according to claim 1, wherein the mark is a hole or a notch provided in a non-printing area. 3. The printing paper for thermal transfer according to claim 1, wherein the dividing line is provided so as to be orthogonal to the conveying direction of the printing paper for thermal transfer. 4. The printing paper for thermal transfer according to claim 1, wherein the dividing line is a half cut line or a perforation.