JP2002216396A - Plate-like recording medium and printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plate-like information recording medium to whose same surface printing can be made with an optical reproducing device or an optical recording device. SOLUTION: A recording area and an image-recording area are provided on the same surface as the recording surface of the plate-like information recording medium, and the information such as a disk name, a file name and the like is formed (printed) in an image-forming area 100G provided on the same surface as the recording area by irradiating a laser beam to the image-forming area. The image-forming area 100G can be a pigment, a substance which shows visible chemical reaction by the irradiation of the laser beam, whatever it may be fused or carbonized, or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate-shaped recording medium, such as a writable or rewritable optical disk, capable of displaying the recorded contents of the recording medium itself, and printing on the plate-shaped recording medium. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs (image formation).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, optical recording media for reproducing information by light have become quite widespread. Among them, a CD-R (Compact Disc), which is a writable optical recording medium, has been particularly popular.
Recordable) disc, rewritable CD-RW (Com
pact Disc Rewritable) disks are widely used.
In the optical disk, it is preferable that these can be freely displayed on the surface of the optical disk so that the user can identify the recorded content written on the disk, for example, the disk name or the file name. It is more convenient if an image or the like can be printed.

[0003] In the case of such new prints, computer software, and the like, which are recorded and known in a large amount and have been recorded in advance, such printing may be performed by the manufacturer in advance.
As a technique for printing desired contents, images, and the like on the user side by a simple operation, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-162
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 06-2006 proposes a printing method and a printing apparatus that can easily print a heading or the like on the surface of a plate-shaped recording medium such as a CD-R, and is known. In this technique, an ink-jet printer is used, and a heading or the like is printed on the surface of a plate-shaped recording medium such as a CD-R or the case surface thereof with ultraviolet curable ink, and is fixed by irradiating ultraviolet rays. . As related techniques, those disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H5-142967 and H7-164766 are also known.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-16 / 1998
In the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 206, printing is performed by an ink jet printer using ink that is irradiated with light of a specific wavelength called ultraviolet light and cured, so a dedicated printer and dedicated ink are required, and it is difficult for end users to accept.
In addition, since the ink is special, there are many cumbersome operations.

Also, once written, it cannot be erased,
In the case of a rewritable medium such as a CD-RW, if the recorded content is rewritten, the previously printed content differs from the rewritten content, causing a problem in usability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances of the prior art, and has as its object to provide a plate-shaped information recording medium which can be printed by an optical reproducing device or an optical recording device.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of printing on the plate information recording medium, and to improve user convenience.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a recording area and an image forming area are provided on the same surface of a plate-shaped information recording medium, and light of a specific wavelength is provided in the image forming area. Irradiation allowed a visible image to be formed. That is, an image forming area that is visible by irradiating light of a specific wavelength to the same surface as the information recording area of the plate-shaped information recording medium is provided. At that time, in the image forming area, the same surface as the recording surface of the plate-shaped recording medium becomes transparent or opaque by heating at a specific temperature, and the state is maintained even when the temperature is returned to normal temperature.
In addition, such an image forming region may be formed by using a thermochromic film, for example, and may be formed by attaching a thermochromic film.

In these cases, an optical information recording medium is suitable as the plate-like information recording medium, and printing is performed by an optical pickup of the optical information recording medium using a guide groove for guiding a laser beam for performing optical writing. It is also possible to do.

[0010] In order to achieve the other object, the present invention provides:
Writing means for writing information in an image forming area of the plate-shaped recording medium with a laser beam; reading means for reading information written on a recording layer of the plate-shaped recording medium; and rotational driving for rotating the plate-shaped recording medium. Means, and moving means for moving the writing means to a desired position,
Laser writing is performed on the image forming area by the writing unit.

In this case, the writing means is provided exclusively for writing on the print layer, but the writing means and the reading means may be constituted by the same optical pickup.

With this configuration, inks required for an ink-jet printer and a developer required for an electrophotographic process are not required. The configuration can be simplified. In addition, by improving the drive of the conventional optical recording medium by simplifying the configuration, a printing apparatus can be provided.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a CD-R. CD
-R (optical recording medium) 100 is provided with a recording area 100R for recording information and an image recording area 100G for recording an image. In the drawing, the recording region 100R overlaps the protective layer (polycarbonate) recording layer (dye) reflective layer (silver) substrate in this order from the surface (recording surface) side. 780n from the surface when writing
When a semiconductor laser of m is irradiated with an output of 4 to 8 mW, the temperature of the recording layer rises to several hundred degrees, so that the dye (mostly cyanine-based and phthalocyanine-based) of the recording layer 104 chemically reacts to change the reflectance. It has become. On the other hand, at the time of reproduction, the laser light of the same wavelength is irradiated at an output of 0.2 to 0.5 mW, and the difference in reflectance is distinguished by "0" and "1".

In contrast to the CD-R, the CD-RW is a phase-change recording system, in which the recording layer is changed between a crystalline state and an amorphous state by selectively using the power of a semiconductor laser to reduce the difference in reflectance to "0". , "1".

Therefore, in this embodiment, a recording area 100R and an image forming area 100G are set on the same surface of a CD-R (optical recording medium) 100, a thermochromic film is provided in the image forming area 100G, and a laser beam is applied. Desired data such as a disk name and a file name is printed on the image forming area 100G by the heat generated by the irradiation. Thermochromic film CD
The protective layer (overcoat layer) may be formed on the recording layer as in the recording area, even if the recording layer is attached to the image recording area 100G of -R100.

FIG. 2 shows an optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus which prints on an image forming area 100G of a CD-R (optical recording medium) 100 shown in FIG. 1 and writes and reads information on and from a recording layer. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing a main configuration of the first embodiment. In the figure, the CD-R 100 is driven to rotate at a predetermined rotation speed by a spindle motor 5.
First and second optical pickups 3 and 4 are arranged on both sides of the CD-R 100 that is driven to rotate. A writing optical circuit element and a reading optical circuit element are connected to the second optical pickup 4, and a writing optical circuit element of the writing optical circuit element and the reading optical circuit element is connected to the first optical pickup 3. Only the elements are connected. The write-related circuit elements are the write analog processor 7, E
It comprises an FM / CIRC encoder 12, an ECC / EDC encoder 16 and an A / D converter 17, and the read-out circuit elements are a write / analog processor 7, an EFM
/ CIRC decoder 11, D / A converter 14, ECC /
It comprises an EDC decoder 15. In addition, a system controller 13, an ATIP decoder 10, and a servo circuit 10 are provided to control these. The motor 6 is for seeking the first and second optical pickups 3 and 4 and moves the optical pickups 3 and 4 to predetermined positions based on a servo signal from the servo circuit 10. Also, an I / F (interface) circuit 18 is provided for interfacing with the host computer, and not only the system control unit 13 but also the ECC / EDC encoder 16 and the ECC /
The EDC decoder 15 also has an interface. The basic configuration of the optical disk recording / reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is the same as that of the conventional apparatus except that a first pickup 3 is added as a print pickup.

In order to facilitate understanding, operations common to those of the related art will be briefly described. The system control unit 13 includes a CPU
And the like, a RAM as a memory means, a ROM storing a program, etc., and have a function of controlling the entire system of FIG. Control etc.

The write data sent from the host computer (not shown) includes an I / F (interface) circuit 18, an ECC / EDC encoder 16, an EFM / CIR
The signal is supplied to the pickup 4 via the C encoder 12 and the write / analog processor 7. CD-R1
The read data from 00 is
Analog processor 8, EFM / CIRC decoder 1
1. The data is sent to the host computer via the ECC / EDC decoder 15 and the I / F circuit 18. The pickup 4 records / reproduces various information in a user recordable area of the CD-R 100.

First, at the time of recording, the ECC / EDC encoder 16 and the EFM / CIRC encoder 12
After the write data received from the host computer is subjected to ECC code generation and interleaving in accordance with the command write mode, the write data is subjected to EFM modulation, sent to the write / analog processor 7 and given to the pickup 4 for writing. At the time of reproduction, the signal from the pickup 4 is transferred to the read analog processor 8
The FM / CIRC decoder 11 and the ECC / EDC decoder 15 perform EFM demodulation, perform processing to return ECC and interleave, and then transmit the I / F circuit 18 to the host computer.

The CD-R 100 is driven to rotate by a spindle motor 5, and the pickup 4 is moved to a desired position on the CD-R 100 by a motor 6. Various servo systems such as the spindle motor 5 and the motor 6 are provided with a servo circuit 1
The position on the CD-R 100 in this case is controlled by the output from the ATIP decoder 9. The above is the operation common to the conventional device.

In this embodiment, a first pickup 3 for printing is newly provided in addition to the above-described conventional configuration, and the print data sent from the host computer (not shown) includes an I / F. (Interface) Circuit 1
8. The signal is supplied to the first pickup 3 via the write / analog processor 7. In this case, the position of the first pickup 3 is determined by the AT read by the pickup 4.
Controlled by the output from the IP decoder 9, the CD-R
The rotation speed of 100 and the laser irradiation are synchronized.

In this embodiment, the first pickup 3 for printing is provided separately from the second pickup 4 for writing / reading information, but the image forming area of the CD-R 100 is used for printing. If the CD drive is set so that 100G is on the lower side, printing on the printing surface 121 of the CD-R 100 becomes possible without changing the configuration of the CD drive. However, in this case, for example, CD
It is necessary to provide a guide groove (groove) for guiding the laser also in the -R image forming area 100G so that the print position of the pickup becomes clear.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the flow of main processing at the time of printing operation on the CD-R 100 in the printable recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

When printing is to be performed on the printing surface of the CD-R 100, first, it is checked whether or not the set optical recording medium is to be printed, here, whether or not it is a CD-R 100 (step 301). If the disc is a target CD-R, it is checked whether a disc has not been printed yet (step 302). If the disc has not been printed yet, an optimum printing power for printing is set (step 303). ), The first pickup 3 (or any one of the second pickups 4... CD-R is selected at the set position) is moved to the printing position (step 30).
4) Print the data transmitted from the host computer (step 305).

By forming the image forming area 100G having the above-described structure on the same surface as the recording area 100R of the CD-R 100 in this manner, a special recording device such as an ink jet printer can be used. Desired information can be printed by optical writing.

[0027]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an image capable of forming a visible image by irradiating light of a specific wavelength to the same surface as the recording area of the plate-shaped information recording medium. Since the formation layer is provided, printing can be easily performed on the same surface as the information recording surface by using the light having the specific wavelength, for example, a laser beam.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, an image which becomes transparent or opaque when heated at a specific temperature to the same surface as the recording area of the plate-shaped recording medium and maintains its state even when the temperature is returned to normal temperature. Since the formation region is provided, printing can be easily performed by means capable of locally generating a specific temperature, for example, a laser beam.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since a thermochromic film is provided in the image forming area so that a visible image can be formed by the thermochromic film, the image can be formed with a simple structure.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the plate-like information recording medium is made of an optical information recording medium, a so-called CD-
It can be easily printed on R or CD-RW.
It is also possible to use an optical pickup for performing optical writing on the CD-R or CD-RW as writing means.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the writing means for writing information to the image forming area of the plate-shaped recording medium by the laser beam, and the reading means for reading the information written to the recording area of the plate-shaped recording medium are provided. A rotation driving unit that rotationally drives the plate-shaped recording medium, and a moving unit that moves the writing unit to a desired position. Since the writing unit performs laser writing on the print layer,
It is possible to print on the print layer with a simple configuration in which a conventional CD drive is provided with a means for writing light onto the print layer.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the writing means and the reading means can be made the same by picking up light by writing light in the image forming area according to the guide groove provided in the image forming area. This eliminates the need for a dedicated optical pickup for writing an image in the image forming area.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an optical information recording medium (CD) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4C is a plan view illustrating a recording area and an image forming area of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing device (CD drive) according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure when printing is performed on a print layer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 5 spindle motor 3, 4 optical pickup 7 write analog processor 8 read analog processor 9 ATIP decoder 10 servo circuit 11 EFM / CIRC decoder 12 EFM / CIRC encoder 14 D / A converter 15 ECC / EDC decoder 16 ECC / EDC encoder 17 A / D converter 18 I / F (interface) circuit 1 100 CD-R (optical recording medium) 100R recording area 100G image forming area

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording area and an image forming area are provided on the same surface of a plate-shaped information recording medium, and a visible image is formed in the image forming area by irradiating light of a specific wavelength. Recording medium. 2. A recording area and an image forming area are provided on the same surface of a plate-shaped information recording medium, and the image forming area becomes transparent or opaque by heating at a specific temperature, and even when the temperature returns to room temperature, the image forming area becomes transparent or opaque. A plate-shaped recording medium on which a visible image that maintains a state is formed. 3. The plate-shaped recording medium according to claim 1, wherein a thermochromic film is provided in the image recording area, and the visible image is formed on the thermochromic film. 4. The plate-shaped recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the plate-shaped information recording medium is an optical information recording medium. 5. A writing means for writing information to the image forming area of the plate-shaped recording medium according to claim 1 by a laser beam, and writing is performed on a recording layer of the plate-shaped recording medium. A reading unit that reads information; a rotation driving unit that drives the plate-shaped recording medium to rotate; and a moving unit that moves the writing unit to a desired position. The writing unit performs laser writing on the image forming area. A printing device characterized by performing. 6. A printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a guide groove for an optical pickup is provided in said image forming area, and said writing means and said reading means are constituted by the same optical pickup.