JP2011101993A - Recording paper - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid the influence of level difference caused by a cutting line (perforation) during printing. <P>SOLUTION: A recording paper used for a thermal transfer recorder for recording an image by transferring ink included in an ink sheet is constituted of a printing zone finally obtained as printed matter and a zone other than the printing zone and the cutting line is provided on the boundary between the two kinds of zones so as to cut into two zones and is tilted to the whole zone in the main scanning direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording sheet used in a thermal transfer printer device, and more particularly to a recording sheet having a cutting line such as a perforation that divides the printing range from the printing range (so-called tab region).

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printer devices as computer output devices and digital video output devices can be classified into thermal transfer printer devices, ink jet printer devices, laser printer devices, wire dot printer devices, and the like according to recording methods. Among them, the thermal transfer printer device uses an ink sheet and a recording paper, selectively drives a plurality of heating elements arranged in the main scanning direction, and conveys the ink sheet and the recording paper in the sub scanning direction. Thus, printing is performed on the recording paper in the form of dot lines.

  In recent years, with the progress of input devices that handle images such as digital cameras, digital video cameras, and scanners on the input side, attention has been focused on thermal transfer printer devices. This is because the thermal transfer printer apparatus is a printer apparatus suitable for printing out electronic image information captured by a still camera or a video camera that records a still image via a computer or a recording medium.

  For example, in other types of printer devices such as an ink jet printer device, since there is only a binary selection of whether or not to form dots, the apparent resolution can be achieved by a technique such as error diffusion while forming small dots on recording paper. I am trying to get gradation. On the other hand, in the case of a thermal transfer printer, the amount of heat for controlling the density of one pixel can be easily changed, so that multi-gradation can be obtained relatively easily for one pixel. Due to this difference, the thermal transfer printer device has an advantage that a smoother and higher quality image can be obtained than other printer devices such as an ink jet printer device. In recent thermal transfer printers, the performance of thermal heads as recording means and the performance of recording paper materials have been improved, and it has become possible to obtain image prints that are not inferior to silver halide photographs even in finished quality. In particular, it has been attracting attention as a printer for natural images.

  In order to perform full-color printing in the thermal transfer printer apparatus as described above, it is necessary to repeatedly transfer a plurality of colors of ink, and the configuration of a conventional general thermal transfer printer apparatus for realizing this is required. An example is shown in FIGS. 7 to 13 to describe the operation of the printer apparatus.

  FIG. 7 shows a standby position before printing in which the cassette 1 is loaded in the printer 20. Reference numeral 24 denotes a pressure plate that presses the recording paper 11 toward the paper feed roller 23 when paper is fed. Since the state of FIG. 7 is the standby position, the pressure plate 24 is at a position separated from the recording paper 11. From this state, the pressure plate 24 moves downward in the figure, is pressed against the recording paper 11 with a predetermined pressure, and when the paper feeding roller 23 rotates counterclockwise, the recording paper 11 in contact with the paper feeding roller 23 is one. Only the sheet moves to the left in the figure, nail separation is performed, and the recording paper 11 is discharged from the discharge port 30.

  FIG. 8 shows a state in which the discharged recording paper 11 has been fed out from the cassette 1 by a predetermined amount. After the recording paper 11 is fed by a predetermined amount, the recording paper 11 is pressed against the first roller 28 by the roller plate 27 as shown in FIG. 9, and is further pulled out from the cassette 1 by the rotation of the first roller 28.

  FIG. 10 shows a state in which the recording paper 11 is pulled out from the cassette 1 and fed by a predetermined amount. From this state, the recording paper 11 is rotated about an axis perpendicular to the surface of the recording paper 11.

  FIG. 11 shows a state during rotation. The rotation of the recording paper 11 is performed by piercing the two first rollers 28 counterclockwise. The first roller 28a is rotated in the direction for drawing the recording paper 11 into the printer 20, and the first roller 28b is rotated in the direction for feeding out the printer 20.

  FIG. 12 shows a state where the rotation is completed. From this state, the recording paper 11 is fed into the printer 20 by the first rollers 28a and 28b, and the printing operation is started.

  FIG. 13 shows a printing state. In the printing operation, the ink sheet 12 and the recording paper 11 are pressed against each other by the thermal head 21 and the platen roller 22, and the ink on the ink sheet 12 is thermally transferred onto the recording paper 11 by the heat generated by the thermal head 21 and provided downstream in the printing direction. The recording paper 11 is transported by a pair of grip rollers 25 and pinch rollers 26. When printing of the first color is finished, the pressure contact of the thermal head 21 is released, the grip roller 25 and the pinch roller 26 are rotated in the opposite direction to the printing operation, and the recording paper 11 is returned to the printing start position. The second and subsequent colors are printed by operation. In this way, full-color printing is performed by superimposing three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan. When printing is completed, the recording paper 11 is discharged outside the right side of the printer 20.

  In addition to the printing area, the recording paper used in the thermal transfer printer apparatus as described above is provided with other areas (so-called tabs). This tab is provided for the following reasons.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the sheet is gripped by the grip roller 25 and the pinch roller 26 and conveyed to perform printing. That is, the thermal head 21 that performs printing, the grip roller 25, and the pinch roller 26 are required to have a predetermined distance in the paper transport direction. As a result, even for recording paper, the grip roller 25 during printing by the thermal head. As a region where the pinch roller 26 can grasp, a tab is necessary.

  In this cutting method of the tab and the printing area, generally, a cutting line such as a perforation is provided on the recording paper so that the user can easily cut. The user cuts the print area and other areas (tabs) along the cutting line to obtain a printed matter.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228667 describes the above-described cutting line of recording paper. This is related to the cutting line of the label recording paper, and the patent is characterized in that the four corners of the rectangular recording paper are curved as the shape of the cutting line that can be easily stored in a stored item such as a card case. It is.

JP 2001-312206 A

  Although the thermal transfer printer apparatus has been attracting attention as a printer for natural images having the above-described configuration, the problem shown in FIG. 14 has been found.

  FIG. 14C shows a printed matter when data having a constant density of a certain gradation is printed by a thermal transfer printer. The white line on the right side of the print product is a perforation (cut line), and a dark line (hereinafter referred to as “cut line jitter”) parallel to the perforation is shown at the center of the print product. This indicates that an image that does not appear originally is printed as the cutting line jitter even though an image based on data having a constant density is printed. This phenomenon has been confirmed even in the printing of natural images, causing deterioration in image quality, and has been a problem.

In a recording paper used in a thermal transfer recording apparatus that records an image by transferring ink contained in an ink sheet,
The recording paper is composed of a print area finally obtained as a printed matter and areas other than the print area,
A cutting line is provided at the boundary between the two types of regions so that it can be cut into two regions.
The cutting line is a recording paper used for a thermal transfer recording apparatus, characterized in that it has an inclination with respect to the entire region in the main scanning direction.

  FIGS. 14A and 14B schematically show a part of a thermal transfer printer and a recording sheet during printing. FIG. 14B is a schematic diagram corresponding to FIG. 14C.

  This shows the time when the perforation passes on the grip roller 25 and the pinch roller 26. At this time, the load fluctuation occurs in the grip roller 25 and the pinch roller 26 due to the effect of the step due to the perforation, and the sheet conveyance speed is increased. Decreases temporarily. As a result, it has been found that in printing on the paper immediately below the thermal head 21 at this time, the density is printed as much as the conveyance speed is lowered, and the image quality is deteriorated by forming a dark line. .

  Therefore, in the present invention, as a result of intensive studies on the relationship between the grip roller and the pinch roller and the cutting line (perforation), cutting that deteriorates the image by forming the cutting line with an inclination with respect to the printing main scanning direction. It has been found that the line jitter is improved or disappears.

  That is, by providing a cutting line with an inclination with respect to the rotation axis of the grip roller and the pinch roller substantially parallel to the main scanning direction, the influence of the step when the grip roller and the pinch roller pass on the cutting line is reduced. As a result, the change in the sheet conveyance speed is also reduced, so that the cutting line jitter characteristic is improved.

  In the present invention, by forming the cutting line of the recording paper with an inclination with respect to the main scanning direction, the influence of the step of the cutting line can be reduced when printing is performed using such recording paper. Therefore, it is possible to prevent image quality deterioration due to cutting line jitter.

Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 1) of the present invention Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 2) of the present invention Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 3) of the present invention Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 4) of the present invention Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 5) of the present invention Schematic diagram of one embodiment (Example 6) of the present invention The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 The figure explaining operation of printer 40 Schematic explanatory diagram explaining the problems of the prior art The schematic diagram of the blade for cutting line formation of Example 1 of this invention Schematic diagram of cutting line forming blade of Example 2 and Example 3 of the present invention Schematic diagram of cutting line forming blade of Example 4 of the present invention Schematic diagram of cutting line forming blade of Example 5 of the present invention Schematic diagram of cutting line forming blade of Example 6 of the present invention

Example 1
The recording paper used in the embodiment of the present invention may be a recording paper for a normal thermal transfer printer. Usually, it has a base material and a receiving layer which is formed on the base material and absorbs ink or the like to fix it.

  Generally, plastic films or sheets such as vinyl chloride, polyester, polystyrene, polypropylene, nylon, polycarbonate, norbornene, vinylon, and acrylic are used as the base material. Further, as the receiving layer, a material mainly composed of polyurethane, polyacryl or the like is used.

  However, the present invention is not limited to the recording paper described above, and the effects of the present invention can be obtained as long as the recording paper can be used in a thermal transfer printer.

  The paper size of the recording paper was 150 mm in the printing sub-scanning direction and 100 mm in the printing main scanning direction. However, the present invention is not limited to the size of the recording paper.

  A perforation as shown in FIG. 1 was formed on the above recording paper. A perforation (cutting line) is provided at an angle of 10 with respect to the main scanning direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the thermal head, grip roller, pinch roller, and platen roller in the printer.

  In this embodiment, the perforation is formed with a perforation blade as shown in FIG. As the shape of the blade, the width W of the region where the blade is formed is 105 mm, which is larger than the width of the paper 100 mm. The convex portion width 0.5 mm, the concave portion width 0.4 mm, and the convex portion depth as shown in the enlarged view. A 0.8 mm long blade is provided. Regarding the cross-sectional shape seen from the side of the blade, the angle of the blade tip was 45 °. The perforation (cut line) is provided by pressing the blade against the recording paper using the above-described perforation forming blade.

  In this embodiment, the perforation (cutting line) is formed on the recording paper as described above. However, in the present invention, it is limited to other perforation (cutting line) forming blades or manufacturing methods. The effect of the present invention can be obtained for all cases where a step is generated as a result of forming a cutting line.

  Table 1 shows the results of forming perforations as described above, printing with various angles 10 in FIG. The cutting line jitter judgment result shown in Table 1 is as follows: “◯ → cutting line jitter is not observed, Δ → cutting line jitter is observed, but the concentration is thin and within the allowable range, and x → the cutting line jitter having a high density. Is observed. "

  As shown in Table 1, as the angle 10 of the cutting line with respect to the main scanning direction is larger, the cutting line jitter characteristic is improved. In addition, by forming a perforation at 0.3 ° or more, the cutting line jitter characteristics are good (◯), and the cutting line jitter is set to 0.3 ° or more as an angle with respect to the main scanning direction. It is desirable to provide a cutting line.

(Example 2)
In this example, a recording paper was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the cutting line was formed as shown in FIG. 2 using a cutting line forming blade as shown in FIG. When printing was performed using this recording paper, the judgment result of the cutting line jitter was “◯”, which was good.

(Example 3)
In this example, a recording paper was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a cutting line was formed as shown in FIG. 3 using a cutting line forming blade as shown in FIG. When printing was performed using this recording paper, the judgment result of the cutting line jitter was “◯”, which was good.

Example 4
In this example, a recording paper was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that the cutting line was formed as shown in FIG. 4 using a cutting line forming blade as shown in FIG. When printing was performed using this recording paper, the judgment result of the cutting line jitter was “◯”, which was good.

(Example 5)
In this example, a recording paper was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a cutting line forming blade as shown in FIG. 18 was used and the cutting line was formed as shown in FIG. When printing was performed using this recording paper, the judgment result of the cutting line jitter was “◯”, which was good.

(Example 6)
In this example, a recording paper was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a cutting line was formed as shown in FIG. 6 using a cutting line forming blade as shown in FIG. When printing was performed using this recording paper, the judgment result of the cutting line jitter was “◯”, which was good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cassette 10 Angle with the cutting line with respect to the main scanning direction 11 Recording paper 12 Ink sheet 20 Printer 21 Thermal head 22 Platen roller 23 Paper feed roller 24 Pressure plate 25 Grip roller 26 Pinch roller 27 Roller plate 28 First roller 30 Outlet

Claims (2)

In a recording paper used in a thermal transfer recording apparatus that records an image by transferring ink contained in an ink sheet,
The recording paper is composed of a print area finally obtained as a printed matter and areas other than the print area,
A cutting line is provided at the boundary between the two types of regions so that it can be cut into two regions.
A recording paper used for a thermal transfer recording apparatus, wherein the cutting line is inclined with respect to the entire region in the main scanning direction.   2. The recording paper according to claim 1, wherein an angle between the cutting line and the main scanning direction is 0.3 [deg.] Or more.

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