JP2013184394A - Thermal transfer printer, and method and apparatus for erasing ink ribbon print information - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal transfer printer that is extremely few in risk of information leakage, causes no trouble, and does not make print information readable from a used thermal transfer ink ribbon, and to provide a method and apparatus for erasing ink ribbon print information.SOLUTION: A thermal head is provided with a contact part where an ink coating surface of transferred ink ribbons following in the conveyance of transferred ink ribbon used in transfer is brought into contact with an ink coating surface of transferred ink ribbons preceding in the conveyance. The print information that remains in an ink ribbon is erased by transfer of ink to the ink coating surface of the transferred ink ribbon preceding from the ink coating surface of the transferred ink ribbon following, by using a thermal head for erasure different from that for printing in the contact part.

Description

  The present invention belongs to the technical field of thermal transfer printers. In particular, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, an ink ribbon print information erasing method, and an apparatus that prevent printing information from being read from a used thermal transfer ink ribbon.

In a thermal transfer printer, an ink ribbon in which ink that melts by heating or ink that sublimes by heating is applied to a belt-like film is used. The thermal transfer printer has a thermal head in which a large number of pixel-sized heating elements are arranged. When printing is performed in the thermal transfer printer, the ink application surface of the ink ribbon and the printing surface of the substrate (paper) are overlapped and brought into close contact with each other, and the thermal head is pressed from the ink ribbon side. Then, the thermal head or the ink ribbon is relatively moved in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the arrangement of the heating elements while the heating elements of the thermal head are selectively heated by energization. Ink ribbon ink in a portion heated by the heat generating element that selectively generates heat is transferred (thermal transfer) to the printing material, and ink ribbon ink in a portion not heated is not transferred (thermal transfer) to the printing material. Thereby, the thermal transfer printer forms a print pattern on the substrate.
A thermal transfer printer that uses an ink ribbon coated with ink that is melted by heating is called a thermal melting type thermal transfer printer or a thermal melting type printer. A thermal transfer printer using an ink ribbon coated with ink that sublimes by heating is called a sublimation type thermal transfer printer or a sublimation type printer.
In any of the thermal transfer printers, the print information is inverted and remains on the used ink ribbon after the ink is thermally transferred to the printing material. Therefore, there is a risk that print information leaks from the used ink ribbon. Therefore, proposals have been made to prevent such information leakage.

For example, a ribbon transfer path of the thermal transfer ribbon between the printing unit and the winding unit is provided with a cutting unit capable of cutting the thermal transfer ribbon along the conveyance direction, and a core tube for winding the thermal transfer ribbon in the winding unit Is formed with a separation slit capable of separating the winding core tube into a plurality of small structural unit portions, and the separation slit extends in the circumferential direction of the winding core tube. There is a proposal to use a circumferential slit that can be separated into a plurality of narrow circular tube portions (Patent Document 1). However, there is still a risk of information leakage because information is still present in the printer by just slitting. In addition, it is easy to restore information by slitting the thermal transfer ribbon pieces next to each other.
In addition, a welding means for welding the ink ribbon wound on the take-up spool and a detection means for detecting the rotation of the spool are provided, and a case in which the take-up spool is stored every time the spool rotates by a predetermined angle. There is a proposal for welding the ink ribbon wound on the winding side spool by inserting the welding means into the case from the formed opening (Patent Document 2). However, the ink remaining area is usually larger than the transfer area in the ink ribbon after thermal transfer. For this reason, the welding is performed not only between the base film and the base film but also between the ink and the base film. Unless it is the same material, it is very difficult to increase the welding strength. As a result, it is easy to unwind and the risk of information leakage remains.
In addition, regarding the ink ribbon after thermal transfer, there is a proposal to press and heat different portions on the ink application surface side, and to fill the ink from the other ink ribbon in the part where the ink has been removed to erase the printing information (Patent Document 3). However, since the inks of the ink ribbons facing each other at the press-contact portion are melted or sublimated and then solidified, the ribbons are bonded to each other, and the ink ribbon is entangled inside the thermal transfer printer, and thereafter normal printing can be performed. There is a risk of troubles being impossible.

JP2007-1155 JP-A-5-330181 JP-A-3-213384

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. The purpose of the thermal transfer printer, ink ribbon print information erasing method and apparatus is such that there is very little risk of information leakage and no trouble occurs and print information is not read from a used thermal transfer ink ribbon. Is to provide.

The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1 of the present invention is a thermal transfer printer of a type in which printing is performed by transferring the ink on the ink ribbon to a substrate to be printed at a place selectively heated by a thermal head for printing. Provided is a contact portion where the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer in the head contacts the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance, and the contact By transferring ink from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon using an erasing thermal head different from that for printing in the section Means for erasing print information remaining on the ink ribbon is provided.
The thermal transfer printer according to a second aspect of the present invention is the thermal transfer printer according to the first aspect, wherein the erase pattern when the erase is performed by the thermal head for erase is a random pattern.
The thermal transfer printer according to claim 3 of the present invention is the thermal transfer printer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transfer of the preceding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface is an ink non-application region or overcoat application on the ink application surface. A thermal transfer printer characterized by transfer to a surface.
An ink ribbon printing information erasing method according to claim 4 of the present invention is an ink in a thermal transfer printer of a type in which printing is performed by transferring ink ribbon ink at a place selectively heated by a printing thermal head to a substrate. In the ribbon printing information erasing method, the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer in the thermal head, and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance The contacted ink ribbon is provided from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon by using a thermal head for erasure different from that for printing at the contact portion. The printing information remaining on the ink ribbon is erased by transferring the ink to the ink application surface of the ink. Those were Unishi.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink ribbon printing information erasing apparatus, which is an ink in a thermal transfer printer of a type in which printing is performed by transferring ink on an ink ribbon at a location selectively heated by a thermal head for printing to a substrate. In the ribbon printing information erasing method, the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer in the thermal head, and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance The contacted ink ribbon is provided from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon by using a thermal head for erasure different from that for printing at the contact portion. The printing information remaining on the ink ribbon is erased by transferring the ink to the ink application surface of the ink. Those were Unishi.

  According to the present invention, since the print information is erased immediately after printing, there is very little risk of information leakage. In addition, when erasing the print information, the ink non-application area of the ink ribbon is used as a transfer area. Since there is no possibility of adhesion, the stability of operation is improved and trouble does not occur. In addition, a separate recovery mechanism is provided to recover the transferred ink using the transferred ink ribbon for erasing print information. Therefore, there is provided a thermal transfer printer, an ink ribbon print information erasing method, and an apparatus that can reduce the cost of the apparatus and improve the maintainability.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the structure in the thermal transfer printer of this invention, an ink ribbon printing information erasing method, and an apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a structure in the thermal transfer printer of this invention, an ink ribbon printing information erasing method, and an apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement in the thermal transfer printer of this invention, an ink ribbon printing information erasing method, and an apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement in the contact part which erase | eliminates the printing information of the transferred ink ribbon in the thermal transfer printer of this invention, the ink ribbon printing information erasing method, and apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows Example 1 and Example 2 about the structure of an ink ribbon.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An example of the configuration of the thermal transfer printer, ink ribbon print information erasing method and apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 as a block diagram and in FIG. 2 as an explanatory diagram. 1 and 2, 1 is a print control unit, 2 is an operation unit, 3 is an ink ribbon supply unit, 4 is an ink ribbon collection unit, 5 is a substrate supply unit, 6 is a substrate discharge unit, and 7 is for printing. A thermal head, 8 is an erasing thermal head, 9 is an impression cylinder (pressure roller), and ac are guide rollers. In the print control unit 1, 10 is a processing unit, and 20 is a storage unit. In the processing unit 10, reference numeral 11 denotes a printing processing unit, 12 denotes an erasing processing unit, and 13 denotes a conveyance control unit. In the storage unit 20, 21 is print data, 22 is erasure data, and 23 is a conveyance control program. Reference numeral 101 denotes an ink ribbon winding body, 102 denotes an ink ribbon, 103 denotes a transferred ink ribbon, 104 denotes a transferred ink ribbon winding body, and 105 denotes a substrate.

The print control unit 1 performs main data processing in the thermal transfer printer. For example, the print data is input and stored, the stored print data 21 is converted into data in a format that can be used by the printing thermal head 7, data processing when printing, and the ink remaining on the transferred ink ribbon 103 Data processing such as data processing for erasing the print information that appears with the erasing thermal head, data processing for controlling the transport mechanism when transporting the ink ribbon and the substrate to be fed, printed, and collected is performed. The print control unit 1 can be realized by hardware and software in a data processing device such as a microcomputer.
The processing unit 10 is a part that performs data processing in the print control unit 1. For example, it is configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an OS (Operating System), application software, and the like.
The storage unit 20 is a part that stores data necessary for data processing together with an OS (not shown), application software (not shown) including the transfer control program 23, and the like. For example, it is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a hard disk, and the like. The storage unit 20 itself is also operated by an OS, application software, and the like.

The operation unit 2 has an interface for operating the thermal transfer printer through an external device such as a personal computer, as well as a user interface such as an operation panel and display used when the user directly operates the thermal transfer printer.
The ink ribbon supply means 3 unwinds the ink ribbon set in the thermal transfer printer as a winding body (or its cassette), that is, the ink ribbon winding body 101, and supplies it to the printing section comprising the printing thermal head 7, etc. Supply means. The ink ribbon supply means 3 includes a nip roller or an infeed roller comprising a pair of rollers that at least one of the rollers is rotationally driven for conveyance and sandwiches and conveys the ink ribbon 102 unwound from the ink ribbon winding body 101. (Not shown), a motor for driving the rotation thereof, a controller thereof (not shown), a brake mechanism or a reverse rotation mechanism for the winding body support shaft for maintaining normal rotation of the ink ribbon winding body 101 (see FIG. Not shown).

  The ink ribbon collection unit 4 is a collection unit that collects the transferred ink ribbon 103. The ink ribbon collecting means 4 collects the transferred ink ribbon 103 by winding it to form a winding body (or its cassette). That is, it is collected as the transferred ink ribbon winding body 104. The ink ribbon collecting means 4 includes a rotation mechanism that rotates the winding body support shaft of the transferred ink ribbon winding body 104 with a predetermined torque, a motor that drives the rotation, a controller (not shown), and the like. By the rotation driving, an out-feed roller including a pair of nip rollers as described above is further provided, so that an appropriate tension is applied to the transferred ink ribbon 103. Due to the tension, the normal recovery as the transferred ink ribbon winding body 104 and the normal winding state after the recovery are maintained.

The printed material supply means 5 is a supply means for supplying a printed material 105 to be printed to a printing unit including a printing thermal head 7 and the like. The form of the substrate 105 is, for example, a sheet, and is set in the substrate supply means 5 in a state where a large number of sheets are stacked. The printing material supply means 5 separates the sheets one by one from the stacked sheets and supplies them to the printing unit.
The printed material discharge means 6 discharges a printed material (printed material), which is a printed sheet, to a deposition location (not shown), for example, an outlet.

The printing thermal head 7 is a thermal head used when printing on the substrate 105 in the thermal transfer printer. The printing thermal head 7 has a structure in which a large number of minute-sized heating elements, which are electric resistors, are arranged (usually one-dimensionally arranged) on a substrate such as alumina ceramic. The size of the heating element is the pixel size when printed. The printing thermal head 7 has a driver circuit that energizes the heating element at a predetermined timing based on the input data and selectively generates heat.
In the thermal head for printing 7, a large number of heating elements can be selectively heated individually by energization. When printing is performed in the thermal transfer printer, the ink application surface of the ink ribbon 102 and the printing surface of the substrate 105 are overlapped. Further, the back surface of the ink ribbon 102 is pressed by the heating element of the printing thermal head 7. As a result, the printing thermal head 7, the ink ribbon 102, and the substrate 105 are brought into close contact with each other. In this state, while the heat generating elements of the thermal head are selectively heated by energization, the ink ribbon 102 and the substrate 105 that are superimposed in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the array of the heat generating elements are transported relative to each other. The ink on the ink ribbon 102 at the portion heated by the heat generating element that is energized based on the print data and selectively generated heat is transferred (thermal transfer) to the printing material 105, and the ink on the ink ribbon 102 at the portion that is not heated. Does not transfer (thermal transfer) to the substrate 105. Thereby, the thermal transfer printer forms a print pattern on the substrate 105.
In addition, in an ink ribbon based on a base material (usually using a PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) film) and ink, the ink application surface is the surface on the ink side relative to the base material side, and the ink is applied. Regardless of whether it is present, it is referred to as an ink application surface. In the ink ribbon, the back surface is a surface on the substrate side with respect to the ink side, that is, a surface on the opposite side of the ink application surface.

The erasing thermal head 8 is a thermal head used when erasing the print information of the used ink ribbon 102 in the thermal transfer printer. The erasing thermal head 8 can have the same structure as the printing thermal head 7. When erasing is performed in the thermal transfer printer, the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon 102 that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon 103 and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon 103 that precedes in the conveyance are overlapped. Further, at the contact portion (see FIG. 2), the superimposed transferred ink ribbon 103 is sandwiched between the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 and the peripheral surface of the impression cylinder 9, and pressure is applied. As a result, the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 and the succeeding and preceding ink ribbon 102 are brought into close contact with each other.
In this state, the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 can be selectively heated by energizing at a predetermined timing based on the erasing data. At that time, thermal transfer is performed by the erase pattern described in the erase data. Further, since the erase pattern described in the erase data can be a solid pattern (all pixel selection pattern), all the heating elements of the erase thermal head 8 can be energized to generate heat as a full selection. At that time, thermal transfer is performed on the entire printed ink ribbon. In any energization method, the print information of the ink remaining on the printed ink ribbon is erased.

  As described above, the impression cylinder 9 presses the superimposed transferred ink ribbon 103 against the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 so that the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 and the succeeding and preceding transferred elements are pressed. The ink ribbon 103 is brought into close contact. The impression cylinder 9 is a roller (pressure roller) having a peripheral surface of an elastic material, and does not hinder the conveyance of the superimposed transferred ink ribbon 103.

  The print processing unit 11 receives a print request from an external device through the operation unit (and IF) 2, inputs print data, and stores the print data 21 in the storage unit 20 as print data 21. The print processing unit 11 generates printable data by directly outputting the print data 21 to the print thermal head 7, and outputs the data to the driver circuit of the print thermal head 7 in synchronization with the conveyance of the substrate 105. To do. The print processing unit 11 outputs a printing timing signal to the driver circuit of the printing thermal head 7 in synchronization with the conveyance of the printing material 105. Based on the data, the driver circuit of the printing thermal head 7 energizes in synchronization with the timing signal to selectively heat the heating element.

  The erasure processing unit 12 receives erasure data registration from the external device through the operation unit (and IF) 2, inputs the erasure data to be registered, and stores it in the storage unit 20 as erasure data 22. An erase pattern is determined by the registered erase data 22, and a plurality of pattern erase patterns can be registered. The erasing processing means 12 directly outputs the erasing data 22 to the erasing thermal head 8 to generate printable data, and the erasing processing head 12 synchronizes with the transport of the superimposed transferred ink ribbon 103 and transfers the data to the erasing thermal head 8. Output to the driver circuit. Further, the erasing processing unit 12 outputs an erasing timing signal to the driver circuit of the erasing thermal head 8 in synchronization with the conveyance of the superimposed transferred ink ribbon 103. Based on the data, the driver circuit of the erasing thermal head 8 energizes in synchronism with the timing signal to selectively heat the heating element.

The erasing processing means 12 performs erasing with an erasing pattern designated in advance or designated each time. Examples of erasing patterns include a solid pattern (all pixel selection pattern), a checkered pattern (a check pattern in which erasing and non-erasing squares are alternately arranged), and a random pattern (erasing and non-erasing squares are randomly arranged). Check pattern), character string (character string irrelevant to print information to be erased), pattern (pattern irrelevant to print information to be erased), image (image unrelated to print information to be erased), etc. . In the checkered pattern and the random pattern, the square dimension can be arbitrarily set when the erase data is created, and is not limited. In the random pattern, the area ratio between erasing and non-erasing can be arbitrarily set at the time of erasing data creation, and is not limited to 1: 1 (1: 1).
When the solid pattern is used, most of the ink remaining on the transferred ink ribbon 103 can be transferred. However, the degree of deterioration of the print information in the transferred ink ribbon 103 on the transferred side is small, and the print information is transferred. There is also a danger of being read. In addition, when the checkered pattern is used, about half of the ink remaining on the transferred ink ribbon 103 can be transferred, and therefore, the degree of deterioration of the print information in the transferred ink ribbon 103 on the transferred side is large. The risk of reading the print information on the transferred ink ribbon 103 on the transferred side is reduced. However, since the checkered pattern is a regular erasing pattern, there remains a risk of being decoded. In addition, when a random pattern is used, it is possible to transfer the ink remaining in the transferred ink ribbon 103 at an arbitrary ratio. Therefore, the degree of deterioration of print information is large in the transferred ink ribbon 103 on the transferred side, and the transferred ink ribbon 103 is transferred. The risk of reading print information on the transferred ink ribbon 103 on the other side is reduced. Moreover, since the erase pattern has irregularity, the risk of being decoded is small.

  The conveyance control unit 13 controls the conveyance of the ink ribbon and the conveyance of the substrate 105 based on the conveyance control program 23. That is, the ink ribbon supply unit 3, the ink ribbon collection unit 4, the printing material supply unit 5, the printing material discharge unit 6, and the like perform a conveyance operation under the control of the conveyance control unit 13. The transport control program 23 may be a control program such as a transport control program such as a sequence program. The conveyance control unit 13 receives a print request from the external device through the operation unit (and IF) 2 and performs conveyance control based on the conveyance control program 23. The conveyance control unit 13 detects the operation state of the ink ribbon supply unit 3, the ink ribbon collection unit 4, and the printing material conveyance unit that are control operation targets, and the conveyance state of the ink ribbon that is the conveyance target and the printing material 105. It is detected by the detector detection signal. The conveyance control unit 13 performs harmonious conveyance control based on the detection signal as a whole, and generates and outputs the timing signal used by the printing processing unit 11 and the erasing processing unit 12.

  An ink ribbon transport path in the thermal transfer printer will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the ink ribbon winding body 101 is supported by the ink ribbon supply means 3, and the ink ribbon 102 unwound from the ink ribbon winding body 101 is conveyed in the direction of arrow →. . The ink ribbon 102 is sandwiched between the heating element of the thermal head for printing 7 and the substrate to be printed 105 at a predetermined angle via a guide roller a or the like and closely contacts. Therefore, the heating element of the printing thermal head 7 selectively generates heat, and the ink on the ink ribbon 102 is thermally transferred to the printing material 105 to perform printing. The transferred ink ribbon 103 is guided by the guide roller b, passes through the printing thermal head 7 at a predetermined angle, and is conveyed to the erasing thermal head 8.

The transported portion is a portion where print information is erased from the transferred ink ribbon 103. At that location, the ink application surface of the transferred transferred ink ribbon 103 and the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 are superimposed and contacted. Therefore, the part is called a contact part. Further, the transferred ink ribbon 102 conveyed with respect to the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 is called a succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103.
As shown in FIG. 2, the contact portion includes an erasing thermal head 8 and an impression cylinder 9. At the contact portion, the impression cylinder 9 presses and contacts the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 with the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 and the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 superimposed. In this state, when the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 generates heat, the ink on the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 is transferred to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103, and the subsequent transfer. The print information of the finished ink ribbon 103 is deleted. The erasing is performed while being conveyed, and the conveying direction of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 and the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 is opposite, and the conveying speed is the same.

  Further, the subsequent transferred ink ribbon 103 is conveyed and reaches the impression cylinder 9 via the guide roller c. That is, it returns to the contact portion. The transferred ink ribbon 103 upstream also reaches the contact portion in the transport path. For the upstream transferred ink ribbon 103, the transferred ink ribbon 103 that follows in the conveyance is the transferred ink ribbon 103 that precedes in the conveyance, and the upstream transferred ink ribbon 103 in the conveyance path follows in the conveyance. This is the transferred ink ribbon 103. That is, when the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 returns to the contact portion by conveyance, the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 becomes the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 at the contact portion. Then, the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 is further conveyed and reaches the ink ribbon collecting means 4 and is wound up by the ink ribbon collecting means 4 to form a transferred ink ribbon winding body 104.

The configuration has been described above. Next, the operation of the thermal transfer printer, ink ribbon print information erasing method and apparatus of the present invention will be described. An example of the operation of the thermal transfer printer, ink ribbon print information erasing method and apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIG.
First, in step S1 (supply of printed material) in FIG. 3, the printed material supply means 5 of the thermal transfer printer is loaded with a large number of printed materials 106, for example, sheet-fed printing paper, under the control of the conveyance control means 13. A single substrate 105 is separated from the stacked portion, and the separated substrate 105 is supplied to a printing region including the printing thermal head 7 and the like.
Next, in step S2 (ink ribbon supply), the ink ribbon supply means 3 of the thermal transfer printer unwinds the ink ribbon winding body 101, which is an ink ribbon, for example, under the control of the conveyance control means 13. Then, the unwound ink ribbon 102 is supplied to a printing site comprising the printing thermal head 7 and the like. It should be noted that the order in which step S1 and step S2 are performed may be first or simultaneous.
Next, in step S3 (printing), the print processing means 11 of the thermal transfer printer generates data that can be directly output from the print data 21 to the print thermal head 7, and the driver circuit of the print thermal head 7 Based on the data, the heating element is selectively heated. These processes are performed based on a timing signal generated by the conveyance control unit 13 in synchronization with the conveyance of the substrate 105.
Next, in step S4 (substrate discharge), the conveyance control means 13 of the thermal transfer printer transfers the printed substrate 105, that is, the printed material, to the outlet and places it thereon. Further, the conveyance control means 13 conveys the transferred ink ribbon 103, which is a transferred ink ribbon, to the contact portion.

Next, in step S5 (erasing the ink ribbon print information), the erasure processing means 12 of the thermal transfer printer generates data that can be directly output from the erasure data 22 to the erasure thermal head 8 to generate printable data. The driver circuit selectively heats the heating element based on the data. These processes are performed based on timing signals generated by the conveyance control unit 13 in synchronization with the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon 103.
FIG. 4 shows an operation of the contact portion for erasing the print information of the transferred ink ribbon as an explanatory diagram. As shown in FIG. 4, the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 is conveyed and passes through the erasing thermal head 8. During the passage, the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8 selectively generates heat, and the ink is selectively transferred from the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103. By the transfer, the ink pattern remaining on the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 changes before and after passing through the erasing thermal head 8. Accordingly, the print information represented by the ink remaining on the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103 is lost.

  Example 1 and Example 2 of the configuration of the ink ribbon are shown in FIG. The scale in FIG. 5 is different between the thickness direction and the longitudinal direction of the ink ribbon. The thickness direction is enlarged and the longitudinal direction is reduced (the same applies to FIG. 4). In the ink ribbons shown in Examples 1 and 2, there are an ink application region and an ink non-application region. The vertical and horizontal dimensions of the ink application area and the non-ink application area are almost the same as or slightly larger than the substrate 105. In the ink ribbon shown in Example 1, ink exists in the ink application area of the ink application surface, and nothing exists in the ink non-application area. Further, in the ink ribbon shown in Example 2, ink is present in the ink application area of the ink application surface, and overcoat paint is present in the ink non-application area. The overcoat paint is transferred onto the printed material 105 after ink transfer from above the ink using a heating element such as a thermal head for printing to protect the previously transferred ink. The paint is applied on the ribbon alternately with the ink, and is generally transferred over the entire application area regardless of the printing information. Since it does not remain on the ribbon after transfer, the ink and overcoat paint There is no welding. The succeeding ink ribbon 103, which was an ink ribbon transferred at the contact portion composed of the print erasing thermal head 8 and the impression cylinder 9, becomes an ink ribbon transferred by passing through the contact portion again between the rollers.

  When using the ink ribbon as shown in Example 1 and Example 2 of FIG. 5, the transfer to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 is the transfer to the ink non-application region or the overcoat application surface on the ink application surface. can do. That is, in FIG. 2, by setting the total length of the transport path from the contact portion until the ink ribbon 103 returns to the contact again through the guide roller C, the ink non-application region or overcoat on the ink application surface is set. Transfer to the coated surface can be performed. For example, if the dimensions in the longitudinal direction (transport direction) of each of the ink non-application area and the overcoat application surface are the same, an odd multiple of the dimension can be achieved by setting the total length of the transport path. .

In FIG. 4, the mode is shown. In the subsequent transferred ink ribbon 103, an ink application region and an ink non-application region appear alternately from the upstream side of conveyance. Considering the transport direction indicated by the arrow →, the head of the ink application region a reaches just below the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8. On the other hand, in the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103, an ink application region and an ink non-application region appear alternately from the upstream side of the conveyance. Considering the transport direction indicated by the arrow →, the head of the non-ink-applied area b reaches just below the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8. That is, the head of the ink application area a is in contact with the head of the ink non-application area b and directly below the heating element of the erasing thermal head 8, and the entire area from the ink application area a to the ink application area b in the subsequent transport. Transcription is performed. Further, the ink application region c has already been transferred to the ink non-application region d. In the example shown in FIG. 4, it is understood that the transfer is performed with an erase pattern that is not a solid pattern.
As described above, the transfer from the ink application area to the ink application area prevents the transferred ink from overlapping the ink in the ink application area after transfer for erasing. Therefore, it is possible to obtain the transferred ink ribbon wound body 104 having a stable winding shape without stabilizing the transfer and stabilizing the transfer.

  Next, returning to FIG. 3, in step S <b> 6 (ink ribbon collection), the ink ribbon collection unit 4 winds up the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 to form a transferred ink ribbon winding body 104. The preceding transferred ink ribbon 103 passes through the erasing thermal head 8 twice, the previous pass when it is the subsequent transferred ink ribbon 103 and the current pass (step S5). Ink was transferred last time, and ink was transferred this time. As a result, in the preceding transferred ink ribbon 103, that is, the ink ribbon wound up by the ink ribbon collecting means 4, that is, the final used ink ribbon, the printing information is further lost as compared with the succeeding transferred ink ribbon 103. ing.

  The present invention can be used in applications intended to prevent information leakage so that print information is not read from a transferred thermal transfer ink ribbon in a hot melt type or sublimation type thermal transfer printer.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print control part 2 Operation part 3 Ink ribbon supply means 4 Ink ribbon collection | recovery means 5 Substrate supply means 6 Substrate discharge means 7 Thermal head for printing 8 Thermal head for erasure 9 Impression cylinder 10 Processing part 11 Print processing means 12 Erase processing Means 13 Conveyance control means 20 Storage unit 21 Print data 22 Erase data 23 Conveyance control program 101 Ink ribbon winding body 102 Ink ribbon 103 Transferred ink ribbon 104 Transferred ink ribbon winding body 105 Printed material

Claims (5)

A thermal transfer printer of a type in which printing is performed by transferring the ink of the ink ribbon in a place selectively heated by a thermal head for printing to a substrate,
In the thermal head, a contact portion is provided in which the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance contact. At the contact portion, using an erasing thermal head different from that for printing, the ink is transferred from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon. A thermal transfer printer comprising means for erasing print information remaining on the ink ribbon. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein an erase pattern when the erase is performed by the erase thermal head is a random pattern. 3. 3. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the transfer of the preceding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface is transfer to an ink non-application region or an overcoat application surface on the ink application surface. printer. An ink ribbon printing information erasing method in a thermal transfer printer of a method in which printing is performed by transferring ink on an ink ribbon to a substrate to be printed at a place selectively heated by a thermal head for printing,
In the thermal head, a contact portion is provided in which the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance contact. At the contact portion, using an erasing thermal head different from that for printing, the ink is transferred from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon. And erasing the print information remaining on the ink ribbon. An ink ribbon printing information erasing device in a thermal transfer printer of a type in which printing is performed by transferring ink on an ink ribbon to a substrate to be printed at a place selectively heated by a thermal head for printing,
In the thermal head, a contact portion is provided in which the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that follows in the conveyance of the transferred ink ribbon used for transfer and the ink application surface of the transferred ink ribbon that precedes in the conveyance contact. At the contact portion, using an erasing thermal head different from that for printing, the ink is transferred from the ink application surface of the succeeding transferred ink ribbon to the ink application surface of the preceding transferred ink ribbon. An ink ribbon print information erasing apparatus comprising means for erasing print information remaining on the ink ribbon.

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