JP2017144586A - Thermal transfer printer and printing method by thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing method that can deal with more images in various tones and make IR ink printing hard to be visually recognized.SOLUTION: A printing method includes: a basic color image correction step of performing correction for decreasing density in a portion overlapping an IR image printed with IR ink out of basic color images (for example YMC images) and/or increasing the density in a portion not overlapping the IR image out of the basic color images; an IR printing step of forming the IR image by thermally transferring the IR ink to a printing medium; and a basic color printing step of forming the basic color correction image corrected in the basic color image correction step by thermally transferring the basic color ink to the printing medium.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing method using a thermal transfer printer that thermally transfers IR ink and basic color ink to a print medium, and a thermal transfer printer.

  There is a card sales apparatus that has a built-in printer and prints information according to game content and provides it as a card. An image of a character or the like appearing in the game, a barcode, and the like are printed on the card (Patent Document 1). ).

  When printing a barcode, QR code (registered trademark) on a card together with an image of a character appearing in the game, the barcode, QR code, etc. may be printed on the card using visible ink such as black ink. is there. In this case, since it is necessary to secure a space for printing a barcode, QR code, etc. on the card separately from the character image, the character image becomes smaller at least by that amount. In addition, it may not be preferable in view of the beauty of the card to see a barcode, a QR code and the like.

  Here, if the barcode, QR code, etc. are printed on the card using invisible ink, the barcode, QR code, etc. cannot be visually recognized, so the character image and the barcode, QR code, etc. are overlaid and printed. There is no need to secure a space for printing a barcode, QR code, etc. on the card separately from the character image.

  There is what is called IR ink as invisible ink. The IR ink is a known ink that absorbs or reflects near infrared light (or infrared light). However, although general IR inks are called invisible inks, they are not completely invisible, and are, for example, light tan in color (IR inks contain a few components that reflect visible light. it is conceivable that). Therefore, if IR ink is simply printed on a card or the like, a pattern printed with IR ink can be visually recognized.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2015-73895

  Here, when the character image to be printed on the card has a dark color tone or may have a dark color tone, the IR ink that does not become completely invisible is used if printing is performed as follows. However, it is possible to make it impossible to visually recognize barcodes, QR codes, and the like.

  Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C over the entire printed surface so that the density of the color ink image is higher than the amount that is colored with the IR ink after printing a barcode, QR code, etc. Increase the density of (cyan) and print. In this way, it is possible to make the barcode, QR code, etc. invisible to the extent that does not cause a problem in practice.

  However, this method cannot cope with a case where a desired image of a character printed on a card has a light color tone. That is, it is not possible to deal with all images of various colors to be printed on the card.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing method that can cope with a larger variety of color tones and that makes it difficult to visually recognize IR ink printing. That is.

  The present invention is a printing method using a thermal transfer printer that thermally transfers IR ink and basic color ink that are not completely invisible to a printing medium. At least one of the corrections of lowering the density of the part of the basic color image that overlaps with the IR image printed with the IR ink and increasing the density of the part of the basic color image that does not overlap with the IR image A basic color image correcting step for correcting one of the above, an IR printing step for forming the IR image by thermally transferring the IR ink to a printing medium, and the basic color ink by thermally transferring the basic color ink to a printing medium. A basic color printing step of forming a basic color correction image corrected by the color image correction step.

According to this configuration, it is possible to make the color printed by IR ink inconspicuous, and when reducing the density of the portion of the basic color image that overlaps the IR image, the desired basic color image and its color tone are reduced. Can be faithfully reproduced. When increasing the density of the portion of the basic color image that does not overlap the IR image, the color tone is darker than the desired basic color image, but the density of the basic color ink is increased over the entire print surface including the IR image. Compared to the above-described method of printing, an image having a color tone close to a desired basic color image can be obtained.
That is, according to the above configuration, it is possible to obtain an image having a color tone closer to a desired image than that of the conventional technique for an image having various color tones while making it difficult to visually recognize IR ink printing.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the basic color image correction step is a step of performing correction to reduce the density of a portion of the basic color image that overlaps the IR image.

  According to this configuration, a desired color tone of the basic color image can be faithfully reproduced.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the basic color printing step is performed after the IR printing step.

  According to this configuration, since the basic color ink is placed on the IR ink, the IR image can be protected with the basic color ink. For this reason, peeling of the IR image (IR ink) due to rubbing or the like can be prevented.

  Furthermore, in the present invention, it is preferable that the IR printing process is performed, the receiving layer is thermally transferred onto the thermally transferred IR ink, and then the basic color printing process is performed.

  According to this configuration, the basic color ink can be transferred more reliably.

  The present invention is also a thermal transfer printer including a controller configured to perform the above-described basic color image correction process. It is possible to provide a thermal transfer printer that can cope with a larger number of various color tones and that makes it difficult to visually recognize IR ink printing.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the printing method which can make IR ink printing difficult to visually recognize which can respond to the image of a more various color tone can be provided.

1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing a card printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows an example of an ink ribbon. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input image, print data as an example of the present invention, and an output image thereof. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an input image, print data according to a comparative example, and an output image thereof.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration and operation of the main part of a card printer 100 according to an embodiment of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

(Configuration and operation of main part of card printer 100)
The card printer 100 is a printer capable of double-sided printing that prints on the front and back surfaces of a card 50 as a print medium. The card printer 100 serves as a storage unit that stacks the cards 50 in the thickness direction in the case 1 and stores them vertically. The cassette 2, the direction changing device 10 for changing the direction of the card 50 sent from one end side of the cassette 2 in the horizontal direction, and the linear transfer for transferring the horizontally changed card 50 in the horizontal direction. A path 20, a printing unit 30 that performs printing on the upper surface side of the card 50 that is transported through the transport path 20, and a reversing device 40 that reverses the front and back surfaces (upper and lower surfaces) of the card 50 are provided.

  The case 1 is provided with a card discharge port 1a for discharging the printed card 50 on the front side thereof. The cassette 2 can be pulled out to the front side of the case 1 as indicated by an arrow A in FIG. As described above, the card printer 100 is configured to be able to supply the card 50 to the inside, take out the card 50 after printing, and the like from the front side of the case 1, so It is suitable as a double-sided printer for a game card to be incorporated.

  As shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1, the card 50 stored in the cassette 2 is drawn upward from one end side on the back side of the cassette 2 and is sandwiched vertically by the transport roller 4. Is sent to. When the passage of the card 50 is detected by the sensor 5a, the direction changing device 10 turns the conveying roller 11 90 ° to the left, and thereby the card 50 turned downward is directed toward the right printing unit 30. To the transport path 20.

  The printing unit 30 is of a thermal transfer type in which the ink on the ink ribbon 31 is heated by the thermal head 32 and transferred to the card 50. The card 50 is printed between the thermal head 32 and the platen roller 33 while being sandwiched between the feed rollers 24, and is fed in the right printing direction at a predetermined printing speed by the feed rollers 24. The ink ribbon 31 is in the form of a roll wound around the outer periphery of the supply-side bobbin 31 a, is drawn out from the supply-side bobbin 31 a, and passes between the thermal head 32 and the platen roller 33. After being used for printing, it is wound up by a winding bobbin 31b.

  The card 50 printed on the surface in this way is then transported to the left in FIG. At this time, when the card 50 is detected by the sensor 5c, the cam portion 23b of the positioning claw 23 is rotated to tilt the claw portion 23a, and the card 50 passes through the positioning claw 23 portion. The card 50 that has passed through the positioning claw 23 is detected by the sensor 5 b and then fed into the reversing device 40 by the reverse rotation of the transport roller 11 of the direction changing device 10.

  The card 50 fed into the reversing device 40 is rotated by 180 ° around an axial direction parallel to the transport direction by the reversing device 40 so that the front and back surfaces are reversed. The card 50 whose front and back surfaces are reversed is sent to the transport roller 11 of the direction changing device 10 by the transport roller 46 of the reversing device 40.

  The card 50 with the front and back surfaces reversed and having the upper surface as the back surface is sent from the transport roller 11 to the transport path 20, and is printed on the back surface by the printing unit 30. The card 50 printed on the front and back surfaces is transported to the cutter 25 by the transport roller 21c, and a grip margin (not shown) on the front end side is cut by the cutter 25. It is discharged to the front side.

  Each of the sensors 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d, 5e, and 5f shown in FIG. 1 is a non-contact optical sensor having a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit. Signals from the sensors 5 a to 5 f are taken into the controller 3, and the operation of each device constituting the printer such as the direction changing device 10, the printing unit 30, and the reversing device 40 is controlled by the controller 3.

  Refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-81185 for the detailed configuration of each part and the movement of the card printer 100.

(Printing Method According to One Embodiment of the Present Invention)
As an embodiment of the present invention, in the present invention, for example, an ink ribbon 31 as shown in FIG. 2 is used. The ink ribbon 31 has OP (transparent coating layer), IR (IR ink), and R (receiving layer) in addition to the three basic color inks of Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan). It is an applied ink ribbon. As described above, the IR ink is a known ink that absorbs or reflects near-infrared light (or infrared light) and does not become completely invisible after printing. The IR ink exhibits, for example, a light tan color. Y, M, and C are inks made of a sublimable dye, and R (receiving layer) is for receiving the sublimable dye. Note that OP, IR, and R are meltable. The left Y, M, C, and OP in FIG. 2 are printed on the surface of the card 50, and the remaining IR (R, Y, M, C, and OP on the left in FIG. 2) It is printed on the back side.

  The two images on the left side in FIG. 3 are images input to the controller 3 and printed on the back surface of the card 50. Both the images are printed on the back side of the card 50. The input image printed with Y, M, C ink on the side described as YMC is, for example, an image of a character appearing in the game, and the input image printed with the IR ink on the side described as IR. Is, for example, a QR code. In FIG. 3, the input image printed with Y, M, and C inks is simply indicated by hatching, and the input image printed with IR ink is simply a ring. The lightly hatched ring (ring) part shows a pattern (image) printed with IR ink, and the part printed with IR ink is not completely invisible such as light tan. It is for showing.

  The controller 3 is pre-inputted with IR ink color data as to what color it will be after printing. Based on the input IR ink color data and the input image data printed with Y, M, and C inks, the controller 3 prevents the printed pattern (printed image) from the IR ink from being visible in the output image. , Y, M, and C images (basic color images) are corrected by reducing the density of a portion that overlaps with an IR image (annular pattern in this embodiment) printed with IR ink (basic color image correction step). . The result of this correction is Y, M, and C corrected image data shown in the portion of print data in FIG.

  The controller 3 controls each device constituting the card printer 100 to print Y, M, C, and OP on the surface of the card 50. Thereafter, the card 50 is turned 180 °, and IR, R, Y, M, C, and OP are printed on the back surface of the card 50. The back side printing of the card 50 will be described in detail. First, an IR image is formed by thermally transferring IR ink to the card 50 (IR printing process). Next, R (receiving layer) is thermally transferred onto the thermally transferred IR ink (IR image). Thereafter, Y, M, and C inks (basic color inks) are thermally transferred to the card 50 (basic color printing process). At this time, the image thermally transferred with the Y, M, and C inks is a basic color correction image in which the density of the circular pattern portion corrected by the basic color image correction step is lighter than other portions (the portion called print data in FIG. 3). Y, M, and C corrected image data shown in FIG. Finally, OP is thermally transferred to the card 50. An output image as a printing result is shown on the right in FIG. This output image is the same as the leftmost input image in FIG. That is, according to this method, it is difficult to visually recognize the IR image, and it is possible to faithfully reproduce a desired basic color image and its color tone. Although the IR image may not be completely invisible, at least the IR image may be difficult to visually recognize.

  Note that the basic color image correction step described above may be performed until the back side of the card 50 is printed, more specifically, until IR ink is thermally transferred to the back side of the card 50.

  FIG. 4 shows a comparative example. If a YMC image and an IR ink image that does not become completely invisible are simply overlapped and printed, the pattern (image) printed with the IR ink can be visually recognized with the color of the IR ink that is presented after printing.

(Other embodiments)
In the basic color image correction process, based on the input IR ink color data and the input image data printed with the Y, M, and C inks, a printed pattern (printed image) with IR ink can be seen in the output image. The density of the portion of the Y, M, C image (basic color image) that does not overlap with the IR image printed with the IR ink (the portion that does not overlap with the IR ring pattern in the example shown in FIG. 3) You may perform the correction which raises. Although the color tone is darker than the desired YMC image, it is possible to obtain an image having a color tone close to the desired YMC image as compared with the method of printing by increasing the density of the YMC ink over the entire printing surface including the IR image. Because.

  Furthermore, correction may be performed to lower the density of the portion of the YMC image that overlaps the IR image and to increase the density of the portion that does not overlap the IR image.

  Further, when IR ink color data is not input to the controller 3, the density of the portion of the YMC image that overlaps the IR image is determined based on the experience obtained so far, the result obtained by trial printing, and the like. A correction amount to be decreased or a correction amount to increase the density of a portion not overlapping with the IR image may be determined.

  In this case, the IR image may not be completely invisible, but at least the IR image may be difficult to visually recognize.

(Modification)
In the above-described embodiment, the basic color image correction process is performed by the controller 3 included in the printer. However, an apparatus having a function of performing the basic color image correction process may be provided outside the printer. For example, IR ink color data may be stored in an external computer that transmits image data to a printer, and the external computer may have a function of performing a basic color image correction process.

  Further, a memory such as a tag is attached to the ink ribbon 31, color data of IR ink is stored in the memory, and the basic color image correction process is performed by reading this color data with a controller built in the printer or an external computer. May be.

  In the above-described embodiment, an IR image is printed on the back surface of the card 50 with IR ink. Needless to say, an IR image may be printed on the surface of the card 50 with IR ink, or an IR image may be printed on both the front and back surfaces of the card 50 with IR ink.

  After printing Y, M, and C images (basic color images), an IR image may be printed with IR ink. In this case, it is preferable to print a Y, M, C image (basic color image), then print R (receiving layer), and print an IR image thereon with IR ink.

  There is no need to print OP (transparent coating layer).

  The printer may be a single-sided printer instead of a double-sided printer, or may not be a game card printer. Furthermore, instead of a color printer, it may be a printer that performs gray scale printing in which there are a plurality of tones such as black, dark gray, gray, and light gray. Furthermore, the basic color ink is not limited to the three basic color inks of Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan).

  The image to be printed may be not only a character image but also a person or animal image, or may be a character or a number. Examples of images printed with IR ink include barcodes in addition to QR codes. Furthermore, other identification information may be used.

  The print medium may be a roll paper instead of a card. The material of the print medium is paper or resin.

  In addition, it is needless to say that various modifications can be made within a range that can be assumed by those skilled in the art.

1: Case 2: Cassette 3: Controller 10: Direction changing device 30: Printing unit 31: Ink ribbon 40: Reversing device 50: Card (print medium)
100: Card printer (thermal transfer printer)

Claims (5)

A printing method using a thermal transfer printer that thermally transfers IR ink that is not completely invisible and basic color ink to a printing medium,
Basic correction for reducing the density of the portion of the basic color image that overlaps with the IR image printed with the IR ink and / or increasing the density of the portion of the basic color image that does not overlap with the IR image A color image correction process;
An IR printing step of forming the IR image by thermally transferring the IR ink to a printing medium;
A basic color printing step of forming a basic color correction image corrected by the basic color image correction step by thermally transferring the basic color ink to a printing medium;
A printing method using a thermal transfer printer. In the printing method by the thermal transfer printer of Claim 1,
The printing method using a thermal transfer printer, wherein the basic color image correction step is a step of correcting the density of a portion overlapping the IR image in the basic color image. In the printing method by the thermal transfer printer of Claim 1 or 2,
A printing method using a thermal transfer printer, wherein the basic color printing step is carried out after the IR printing step. In the printing method by the thermal transfer printer according to claim 3,
A printing method using a thermal transfer printer, wherein the IR printing process is performed, the receiving layer is thermally transferred onto the thermally transferred IR ink, and then the basic color printing process is performed.   A thermal transfer printer comprising a controller that is configured to perform the basic color image correction step according to claim 1.

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