JP2574861B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image for recording an image on a thermosensitive recording material provided with a plurality of transparent thermosensitive coloring layers that develop a different hue on both surfaces of a transparent support. It relates to a recording device.

[Conventional technology]

At present, there is a thermal recording method as a method of recording an image on recording paper using a heating element. This thermosensitive recording method uses a thermosensitive recording material obtained by applying a color developing agent and a color developing agent to a support such as paper or synthetic paper, and performs recording by a process of heating this thermosensitive recording material with a thermal head. Such a thermal recording method does not require development, when the support is paper, the paper quality is close to ordinary paper, it is easy to handle, the color density is high, the recording apparatus is simple and inexpensive, It has the advantage that noise at the time is smaller than that of a dot printer or the like, and has been rapidly spread in the field of black-and-white facsimile machines and printers in recent years.

Further, in such a recording field, with the rapid development of the information industry, a demand for easily obtaining a color hard copy from a terminal of a computer, a facsimile or other information equipment has been increasing. However, in order to increase the number of colors of the heat-sensitive recording material, it is necessary to incorporate a coloring mechanism corresponding to the number of coloring colors on the same support and control and operate each coloring mechanism. Despite this, there is no sufficient color hue and color separation.

By the way, as a support of the heat-sensitive recording material, an opaque support such as paper or synthetic paper is usually applied. This is due to the purpose of simply reading a color image as a reflection image from one side.

Examples of the use of a transparent support for a heat-sensitive recording material include JP-B-40-20151 and JP-B-60-68875.
And Japanese Patent Application No. 60-184483 (the purpose of which is to obtain a high-contrast image or a high-quality image excellent in gloss by viewing a thermal-recorded image from the transparent support side). There has also been proposed an invention in which a thermosensitive recording layer having a different color hue is provided on a screen of a transparent support to obtain a color image of two or more colors (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. -3640, JP-A-60-4092).

However, since these are the heat-sensitive coloring layers in which the coloring component and the developing component are simply dispersed in the solid state, the coloring layer itself becomes substantially opaque due to the scattering of light, and the intended purpose is obtained. It is not possible to obtain a multi-color image that is clearly color-separated. Further, in the invention described in JP-A-60-4092, there is a description of dissolving each component and coating the same layer on the same layer in order to improve the transparency of the thermosensitive coloring layer. Since coloring of each component easily occurs before printing, so-called fogging occurs. Therefore, the number of possible color fractions was small, and it was essentially insufficient as a multicolor recording material.

Here, the applicant has provided a color-forming layer which is substantially transparent and develops different hues on both sides of the transparent support, so that a multi-color heat-sensitive image can be obtained which is better than ever before. Proposed recording material (Japanese Patent Application No. 61-80787,
Japanese Patent Application No. 62-88196, Japanese Patent Application No. 62-75409).

According to this, it is possible to obtain a multicolor image having excellent hue, excellent color separation properties and good image storability, which could not be obtained conventionally by the thermal recording method. Further, the obtained image can be a transmission image or a reflection image.

Since such a heat-sensitive recording paper has color-developing layers on both sides, it is necessary to heat both sides of the recording paper with a thermal head. When multiple color-forming layers are provided on one surface, the uppermost layer (the layer closest to the surface) is heated and colored with an amount of heat that does not heat the other layers, and the color-forming layer is fixed and the other layers are fixed. It is necessary to heat-treat the color-forming layer. Hereinafter, a basic image recording procedure will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4 (A), a heat-sensitive recording material 10 has a magenta dye layer (hereinafter referred to as a dye layer) 1 on one side of a polyester film (hereinafter referred to as PET) 102 as a support.
A yellow dye layer (hereinafter referred to as a Y dye layer) 106 is provided on the M dye layer 104. On the other side of the support, a cyan dye layer (hereinafter referred to as a C dye layer) 10
8 are provided and all are transparent. The Y dye layer 1
Reference numeral 06 denotes a light fixing type, which is a layer having a property of not changing even when heated by irradiating light having a wavelength of 400 nm from the light source 109. On the upper side of the thermal recording material 10, a recording head is provided.
110 are arranged.

First, in FIG. 4A, the Y dye layer 106 is subjected to a heat treatment by a thermal head 110. In this case, the Y dye layer 1
The amount of heat in the M dye layer 104 below 06 is such that the color does not develop due to the heat. As a result, only the Y dye layer 106 is colored.

Next, in FIG. 4 (B), 400 nm from the Y dye layer side 106.
Irradiate light of about a wavelength. Thereby, the Y dye layer 106
Is fixed, and there is no color change upon subsequent heating.

In FIG. 4 (C), the M dye layer 104 is heat-treated with a larger amount of heat than when the Y dye layer 106 is heated. Thereby, the M dye layer 104 develops a color.

Next, in FIG. 4 (D), the thermosensitive recording paper 10 is turned upside down, and in FIG. 4 (E), the C dye layer 108 is heated. Also, another recording head is provided below the heat-sensitive recording material 10.
When 112 (see the imaginary line in FIG. 4A) is provided, the heat treatment is performed as it is. In this case, the C dye layer 108 is colored by heating with such an amount of heat that does not affect the M dye layer 104 provided with the PET 102 interposed therebetween.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, an image recording apparatus capable of automatically processing such an image recording procedure has not been developed at present. As a condition for obtaining an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a multicolor heat-sensitive recording material, it is necessary to accurately position the heat-sensitive recording material in order to record the same image in three stages and reproduce colors, Unless this can be automatically processed, it will be difficult to perform high-speed processing as in the related art. In addition, as shown in FIG.
If you place the recording heads 110 and 112 on 10 screens respectively,
The reversal operation of the thermosensitive recording material as shown in FIG. 4 (D) becomes unnecessary, but the number of parts increases and the apparatus itself becomes large, which is not practical and is not preferable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to obtain an image recording apparatus that can automatically heat each of the coloring layers provided on the screen of the transparent support, and has practicality such as high-speed processing. It is.

[Means for solving the problem]

The image recording apparatus according to the present invention is an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a thermosensitive recording material provided with a plurality of transparent thermosensitive coloring layers that develop colors in different hues on both sides of the transparent support, A rotating body around which the heat-sensitive recording material is wound, a recording head that is arranged in correspondence with the rotating body and heat-treats the transparent thermosensitive coloring layer, and a light source that fixes at least one of the plurality of transparent thermosensitive coloring layers; Reversing means for reversing the front and back of the heat-sensitive recording material,
have.

[Action]

According to the present invention, the thermosensitive recording material is wound around a rotating body,
In this state, one surface of the recording head is subjected to heat treatment.
Next, after the thermosensitive recording material is turned upside down by a reversing means, the other surface of the thermosensitive recording material is heated.

In addition, even when two coloring layers are stacked on one of the surfaces, the upper layer is first heated to form a color, and this layer is fixed by a light source. Can be prevented.

As described above, since the heat treatment is always performed in a state of being wound around the rotating body, there is no displacement and each color can be formed at a predetermined position. In addition, since high-speed processing can be performed, a multicolor heat-sensitive recording material having excellent practicality can be effectively used. In addition, the thermosensitive recording material is inverted,
Since the transparent thermosensitive coloring layers on both sides are subjected to a heat treatment, the recording head can be made single and the number of parts can be reduced.

Further, since a light source for fixing at least one layer is provided, two color-forming layers can be stacked on one side,
It becomes easy to individually develop the three primary colors necessary to obtain a color image.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

One of the thermal recording materials 10 is housed in a magazine 12,
It is wound up in a layer on a take-up reel 14 in a magazine 12. An intermediate portion of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is pulled out from an outlet 16 provided in the magazine 12, and is held between a pair of transport rollers 18. The transport roller 18 is rotated by the driving force of the driver 20, and transports the thermosensitive recording material 10 in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

The heat-sensitive recording material 10 has a structure in which coloring layers (M, Y, C) 104, 106, and 108 are provided on the screen of the support as shown in the section of the prior art (see FIG. 4). In this embodiment, PET 102 is applied as a support, and the whole is transparent.

A cutter 22 is provided downstream of the transport roller 18 so that the thermal recording material 10 is cut to a desired length by the driving force of a driver 24. The cut thermosensitive recording material 10 is nipped by a pair of conveying rollers 26 driven by the driving force of a driver 25, is further conveyed, and is guided to a heat processing unit 28.

The heat treatment section 28 includes a supporting drum 30 as a rotating body and a line-type thermal head 32 as a recording head.The thermal recording material 10 is wound around the supporting drum 30 by the thermal head 32. , Is to be heated. The support drum 30 is formed of a metal cylindrical body 34, and an elastic body 36 is wound around the outer periphery thereof. The support drum 30 is rotated at a constant speed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 by the driving force of a driver 38, and the thermal recording material 10 wound around the support drum 30 is sequentially heated by a thermal head 32.
Has the role of responding to

One of the thermal heads 32 is supported by a device frame (not shown) via a shaft 40, and is rotated about the shaft 40 by a driving force of a driver 41 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. A heating element 42 disposed on the other side is brought into contact with and separated from the heat-sensitive recording material 10 wound around the support drum 30. When the heating element 42 comes into contact with the heat-sensitive recording material 10, an image signal is output from the control device 45, and the heat-sensitive recording material
An image is formed at 10 by heat generation according to the image signal 100.

The heat-sensitive recording material 10 conveyed to the heat treatment unit 28 by the conveyance rollers 26 is guided in the conveyance direction by guide plates 44, 68, and 70, and a holding unit 46 provided on the outer periphery of the support drum 30.
To a recessed part 48 which constitutes a part of.
A latch claw 52, which forms a holding portion together with the concave portion 48, is supported by the concave portion 48 via a shaft 50 disposed parallel to the rotation axis of the support drum 30. The ratchet claw 52 is
When one end of the thermosensitive recording material 10 guided by the above is housed in the recessed portion 48, the one end of the thermosensitive recording material is rotated by the driving force of the driver 49 via the shaft 50 in the direction of arrow D in FIG. Has the role of holding. Thermal recording material 10
When held by the latch claws 52, they are sequentially wound around the outer periphery of the support drum 30 by the rotation of the support drum 30.

The timing at which the latch claw 52 holds the thermosensitive recording material 10 is determined by a limit switch 54 provided in the middle of the conveyance path of the thermosensitive recording material 10. That is, when the thermal recording material 10 reaches the position of the limit switch 54, the actuator 56 of the limit switch 54
(In this embodiment, the normally open type limit switch 54 is applied, and the limit switch 54 is turned on when it comes into contact with the heat-sensitive recording material 10). On (high level) from limit switch 54
The off (low level) signal is supplied to the control device 45,
The control device 45 operates the latch claw 52 after a predetermined time (at least the leading end of the thermosensitive recording material 10 has hit the depth of the concave portion 48) according to the transport speed of the thermosensitive recording material 10 (arrow D in FIG. 1). Direction rotation). As a result, the thermosensitive recording material 10
The relative position between the support drum 30 and the support drum 30 is always constant, and accurate positioning is achieved.

Idle rollers 58, 60, and 62 are provided at a plurality of locations (three locations in this embodiment) on the outer circumference of the support drum 30, and the support drum 30 and the idle rollers 58, 60, and 62 cause the heat-sensitive recording material 10 to move. Is wound around the outer periphery of the support drum 30 in a state of being in close contact therewith. A light source 64 connected to the control device 45 via a driver 63 is disposed downstream of the support drum 30 in the direction of rotation of the support drum 30 at the position where the thermal recording material 10 is heated by the thermal head 32 (an idle roller 60 and an idle roller 62). ), The thermal recording material 10 is irradiated with light. The wavelength of this light is 400 nm, and the heat-sensitive recording material 1
It is used for fixing the Y dye layer 106 (see FIG. 4).
That is, in the present embodiment, the support drum 30 is continuously rotated twice after the rotation is started. In the first rotation of the thermosensitive recording material 10, the thermal head 32 heats the Y dye layer 106. Processing is performed, and fixing is performed immediately after this processing.

At the next rotation of the support drum 30, that is, at the second rotation, Y
M dye layer 104 provided below dye layer 106 (see FIG. 4)
Is subjected to a heat treatment. The amount of heat of the heating element 42 is "weak" during the first rotation of the support drum 30, has no effect on the lower M dye layer 104, and is "strong" during the second rotation. As described above.

The heat-sensitive recording material 10 in which the heat treatment of the Y dye layer 106 and the M dye layer 104 has been completed is released from the holding state by the holding unit 46, and the downstream of the idle roller 62 is supported by the support drum by the elastic force of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 itself. 30 tangential directions, guide plate
The guide is guided between 66 and the guide plate 68.
Note that, in this case, the support drum 30 is stopped at an initial position (when the holding unit 46 is positioned downward as shown in FIG. 1).

The direction of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 guided between the guide plate 66 and the guide plate 68 is changed along the guide plate 70, and is sandwiched between the pair of transport rollers 72. Transport roller
At 72, the thermal recording material 10 is conveyed to the driver 74 by a driving force in the direction indicated by the arrow E in FIG.
10 with the rear end at the head, in the direction of the support drum 30 (counter-arrow E direction)
Transported to As a result, the thermosensitive recording material 10 is turned upside down and is again held by the holding unit 46. In this state, the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is rotated together with the support drum 30, and the heat treatment of the C dye layer 108 (see FIG. 4) is performed by the thermal head 32. This C dye layer
After the heat treatment of 108 is completed, the holding unit 46 releases the holding of the thermosensitive recording material 10 when passing through the guide plate 66, so that the thermosensitive recording material 10
78 and is guided to a take-out tray 81 by a pair of transport rollers 80.

The control device 45 includes a CPU 82, a RAM 84, a ROM 86, an input port 8
8, a micro computer 94 comprising an output port 90 and a bus 92 such as a data bus or a control bus connecting these ports. A start switch 96 is connected to the input port 88. By operating the start switch 96, an operation of pulling out the thermosensitive recording material 10 from the magazine 12 is started, and a series of heating processes is performed. The input port 88 is connected to a signal line 98 from the limit switch 54.

The output port 90 includes a cutter 22, a support drum 30, a thermal head 32, a latch claw 52, a light source 64, transport rollers 18, 26,
72 are drivers 24, 38, 41, 49, 63, 20, 25, 74 respectively
And the respective drives are controlled. The output port 90 has a thermal head.
A signal line 100 for supplying the image signal to 32 is also connected.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the explanatory diagram of the heat treatment in FIG. 2 and the control flowchart in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the heat-sensitive recording material 10 (second
(See the solid line position in FIG. 7A) is guided by the guide plate 44 by the driving force of the transport roller 18 (see FIG. 1).
The heat-sensitive recording material 10 is transported by a predetermined amount in FIG. 2 (A).
When it reaches the position of the imaginary line, it contacts the actuator 56 of the limit switch 54. Here, in step 152, it is determined whether or not the limit switch 54 is turned on. When the limit switch 54 is turned on, a high-level signal is input to the input port 88. In the next step 154, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the input of the high level signal.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow D as shown in FIG. 2B (step 156). During this predetermined time, the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is accommodated in the recess 48 of the support drum 30. The leading end thereof is in contact with the locking portion 49, and the leading end is held by the latch claw 52.

As shown in FIG. 2C, when the leading end of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is held by the latch claw 52, the support drum 30 starts rotating in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1st rotation). In the next step 160, the following first heat treatment control is performed. That is, when the holding section 46 passes through the heating element 42 of the thermal head 32, the output port
A drive signal is output from 90 via a driver 41, the thermal head 32 is rotated about the shaft 40 in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 2C, and the heating element 42 comes into contact with the heat-sensitive recording material 10. Thus, the support drum 30 is rotated in a state where the heating element 42 is in contact with the heat-sensitive recording material 10, and an image signal is output to the heating element 42 according to the rotation.

The heat of the heating element 42 is set to “weak”, and the thermosensitive recording material 10 is heated in accordance with the image signal, and the Y dye layer 106 is heated.
Only develop color. When the heating process by the heating element 42 is completed, the thermal head 32 is rotated about the shaft 40 in the direction indicated by the arrow C in FIG. 2C, and the heating element 42 is separated from the heat-sensitive recording material 10.

When the holding unit 46 passes through the idle roller 60, light having a wavelength of 400 nm is emitted from the light source 64 to the image surface of the thermal recording material 10. As a result, the Y dye layer 106 is fixed, and there is no change even if it is heated thereafter.

When the first rotation of the support drum 30 is completed, the process continuously proceeds to the second rotation, and the heating treatment of the M dye layer 104 is performed. That is, the amount of heat is switched to "strong" due to the heat treatment by the heating element 42, the same processing as the heating of the Y dye layer 106 is performed, and the thermosensitive recording material 10 is heated according to the image signal, Only the dye layer 104 is colored. In this case, since the Y dye in the upper layer is fixed, there is no change. Further, since the thermal recording apparatus 10 has no change in the relative position with respect to the support drum 30, the Y and M dye images can be accurately colored without causing color shift. The heat-sensitive recording material 10 after the heat treatment of the M dye layer passes through the irradiation position of the light source 64. However, since the light source 64 is for fixing the Y dye layer, it is turned off even if it is turned on. It is preferable to turn off the light for energy saving.

As shown in FIG. 2 (D), the support drum 30 makes two rotations, and the heat treatment of the Y dye layer and the M dye layer is completed.
When the roller 46 passes through the idle roller 62, the following inversion processing control is performed in step 161. That is, the holding of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 by the latch claws 52 is released, and the heat-sensitive recording material 10 comes out of the concave portion 48 by its own elastic force and moves in the tangential direction of the support drum 30. The heat-sensitive recording material 10 moved in the tangential direction is guided by the guide plate 66 and the guide plate 68, and is moved along the guide plate 70 toward the transport roller 72.

As shown in FIG. 2E, the thermosensitive recording material 10 held between the transport rollers 72 is temporarily placed on the guide plate 70 by the driving force of the transport rollers 72. In this state, the thermal recording material 10
Will be completely separated from the support drum 30. At this time, the support drum 30 is moved to its original position (FIG. 2A).
(The position indicated by) and stopped.

As shown in FIG. 2 (F), once the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is stopped, the conveying roller 72 rotates in the reverse direction, and the end of the supporting drum 30 which has been the rear end in the conveying direction has been started. Recess
Move in 48 directions. Here, when the actuator 56 of the limit switch 54 comes into contact with the thermal recording material 10 in the same manner as described above, the latch claw 52 rotates about the shaft 50 in the direction of arrow D in FIG. The stored thermosensitive recording material 10 is sandwiched. Thereby, the thermal recording material 10
Is in a state where the front and back are reversed with respect to FIG. 2 (B).

As shown in FIG. 2 (G), the heat-sensitive recording material 10 having the reversed front and back is subjected to the following second heat treatment control in step 162. First, the heat-sensitive material 10
Is transported along the support drum 30 while being wound around the support drum 30, and when the holding portion 46 passes through the heating element 42, the thermal head 32 is rotated in the direction of arrow C in FIG.
The heating element 42 comes into contact with the thermosensitive recording material 10 and is heated based on an image signal output from the output port 90. At this time, the image signal is output from the side opposite to the heat treatment of the Y dye layer 106 and the M dye layer 104 in time. That is, during the heat treatment of the C dye layer 108, the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is turned upside down and the transport direction is also reversed with respect to the heat treatment of the Y dye layer 106 and the M dye layer 104, so that the images match. To do so, it is necessary to reverse the image signal in time. Thereby, the heat treatment of the C dye layer 108 is performed,
The C dye layer 108 develops a color. The above is the control performed by the step 162, and the next step 164 includes the heating element 42.
After the completion of the heating process, the thermal head 32 is rotated simultaneously with the rotation in the direction of the arrow C.

As shown in FIG. 2 (H), when a predetermined time has passed since the heating element 42 of the thermal head 32 was separated from the heat-sensitive recording material 10 (step 164), the holding portion 46 passed through the guide plate 66 and the step 166. Then, the holding of the thermosensitive recording material 10 by the holding unit 46 is released, and the recording material 10 is conveyed between the guide plate 76 and the guide plate 78 according to the rotation of the support drum 30. Guide plate
The heat-sensitive recording material 10 between the guide plate 78 and the
The sheet is conveyed by a predetermined amount by the conveying roller 80 in step 168, is sent to the take-out tray 81, and the heating process of one sheet of the heat-sensitive recording material is completed, so that a color hard copy can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, each drive during the first and second heat treatment controls and during the reversal control is performed by rotating the support drum 30 at a constant speed, so that the processes are sequentially performed according to a predetermined time. However, a sensor may be attached to each part, and steps may be performed according to the output of the sensor. Further, an optical sensor is arranged between the heating element 42 and the idle roller 58, and the elastic body 36 is set to white, and a marker of M coloring is recorded by the heating element 42 on the film surface after the recording of the M pigment, and the C pigment is recorded. By detecting the marker with an optical sensor before recording, the color shift between the M dye and the C dye can be eliminated.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the image recording apparatus according to the present invention has an excellent effect that the color forming layers provided on both surfaces of the transparent support can be heat-treated at high speed, and can also have practicality such as continuous processing. Have.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIGS. 2 (A) to 2 (H) are explanatory diagrams showing a heat treatment procedure, FIG. 3 is a control flowchart, and FIG. 4 (A). (E) to (E) are illustrations showing the color forming step of the multicolor heat-sensitive recording material applied to the present invention. 10 ... thermal recording material, 28 ... heat treatment section, 30 ... support drum, 32 ... thermal head, 42 ... heating element, 45 ... control device, 46 ... holding section, 48 ... recessed section, 52: ratchet claw, 54: limit switch, 64: light source, 94: microcomputer.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a thermosensitive recording material provided with a plurality of transparent thermosensitive coloring layers each of which develops a different hue on both sides of a transparent support, wherein the thermosensitive recording material is wound. A rotator, a recording head arranged in correspondence with the rotator to heat the transparent thermosensitive coloring layer to form a color, a light source for fixing at least one of the plurality of transparent thermosensitive coloring layers, and front and back of the thermosensitive recording material And an inverting means for inverting the image.