JP2673811B2 - Facsimile thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] With respect to a thermal transfer recording method for a facsimile, the thermal head uses an ink sheet according to a recording width of received information in order to prevent waste of ink sheet required for thermal transfer processing. By heating, the ink is thermally transferred onto the recording paper,
In a thermal transfer recording system of a facsimile for recording received information, an ink sheet winding means for winding a band-shaped ink sheet in the main scanning direction and a relative position in the sub scanning direction between a thermal head and the ink sheet. A recording position moving means for controlling the movement of the relationship; the recording position moving means controls the movement of the relative positional relationship between the thermal head and the ink sheet in synchronization with the feeding of the recording paper, and the thermal head In accordance with this movement, the thermal transfer processing of the recording information for the width length of the ink sheet is executed, and the ink sheet winding means is synchronized with the feeding of the recording paper during the thermal transfer processing of the thermal head, or the thermal head of the thermal head. At the end of this thermal transfer process, the ink sheet length corresponding to the recording width of the received information is wound up, and the recording position moving means is At the end of this thermal transfer process heads or others is to configured to operate so as to return the relative positional relationship between the thermal head and the ink sheet to a predetermined initial state.

[Industrial applications]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording system for a facsimile, and more particularly to the use of an ink sheet provided in the facsimile for carrying out thermal transfer when there is received information having a recording width narrower than the width of a recording paper equipped in the facsimile. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording system for a facsimile machine which prevents waste.

For printers and facsimiles, prepare an ink sheet composed by applying a heat-melting ink to a thin film, bring the recording paper into close contact with the ink surface of this ink sheet, and heat it from above the ink sheet with a thermal head. A thermal transfer recording system is used in which the ink is melted by doing so to record information on the recording paper. However, in the facsimile, the recording width of the received information to be thermally transferred is determined by the transmitting side, so this recording width does not always match the paper width of the recording paper prepared by the facsimile. From now on, the recording width of the received information may become narrower than the recording paper width, but it is necessary to configure the thermal transfer recording system so that the ink sheet can be used efficiently even in such a case. is there.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 7 shows a conventional thermal transfer recording system of a facsimile. In the figure, 1 is a thermal head for heating the received information to be thermally transferred for one line, 2 is a recording paper where the received information is thermally transferred, 3 is ink where the ink surface is in close contact with the recording paper 2. A sheet, 6 is a paper for sending the recording paper 2 and the ink sheet 3 in a direction (hereinafter, also referred to as sub-scanning direction) orthogonal to the scanning direction (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as main scanning direction) of the thermal head 1. It is a feed roller.

As shown in the figure, in the conventional thermal transfer recording method of a facsimile, an ink sheet 3 having the same width as the recording paper 2 is prepared, and the ink sheet 3 is aligned with the recording paper 2 in the same direction. It was designed to be sent to.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, according to the conventional technique, when the facsimile is configured to be capable of thermal transfer recording with a width of B4 size, for example, and the recording width of the received information is a width of B4 size, FIG. ), The entire area of the ink sheet 3 is used and the ink sheet 3
Although there is no waste in using, the recording width of the received information is A4
If the width of the ink sheet 3 becomes smaller than the width of the B4 size, the areas at both ends of the ink sheet 3 are no longer used as shown in FIG. Will occur.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording method that enables thermal transfer recording of received information without wasting ink sheets even when there is received information with a recording width narrower than the width of recording paper equipped in a facsimile. It is a thing.

[Means for solving the problem]

 FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a thermal head for heating the received information to be thermally transferred for one line, 2 is a recording paper on which the received information sent in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the thermal head 1 is thermally transferred, 3 is Thermal head 1 formed in a strip
The ink sheet where the ink surface sent in the scanning direction is brought into close contact with the recording paper 2, 4 is an ink sheet winding means for winding the ink sheet 3 in the scanning direction of the thermal head 1, and 5 is the thermal head 1 and the ink sheet It is a recording position moving means for controlling the movement of the relative positional relationship between the recording paper 2 and the recording paper 3 in the feed direction in synchronization with the feeding of the recording paper 2.

[Action]

In the present invention, the thermal head 1 executes the thermal transfer process of the recording information for the width length of the ink sheet 3 according to the relative movement between the thermal head 1 and the ink sheet 3 according to the control of the recording position moving means 5. To do. Then, the ink sheet take-up means 4 synchronizes with the feeding of the recording paper 2 during the thermal transfer process of the thermal head 1, or at the end of the thermal transfer process of the thermal head 1, the ink sheet of the recording width of the received information. In addition to winding the length, the recording position moving means 5 causes the thermal head 1 and the ink sheet 3 at the end of the thermal transfer process of the thermal head 1.
It operates so that the relative positional relationship with and is returned to a predetermined initial state.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the ink sheet 3 for the recording width is set on the thermal head 1, the ink sheet 3 is not wasted. Further, in the present invention in which the ink sheet 3 is always wound, this set can be quickly dealt with.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording system for a facsimile according to the present invention. As explained in Fig. 1,
In the present invention, the thermal head 1 closely heats the ink sheet 3 wound up in the main scanning direction by the ink sheet winding means 4 from above, so that the recording paper 2 sent in the sub scanning direction by the paper feed roller 6 is heated. It is configured so that the received information for one line is thermally transferred onto it. The ink sheet 3 is configured so as to be entirely moved back and forth in the sub-scanning direction by the ink sheet moving means 5a corresponding to one embodiment of the recording position moving means 5.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a signal processing apparatus for realizing the thermal transfer recording system of the present invention configured as described above. As shown in this figure, the signal processing device includes a thermal head controller 10 for controlling the print pulse width applied to the thermal head 1 and a paper feed roller for controlling the paper feed roller motor provided in the paper feed roller 6. A motor control unit 11, an ink sheet motor control unit 12 for controlling the motor of the ink sheet moving unit 5a and a motor of the ink sheet winding unit 4, and a recording width for detecting the recording width of received information. The thermal head controller 10 and the paper feed roller motor are provided with a detecting means 7 and an ink sheet winding amount data register 13 for storing a numerical value corresponding to the recording width detected by the recording width detecting means 7. Main control for controlling the control unit 11, the ink sheet motor control unit 12, the ink sheet winding amount data register 13, and the recording width detection means 7. It is those configured with a 20.

Next, the operation of the thermal transfer recording system of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view showing the movement of the relative positional relationship between the thermal head 1 and the ink sheet 3, and FIG. 5 is executed by the signal processing device to realize this movement. It is a flowchart of what is done.

In the embodiment showing the operation of FIG. 4, the ink sheet 3 is sent in the sub-scanning direction by the ink sheet moving means 5a in synchronization with the paper feeding of the recording paper 2 by the paper feeding roller 6, and the paper feeding is performed. The ink sheet winding means 4 winds the recording paper 2 in the main scanning direction in synchronization with the feeding of the recording paper 2 by the rollers 6. Arrows shown by diagonal solid lines in the figure show relative movements of the thermal head 1 on the ink sheet 3 which moves in this way.

The feeding of the ink sheet 3 in the sub-scanning direction by the ink sheet moving means 5a ends at the same time as the feeding of the width of the ink sheet 3 ends, and the ink sheet moving means 5a
As shown by the movement of the broken line arrow in FIG. 4, at the end of this operation, the process of instantaneously returning the leading edge of the ink sheet 3 to the heating position of the thermal head 1 in the initial state is performed. Then, the ink sheet take-up means 4 is A4 if the recording width of the received information is A4 width during the execution period of feeding for the width length of the ink sheet 3 as shown in FIG.
The ink sheet 3 corresponding to the width, or the width of the received information when the recording width of the received information is B4, is wound up. As a result of such an operation, the thermal head 1 moves to the ink sheet 3 shown by the parallelogram in FIG.
By sequentially heating the area of n with the number of lines of n, the received information is thermally transferred onto the recording paper 2. Therefore, there is no waste in using the ink sheet 3.

Next, according to the flowchart of FIG. 5, the process executed by the present invention in order to specifically realize the operation shown in FIG. 4 will be described.

The main control unit 20 of the signal processing device first performs step 1
As shown by, the judgment is made as to what the recording width of the received information detected by the recording width detecting means 7 corresponds to. In this example, the recording width is A4 or B4. Subsequently, in step 2, the recording width of the received information thus obtained is divided by n (the total number of lines that can be recorded in the width length of the ink sheet 3), and the value obtained by this division is taken up by the ink sheet. Set in the quantity data register 13. The value set in this way becomes the ink sheet length at which the ink sheet winding means 4 winds every line.

Then, in step 3, the main control unit 20 drives the thermal head 1 via the thermal head control unit 10 to start the thermal transfer recording of the received information for one line, and in step 4, the paper feed roller. The paper feed roller 6 is driven through the motor control unit 11 to start feeding one line of the recording paper 2, and in step 5, the ink sheet motor control unit
The ink sheet moving means 5a is driven via 12 to start feeding the ink sheet 3 for one line in the sub-scanning direction, and in step 6, the ink sheet winding means 4 is operated via the ink sheet motor control section 12. Is driven to start winding one line of the ink sheet 3 in the main scanning direction.

Then, in step 7, the main control unit 20 determines whether or not the thermal transfer recording of the reception information for one line is completed, and in step 8, whether the feeding of the recording paper 2 for one line is completed or not. It is determined whether or not the winding of the ink sheet 3 for one line is completed in step 9, and it is determined whether or not the feeding of the ink sheet 3 for one line is completed in step 10. To do. Step 7 to Step 10
If it is determined that these processes have been completed, the main controller 20 determines in step 11 whether or not the thermal transfer recording of n lines corresponding to the width of the ink sheet 3 has been completed. To do. If it is determined that the process is not completed by this determination, the process returns to step 3 to repeat the same process, and if it is determined that the process is completed, the process proceeds to step 12, and the ink sheet moving means is operated via the ink sheet motor control unit 12.
5a is driven to instantly return the tip of the ink sheet 3 to the heating position of the thermal head 1 in the initial state. Then, in the judgment of the subsequent step 13, it is judged whether or not the recording for one page is completed, and when it is judged that the recording is not completed, the process returns to step 3 and the processing is continued until it is completed.

By thus executing the flow chart of FIG. 5, the operation of the thermal transfer recording system of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 can be realized.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of another embodiment of the thermal transfer recording system of the present invention. In this embodiment, unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the ink sheet winding means 4 operates so as to wind the ink sheet length corresponding to the recording width at one time at the end of the thermal transfer process of n lines. Is configured to do. As described above, in this embodiment, since the two operations of returning to the initial state and winding are performed at the end of the thermal transfer process for n lines, the embodiment shown in FIG. The response time will be longer than that, but the feature is that motor control is simpler.

In the description of the embodiment of the present invention, the ink sheet moving means 5a for moving the ink sheet 3 is disclosed as the recording position moving means 5 described in FIG. 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. Instead, the thermal head 1 can be mounted by being configured to move.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, when there is received information having a recording width narrower than the width of the recording paper installed in the facsimile, the thermal transfer recording of the received information is executed without waste of ink sheet usage. become able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the principle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a thermal transfer recording system of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a block configuration diagram of a signal processing device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a thermal transfer recording system of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flow chart executed by the present invention to realize the operation of FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory view of another embodiment of the thermal transfer recording system of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional thermal transfer recording system, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the problems of the conventional technique. In the figure, 1 is a thermal head, 2 is recording paper, 3 is an ink sheet, 4
Is an ink sheet winding means, 5 is a recording position moving means, 5a is an ink sheet moving means, and 6 is a paper feed roller.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A facsimile in which a thermal head (1) heats an ink sheet (3) in accordance with a recording width of received information to thermally transfer the ink onto a recording paper (2) and record the received information. In the thermal transfer recording method, an ink sheet winding means (4) for winding a belt-shaped ink sheet (3) in the scanning direction of the thermal head (1) and recording between the thermal head (1) and the ink sheet (3) A recording position moving means (5) for controlling the movement of the relative positional relationship of the paper (2) in the feeding direction, and the recording position moving means (5) is synchronized with the feeding of the recording paper (2). The thermal head (1) controls the movement of the relative positional relationship between the thermal head (1) and the ink sheet (3), and the thermal head (1) performs thermal transfer processing of the recording information for the width and length of the ink sheet (3) according to this movement. And run At the end of this thermal transfer process of the thermal head (1), the ink sheet take-up means (4) takes up the ink sheet length corresponding to the recording width of the received information, and the recording position moving means (5) makes the thermal transfer. A thermal transfer recording system for a facsimile, characterized in that it operates so that the relative positional relationship between the head (1) and the ink sheet (3) is returned to a predetermined initial state. 2. A thermal transfer of a facsimile which records the received information by thermally transferring the ink onto the recording paper (2) by heating the ink sheet (3) by the thermal head (1) according to the recording width of the received information. In the recording method, an ink sheet winding means (4) for winding a belt-shaped ink sheet (3) in the scanning direction of the thermal head (1), and recording paper between the thermal head (1) and the ink sheet (3) The recording position moving means (5) for controlling the movement of the relative positional relationship in the feeding direction of (2) is provided, and the recording position moving means (5) is synchronized with the feeding of the recording paper (2). The movement of the relative positional relationship between the thermal head (1) and the ink sheet (3) is controlled, and the thermal head (1) performs thermal transfer processing of the recording information for the width and length of the ink sheet (3) according to this movement. With running The ink sheet winding means (4) winds the ink sheet length corresponding to the recording width of the received information in synchronization with the feeding of the recording paper (2) during the thermal transfer process of the thermal head (1), and the recording is performed. The position moving means (5) returns the relative positional relationship between the thermal head (1) and the ink sheet (3) to a predetermined initial state at the end of the thermal transfer process of the thermal head (1). A thermal transfer recording method for facsimiles characterized by the fact that it operates.