JP3267705B2 - Reversible thermosensitive recording medium - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reversible thermosensitive recording medium capable of simultaneously displaying a symbol for optical reading such as a bar code having a high reading rate and a symbol for visual reading such as a character having excellent visibility. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, as this kind of reversible thermosensitive recording medium, for example, the one shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5 is known, and the reversible thermosensitive recording medium shown in FIG. Has a black colored layer 2, and a base film 4 is adhered on the colored layer 2 via an adhesive 3, and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 is formed on the surface of the base film 4 by coating. In addition, the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 is formed of a material capable of reversibly changing between a transparent state and an opaque white color.

Further, a transparent bar code 6 and a character 7 are provided in the opaque cloudy color areas (a to a) of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5, that is, the transparent bar code 6 and the character 7, the black color of the colored layer 2 in the back directly appears, and the remaining portion has the colored layer 2 in the back.
Is provided so that a mixed color of cloudy color and black appears through black.

On the other hand, the reversible thermosensitive recording medium shown in FIG. 5 has a reflective layer 8 on the surface of the sheet-like substrate 1 and, on the reflective layer 8, a reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 made of the same material as described above. The transparent bar code 6 and the characters 7 are provided in the opaque white turbid color areas (a to a) of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5, that is, the transparent bar code 6 is formed. In addition, the reflection layer 8 provided on the back of the character 7 directly appears, and the other portions are configured so that the white light of the cloudy color is enhanced by the reflected light from the reflection layer 8.

[0005]

However, in the conventional reversible thermosensitive recording medium shown in FIG. 4, the color of the colored layer 2 on the back of the recording medium other than the bar code 6 and the character 7 is transparent. Since a mixed color of opaque color and black appears, the bar code 6 is located in a mixed color of opaque color and black, which has low reflectance and hardly reflects light, so that it is difficult to read the bar code accurately. And the bar code reading rate is poor.

Further, in the conventional reversible thermosensitive recording medium shown in FIG. 5, since the transparent bar code 6 and the character 7 have the reflective layer 8 directly on the back thereof, the reflected light from the reflective layer 8 is reflected. As a result, the character 7 appears to be reflected, so that it is difficult to read the character visually, and there are problems such as poor visibility of the character.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a symbol for optical reading such as a bar code having a high reading rate and a symbol for visual reading such as characters having excellent visibility. Is to provide a reversible thermosensitive recording medium capable of simultaneously displaying the same.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for reversibly changing the state between transparent and opaque, and also includes transparent optical reading symbols and characters in an opaque area. A reversible thermosensitive recording layer having a symbol for visual reading or a symbol for visual reading such as an opaque optical reading symbol and a character in a transparent area; A reflective layer provided so as to face the portion of the symbol for use, and a colored layer located on the back side of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer and provided so as to face the portion of the symbol for visual reading. It is characterized by the following.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in particular, when the reversible thermosensitive recording layer has a transparent optical reading symbol and a visual reading symbol such as a character in an opaque area, the transparent bar code has the symbol on the back. While the reflective layer appears directly, the white opaque portion around the bar code is emphasized white by the reflected light from the reflective layer, while the transparent characters directly show the color of the colored layer in the back of the transparent character.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the reversible thermosensitive recording medium according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS.

The surface of the base film 4 is coated with a reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5, and the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 is made of a material that can be reversibly changed into a transparent and opaque cloudy color. Since it is the same as that of the related art that transparent barcodes 6 and characters 7 are provided in the opaque cloudy color areas (a to a) of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5, The detailed description is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the reversible thermosensitive recording medium is provided with a sheet-like substrate 10 at a position facing the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 with the base film 4 interposed therebetween. The reflective layer 11 is directly formed integrally with the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 via the base film 4, that is, the reflective layer 11 is located on the back side of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5. The bar code 6 is disposed so as to face the bar code 6.

Further, a black colored layer 12 is also directly formed integrally on the sheet-like substrate 10, and the colored layer 12 faces the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 via the base film 4. Side, that is, on the back side of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 5 in the same manner as the reflective layer 11, and is disposed so as to face the transparent character 7 portion.

As a result, in the transparent bar code 6 as described above, the reflection layer 11 of the back directly appears,
The cloudy portion around the bar code 6 is the reflective layer 1
While the white color is emphasized by the reflected light from 1, the black color of the colored layer 12 on the transparent character 7 directly appears in the transparent character 7 and the opaque portion around the character 7 has the colored color on the background. It is configured such that the black color of the layer 12 is transparent and a mixed color of cloudy color and black appears.

The base film 4 side and the sheet-like base material 10 side are integrally bonded only at their peripheral portions via an adhesive 13, and an air layer 14 is formed inside the peripheral portions. However, as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to omit a portion of the air layer 14 where the reflective layer 11 is provided on the back surface. In particular, when the portion is omitted, the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 4 and the reversible thermosensitive recording layer 4 can be omitted. An adhesive 13 may be interposed between the reflective layer 11 and the reflective layer 11.

Therefore, according to the reversible thermosensitive recording medium of the above embodiment, the reflective layer of the back directly appears on the transparent bar code, and the cloudy portion around the bar code reflects the reflected light from the reflective layer. Because the white color is emphasized, the bar code can be read accurately, and the transparent characters directly show the black color of the colored layer on the back of the characters. In other words, it is possible to simultaneously display a bar code with a high reading rate and characters with excellent visibility.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which both the reflective layer 11 and the colored layer 12 were formed directly on the sheet-like substrate 10 (see FIG. 2A). However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, after forming a colored layer 12 on a sheet-like substrate 10 as shown in FIG.
2, a reflective layer 11 is laminated on a part of the reflective layer 2, or a colored layer 12 is partially formed on the reflective layer 11 made of a reflective foil or the like via a transparent film 15 as shown in FIG. After a reflective layer 11 made of a reflective foil or the like is provided on a sheet-like substrate 10 as shown in FIG. 2D, a colored layer 12 is provided on a part of the reflective layer 11, or as shown in FIG. As described above, the reflective layer 11 may be directly laminated on the colored base material 15, and the colored base material 15 itself may be used as the colored layer. In particular, when the colored base material 15 is used as described above, the manufacturing process of the colored layer can be omitted. It also has the advantage.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a bar code is applied as an optical reading symbol and a character is applied as a visual reading symbol has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. If the symbol is optically readable, it can be applied as a symbol for optical reading, and even if it is not a character, it can be applied as a symbol for visual reading if it is a symbol for visual reading. Of course.

The symbols and characters for optical reading are not limited to transparent ones, and may be formed of white turbid color. That is, the reversible thermosensitive recording layer has an opaque optical reading symbols and characters in a transparent area. In such a configuration, a portion other than the optical reading symbols and characters has a reflective layer or a colored layer on the back thereof.

Further, in the above embodiment, the example in which the colored layer is black has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the color of the colored layer may be a color that provides a high contrast to the cloudy color. be able to.

[0021]

According to the reversible thermosensitive recording medium of the present invention, the back surface of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer having a transparent optical reading symbol and a visual reading symbol such as a character in the opaque area as described above. A reflective layer and a colored layer are provided on the side, and the reflective layer is disposed so as to face the portion for the optical reading symbol, and the colored layer is configured to face the portion for the visual reading symbol, The reflective layer on the back of the transparent optical reading symbol directly appears, and the white turbid color around the optical reading symbol is emphasized by the reflected light from the reflective layer. It can be read accurately, and the color of the colored layer on the back directly appears on the visual reading symbols such as transparent characters, so that the visual reading symbols are not reflected,
It is easy to read symbols for visual reading visually.
That is, it is possible to simultaneously display an optical reading symbol having a high reading rate and a visual reading symbol having excellent visibility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view and a side view showing one embodiment of a reversible thermosensitive recording medium according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a main part of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view and a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view and a front view of a conventional reversible thermosensitive recording medium.

FIG. 5 is a plan view and a front view of a conventional reversible thermosensitive recording medium.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Reversible thermosensitive recording layer 6 Barcode (symbol for optical reading) 7 Character (symbol for visual reading) 11 Reflective layer 12 Coloring layer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B42D 5/00-15/10 G06K 19/06 B41M 5/26 G06K 19/06

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reversible changeable state between transparent and opaque, and a transparent optical reading symbol and a visual reading symbol such as a character in an opaque area, or an opaque optical reading symbol in a transparent area. A reversible thermosensitive recording layer having a symbol for visual reading such as a symbol and a character, a reflective layer provided on the back side of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer and provided so as to face the portion of the symbol for optical reading, A reversible thermosensitive recording medium comprising: a coloring layer disposed on the back side of the reversible thermosensitive recording layer and opposed to the portion of the visual reading symbol.