JP3362817B2 - Thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method,
In particular, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording method for recording a color image using a multi-ink sheet capable of printing a plurality of times in which color bands of a plurality of colors are formed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus, color bands of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and, if necessary, black (Bk) are conveyed in a predetermined length. Using a multi-ink sheet that can be printed multiple times sequentially in a circular order, press the multi-ink sheet against the image receiving paper between the thermal head and the platen roller, and the multi-ink sheet and the image receiving paper at a predetermined speed. While conveying in the same direction, the thermal head is driven according to the image data to transfer the ink of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving paper and record the image.

[0003]

In order to manufacture an ink sheet in which the color bands of the respective colors are sequentially formed in the transport direction in the circulating order, such as the multi-ink sheet used in the above-mentioned conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus, screen printing is required. The ink layer must be applied by a method such as a microgravure printing method or a microgravure printing method.However, such a coating method is less productive than a coating method such as a roll coater or a die coater method that applies a solid color, and as a result, the ink There is an inconvenience that the manufacturing cost of the sheet increases.

Therefore, it is conceivable to form each color band of the multi-ink sheet in parallel with the conveying direction. When such a multi-ink sheet is used, three recordings for each color are performed in order to transfer the ink of each color. Recording must be performed while the head is provided and the image receiving material is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the multi-ink sheet, which makes it difficult to align each recording head and each color image.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and when a multi-ink sheet in which each color band is formed parallel to the transport direction is used, it is possible to easily align the recording heads of each color and the images of each color. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, a thermal transfer recording method according to a first aspect of the present invention uses a multi-ink sheet capable of printing a plurality of times in which color bands of a plurality of colors are formed to form a color image. In a thermal transfer recording method for recording, a multi-ink sheet in which each of the color bands is formed in parallel with the conveyance direction,
The multi-ink sheet is provided with one recording head that transfers the ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material, and a platen roller that presses the recording head through the multi-ink sheet and the image receiving material. An image is recorded while being conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, while the image receiving material is wound around the platen roller a plurality of times and obliquely intersects the multi-ink sheet while being conveyed.

A thermal transfer recording method according to a second aspect is a thermal transfer recording method for recording a color image using a multi-ink sheet capable of printing a plurality of times in which color bands of a plurality of colors are formed.
A multi-ink sheet in which the color bands are formed in parallel with the transport direction, one recording head that transfers ink in each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material, and the recording head includes the multi-ink sheet and the image receiving material. A platen roller that is pressed against through, and a drum member having a larger diameter than the platen roller arranged in the axial direction of the platen roller are provided, and the multi-ink sheet is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, The image receiving material is wound around the drum member a plurality of times, and an image is recorded while being obliquely intersected with the multi-ink sheet and being conveyed.

[0008]

According to the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, the multi-ink sheet having each color band formed in parallel with the conveying direction is conveyed in the direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, and the image receiving material is wound around the platen roller or the drum member a plurality of times. Transfer the ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material while conveying the multi-ink sheet diagonally crossing 1
Since the image is recorded by one recording head, the positioning of the head for recording each color becomes easy, and
It is easy to align the images of each color.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a schematic front view of a mechanical portion of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.
This thermal transfer recording apparatus corresponds to the multi-ink sheet 1, a thermal head 2 which is one recording head, an image receiving paper 3 which is a roll image receiving material, and a thermal head 2.
It is provided with individual platen rollers 4 and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-ink sheet 1 has a thermally sublimable (or heat-meltable) ink of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) in the conveying direction (winding). A multi-ink sheet that can be printed a plurality of times and has color bands 1y, 1m, and 1c formed by applying it in a strip shape in parallel with the (direction) by a Dao coater method or the like. Note that the present invention can be similarly applied to a multi-ink sheet having a black (Bk) color band, but a three-color configuration will be described here. The multi-ink sheet 1 is wound around a supply roll 5 in a roll shape and is wound up by a winding roll 6 to be conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller 4.

The thermal head 2 is a multi-ink sheet 1
The yellow head, the magenta head, and the cyan head for transferring the inks of the respective color bands 1y, 1m, and 1c to the image receiving paper 3 are integrally formed, and the longitudinal direction thereof is the axial direction of the platen roller 4. It is placed in the same direction as. The image receiving paper 3 is wound around the platen roller 4 twice in a direction oblique to the axis thereof, conveyed by the image receiving paper feeding roller 7, and cut into a predetermined length by the cutter 8.

Here, the image receiving paper 3 is attached to the platen roller 4
By wrapping the image around the platen roller 4, the image receiving paper 3 is positioned at three positions, so that the multi-ink sheet 1
On the other hand, the image receiving paper 3 is conveyed while crossing it obliquely. Therefore, the width of the image receiving paper 3 in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction and the color bands 1y, 1m, 1 of the multi-ink sheet 1 are also increased.
It is formed so that the width of c in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction is substantially the same. Further, the diameter of the platen roller 4 is set according to the superposition position of the images on the image receiving paper 3.

A thermal transfer recording method using the thermal transfer recording apparatus having the above-described structure will be described. First, the image receiving paper 3 is fed and the image receiving area is set at the recording position by the thermal head 2 corresponding to the color band 1y of the multi-ink sheet 1. After being set, the thermal head 2 is brought into pressure contact with the platen roller 4 via the multi-ink sheet 1 and the image receiving paper 3, and then the area of the thermal head 2 corresponding to the color band 1y is driven and controlled according to the image data. At the same time, the take-up roll 6 and the image receiving paper feeding roller 7 are driven and controlled to convey the multi-ink sheet 1 at a predetermined conveying speed, and the image receiving paper 3 is slipped on the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 4 to a predetermined conveying speed. While being conveyed by, the image in the yellow (Y) color band 1y is transferred to the image receiving paper 3. At this time, the multi-ink sheet 1 is 1 / n (n = 1 or more) with respect to the conveyance speed of the image receiving paper 3.
Transport at double transport speed.

Next, after the image receiving area on the image receiving paper 3 on which the yellow image is recorded is positioned at the recording position by the thermal head 2 corresponding to the color band 1 m of the multi-ink sheet 1,
The image corresponding to the color band 1 m of magenta (M) is controlled while driving and controlling the area corresponding to the color band 1 m of the thermal head 2 in accordance with the image data and controlling the conveyance of the multi-ink sheet 1 and the image receiving paper 3 in the same manner as above. Is superposed on the yellow image on the image receiving paper 3 and transferred and recorded.

Further, similarly, after the image receiving area on the image receiving paper 3 on which the yellow and magenta images are recorded is located at the recording position by the thermal head 2 corresponding to the color band 1c of the multi-ink sheet 1, the thermal head 2 is moved. The area corresponding to the color band 1c is driven and controlled according to the image data, and
By carrying out transfer control of the multi-ink sheet 1 and the image receiving paper 3 in the same manner as described above, the image of the cyan (C) color band 1c is transferred and recorded so as to be superposed on the yellow and magenta images of the image receiving paper 3 to record a color image. To record.

In this way, each color band 1 is parallel to the transport direction.
The multi-ink sheet 1 on which y, 1m, and 1c are formed is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller 4, and the image receiving material 3 is wound around the platen roller 4 twice to cross the multi-ink sheet 1 at an angle. While being conveyed, the color images are recorded by superimposing the images of the respective colors by the single thermal head 2 that transfers the ink of the respective color bands 1y, 1m, 1c of the multi-ink sheet 1 to the image receiving material 3.
The heads for recording the respective colors can be integrated to facilitate the alignment, and also facilitate the alignment of the images of the respective colors.

Next, FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a mechanical portion of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of FIG. In this thermal transfer recording apparatus, the platen roller 1 for contacting the back surface of the image receiving paper 3 and feeding the image receiving paper 3
1 and a drum member 12 for winding the image receiving paper 3 and conveying it in a slip state. Since the surface of the platen roller 11 does not have to maintain a slip state with the image receiving paper 3, it is made of a material having a relatively large friction coefficient such as an elastic member. On the other hand, the drum member 12
Is formed of a material (rigid body) which is smooth and has a small sliding friction coefficient because it is necessary to generate a slip state with the image receiving paper 3.

The concave groove 1 formed in the drum member 12
By arranging the platen roller 11 in 2a,
The outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 11 is arranged so as to be inscribed in the outer peripheral surface of the drum member 12 (actually, since it has the groove 12a, it is a virtual outer peripheral surface), so that the surface undulation of the image receiving paper 3 is reduced. I am trying. Further, guide protrusions 13 for guiding both ends of the image receiving paper 3 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the drum member 12 so that the image receiving paper 3 is not overwound while being conveyed.

Also in the thermal transfer recording method using this thermal transfer recording apparatus, the image receiving paper 3 is wound around the drum member 12 twice as in the above-described embodiment, so that the image receiving paper 3 crosses the conveying direction of the multi-ink sheet 1 obliquely. While transporting in the direction of, the ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet 1 is sequentially transferred to the image receiving paper 3 by using one thermal head 2 and superimposed to record a color image.

In this way, the platen roller 11 and the image receiving paper 3
The image receiving paper 3 can be fed by the platen roller 11 while slipping on the surface of the drum member 12 by dividing the image receiving paper 3 into the drum member 12 around which the image receiving paper 3 is wound.

[0021]

As described above, according to the thermal transfer recording method of the present invention, the multi-ink sheet having each color band formed in parallel with the conveying direction is conveyed in the direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, and the image receiving material is also used. Is wound around a platen roller or a drum member a plurality of times, and the image is recorded by one recording head that transfers the ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material while being conveyed while obliquely intersecting the multi-ink sheet. Therefore, it becomes easy to position the head for recording each color, and also to position the image of each color.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a mechanical portion of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a mechanical portion of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of FIG.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Multi-ink sheet, 1y, 1m, 1c ... Color band, 2
... thermal head, 3 ... image receiving paper, 4, 11 ... platen roller, 5 ... supply roll, 6 ... winding roll, 7 ... image receiving paper feed roller, 12 ... drum member.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 33/58 B41J 2/325 B41J 35/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thermal transfer recording method for recording a color image using a multi-ink sheet capable of printing a plurality of times in which color bands of a plurality of colors are formed, and a multi-ink sheet in which each color band is formed in parallel with a conveying direction. A recording head that transfers ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material, and a platen roller that presses the recording head through the multi-ink sheet and the image receiving material.
The multi-ink sheet is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, the image receiving material is wound around the platen roller a plurality of times, and the image is recorded while being obliquely intersected with the multi-ink sheet and conveyed. A thermal transfer recording method characterized by the above. 2. A thermal transfer recording method for recording a color image using a multi-ink sheet capable of printing a plurality of times in which color bands of a plurality of colors are formed, and a multi-ink sheet in which each color band is formed in parallel with a conveying direction. A recording head for transferring ink of each color band of the multi-ink sheet to the image receiving material, a platen roller for pressing the recording head through the multi-ink sheet and the image receiving material, and a shaft of the platen roller. A drum member having a diameter larger than that of a platen roller arranged in a direction, the multi-ink sheet is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the platen roller, and the image receiving material is wound around the drum member a plurality of times to form the multi-ink sheet. A thermal transfer recording method characterized in that an image is recorded while being conveyed while intersecting the ink sheet at an angle.