JP5921208B2 - Thermal transfer printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing apparatus, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printing apparatus that performs printing using an ink sheet in which an area where ink is applied and an area where a protective layer is applied are periodically formed.

  In general, a thermal transfer type printing apparatus heats an ink sheet in which Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) ink regions are formed in order by a thermal head, and presses the heated ink sheet against photographic paper. After the transfer is performed and a printed image is formed, a protective layer (also referred to as an overcoat layer) is further transferred in order to protect the printed material from deterioration or the like.

  When the protective layer is transferred, the finish of the surface of the printed material (for example, gloss or matte texture) can be changed by changing the thermal energy applied to the protective layer.

  In order to express the texture of the mat, it is necessary to reduce the glossiness of the protective layer, and transfer is performed by applying relatively strong heat energy. In particular, in order to express the quality of a high-quality mat such as a silver salt photograph, it is necessary to transfer by applying heat energy strong enough to scorch the ink sheet.

  If only weak heat energy is applied to the protective layer, the glossiness of the protective layer cannot be lowered, and the texture of the mat has been impaired.

  When strong thermal energy is applied to transfer the protective layer, the ink sheet expands and is damaged. When the transfer of the protective layer is completed and the application of heat energy is stopped, wrinkles occur on the ink sheet at the boundary between the portion where the heat energy is applied and the portion where the heat energy is not applied. This is because the degree of expansion and contraction of the ink sheet differs between the portion where the thermal energy is applied and the portion where the thermal energy is not applied. If a subsequent image is printed while wrinkles are generated on the ink sheet, there is a problem that a mark of wrinkles remains on the printed matter.

  As described above, it has been difficult to achieve both the expression of a high-quality mat texture and the suppression of ink sheet wrinkles. In order to solve this problem, for example, there is a technique for transferring an image while reducing the influence of ink sheet wrinkles by printing on a photographic paper having an intermediate layer containing hollow particles inside the photographic paper. It is known (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-154410 A

  However, in the method of Patent Document 1, general photographic paper cannot be used, and it is necessary to newly prepare photographic paper provided with an intermediate layer, which causes an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and is a thermal transfer type printing capable of printing a protective layer with a high-quality matte texture at a low cost while suppressing the occurrence of ink sheet wrinkles. The purpose is to provide a device.

A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present invention is a thermal transfer printing apparatus that performs printing with an ink sheet in which an area where ink is applied and an area where a protective layer is applied are periodically formed. And a thermal energy control means for controlling the thermal energy applied from the thermal head to the ink sheet. The thermal energy control means has a trailing edge of a printed image when the protective layer is printed with a mat. In part, before the cutting position of the printed image, the thermal energy is gradually decreased by more than the energy necessary for printing the protective layer with the mat, and after the cutting position, the thermal energy is applied with the mat to the protective layer. Reduce gradually below energy required for printing.

  In the thermal transfer printing apparatus of the present invention, when the protective layer is printed on the printed image with the mat, the thermal energy control means gradually reduces the thermal energy applied to the ink sheet at the rear end portion of the printed image. Ink sheet wrinkles caused by abrupt changes can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to transfer the protective layer with a mat while suppressing the occurrence of ink sheet wrinkles.

It is a figure which shows the order which transfers an ink sheet to a printing paper. It is a figure which shows the structure of an ink sheet. It is a figure which shows the trace of printed matter. It is a figure which shows the transfer area | region of a printing paper. It is a figure which shows the change of the thermal energy with respect to the number of transfer lines. It is a flowchart of the operation | movement which transfers a protective layer.

<Embodiment 1>
As described above, the thermal transfer printing apparatus forms a printed material by transferring the Y ink region 1, the M ink region 2, the C ink region 3, and the protective layer region 4 in this order on the print paper 13 in an overlapping manner. (FIG. 1). At this time, the density of the transferred ink is determined by the intensity of the thermal energy applied to the ink sheet 5 from the thermal head. In addition, when transferring the protective layer, the texture of the surface of the printed material can be changed by adjusting the strength of the applied thermal energy. In particular, the mat can be transferred by applying strong thermal energy. The texture of the can be expressed.

  Note that the strength of the thermal energy applied to the ink sheet 5 is adjusted by, for example, the energization time of the heating resistor provided in the thermal head.

  Further, as the ink sheet 5 and the print paper 13 in the present embodiment, those generally used in a thermal transfer printing apparatus are used.

  FIG. 2 shows a plan view of the ink sheet 5. On the ink sheet 5, a Y ink region 1, an M ink region 2, a C ink region 3, and a protective layer region 4 are periodically formed. The ink sheet 5 is wound and supplied by the ink bobbins disposed at both ends of the ink sheet 5, and the ink sheet 5 is pressed against the print paper 13 by the thermal head and heated to transfer the image. Is called.

  When the protective layer is transferred with the texture of the mat, strong thermal energy is applied to the ink sheet 5 in order to express the unevenness of the surface of the print paper 13, so that the ink sheet 5 is formed in the protective layer region 4 of the ink sheet 5. The ink sheet 5 is wrinkled due to damage such as loss of tension.

  In particular, in the rear portion 10 of the protective layer region where the application of strong thermal energy is terminated, a rapid change in thermal energy occurs, so that there is a difference in the degree of contraction of the ink sheet 5 and the ink sheet 5 is bent. The ink sheet wrinkles 8 are likely to occur in the portion. If printing of the subsequent image is continued in a state where the ink sheet wrinkle 8 is generated in the rear portion 10 of the protective layer region, the ink sheet wrinkle 8 may be folded and overlapped, so that the Y ink region 6 for printing the subsequent image , The ink sheet ridge 8 expands to the M ink region 7. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, a pattern such as a line remains as a trace 12 of the ink sheet wrinkle in the subsequent print image 11.

<Thermal energy control means>
Therefore, in the thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, when transferring the protective layer, the thermal energy control means gradually reduces the thermal energy at the rear portion 10 of the protective layer region, thereby causing a rapid change in thermal energy. Thus, the generated ink sheet wrinkles 8 are suppressed.

  The control of thermal energy will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the transfer area 14 on the output print paper 13. The print paper is cut at the cut-off portion 15c before the trailing edge 15d of the print image, and is discharged from the printing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a change in thermal energy with respect to the number of transfer lines for transferring the protective layer.

  The Y ink area 1, the M ink area 2, and the C ink area 3 are transferred to the print paper 13 to form a print image on the transfer area 14. Subsequently, the protective layer is transferred while controlling the thermal energy applied to the ink sheet 5 as follows.

  The transfer of the protective layer is started from the front end 15a of the printed image, and the transfer is performed with the thermal energy X that can sufficiently express the texture of the mat until the predetermined line 15b is reached. Here, the position of the predetermined line 15b is, for example, a position of 85% of the total number of transfer lines.

  Between the predetermined line 15b and the cut-off portion 15c, the thermal energy applied at a rate of inclination a is reduced. In this process, the thermal energy decreases from X to Y. The thermal energy Y is the lowest energy necessary for expressing the texture of the mat.

  After the transfer to the cut-off portion 15c, the thermal energy is further decreased at a rate of the inclination b larger than the inclination a, the transfer is performed to the rear end 15d of the printed image, the application of the thermal energy is stopped, and the protective layer The transfer of is finished. Since the thermal energy applied in this process is smaller than Y, the matte texture is not expressed in the printed image after the cut-off portion 15c. Since this portion is a portion that is not used as printed matter, there is no problem even if the texture of the mat is not expressed. As described above, the ink sheet wrinkles 8 generated in the ink sheet 5 can be suppressed by performing the transfer while performing the control of gradually decreasing the thermal energy at the rear end portion of the printed image.

<Thermal energy control method>
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of the control method. In this embodiment, control is performed based on the number of transfer lines to which the protective layer is transferred. Here, the number of transfer lines is the number of lines transferred in the horizontal direction.

  First, as the first step S1, counting of the number of transfer lines is started. One line is transferred from the front end 15a of the print image with the thermal energy of X, and the number of transfer lines is counted up (steps S2 and S3). Next, it is determined whether or not the number of transfer lines has reached the predetermined number of lines 15b (for example, 85% of the total) (step S4). If not, steps S2 and S3 are repeated. If the predetermined line 15b has been reached, the thermal energy is decreased at a rate of slope a, one line is transferred, and the number of transfer lines is counted up (steps S5 and S6).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the number of transfer lines has reached the number of lines in the cut-off portion 15c (step S7), and if not, steps S5 and S6 are repeated. If it has reached, the thermal energy is decreased at the rate of the slope b, one line is transferred, and the number of transfer lines is counted up (steps S8, S9). Next, it is determined whether or not the number of transfer lines has reached the trailing edge 15d of the printed image, that is, 100% (S10), and if not, steps S8 and S9 are repeated. If the printed image trailing edge 15d has been reached, the transfer of the protective layer is terminated.

  In the present embodiment, the position of the predetermined line 15b is set to 85% of the total number of transfer lines, but this is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this value. Further, the thermal energy reduction pattern of the present embodiment is an example, and the thermal energy may be reduced in several stages, and the rate of reduction may not be constant.

<Effect>
The thermal transfer type printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is a thermal transfer type printing apparatus that performs printing using an ink sheet 5 in which an area where ink is applied and an area where a protective layer is applied are periodically formed. A thermal head for applying thermal energy to the ink sheet, and a thermal energy control means for controlling the thermal energy applied from the thermal head to the ink sheet. The thermal energy control means performs printing when the protective layer is printed with a mat. The thermal energy is gradually reduced at the rear end portion of the image.

  Therefore, when the protective layer is printed with a mat, the ink generated due to a rapid change in thermal energy by gradually reducing the thermal energy applied to the ink sheet 5 at the rear end portion of the printed image. Since the effect of suppressing the sheet wrinkle 8 can be obtained, it is possible to avoid the ink sheet wrinkle trace 12 from being generated on the surface of the subsequent print image 11 when the subsequent image is printed. In addition, since the thermal energy control means in the present embodiment can be applied to the ink sheet 5 and the print paper 13 that are generally used, the above-described effects can be obtained at low cost.

  Further, the thermal transfer type printing apparatus according to the present embodiment reduces the thermal energy below the energy required for the mat when transferring the protective layer to the area after the cut-off portion 15c of the printed image. Accordingly, since the thermal energy can be gradually reduced to a lower energy at the rear end portion of the printed image, an effect of further suppressing the generation of the ink sheet wrinkles 8 can be expected.

  Further, the thermal energy control means provided in the thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present embodiment controls the thermal energy based on the number of lines to which the protective layer is transferred. Therefore, since a general thermal transfer printing apparatus performs transfer for each line, the thermal energy control means in this embodiment can be expected to be highly versatile.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the thermal energy is controlled based on the number of transferred lines. In the present embodiment, the thermal energy is controlled based on the density data of the protective layer printing given from the outside as the print data. Control energy. Since other than that is the same as that of Embodiment 1, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  In general, in a thermal transfer printing apparatus, density data of Y, M, and C color components of a print image is given from the outside of the printing apparatus, and, for example, the energization time of a thermal head is controlled based on the density data. The intensity of heat energy applied to the ink sheet 5 from the thermal head is determined.

  In the present embodiment, density data for protective layer printing is created in advance in the same format as the density data for the Y, M, and C color components, and the protective layer is transferred based on the density data for protective layer printing. Control thermal energy.

  As density data for the protective layer printing, density data is created so that the energy changes as shown in FIG. 5, and energy is controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment by performing transfer according to the density data.

<Effect>
The thermal energy control means provided in the thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present embodiment controls the thermal energy applied from the thermal head to the ink sheet based on the density data of the protective layer printing given from the outside as the print data.

  Therefore, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained. Further, in the present embodiment, when the protective layer is transferred based on the density data of the protective layer printing, the thermal energy is controlled based on the density data of the Y, M, and C color components. Therefore, it is possible to control the thermal energy at a low cost.

  It should be noted that the present invention can be freely combined with each other within the scope of the invention, and each embodiment can be appropriately modified or omitted.

  1,6 Y ink region, 2,7 M ink region, 3 C ink region, 4 protective layer region, 5 ink sheet, 8 ink sheet pad, 10 protective layer region rear part, 11 subsequent print image, 12 ink sheet pad Trace, 13 Print paper, 14 Transfer area, 15a Print image front end, 15b Predetermined line, 15c Cut-off portion, 15d Print image rear end.

Claims (3)

A thermal transfer printing apparatus that performs printing with an ink sheet in which a region where ink is applied and a region where a protective layer is applied are periodically formed,
A thermal head for applying thermal energy to the ink sheet;
Thermal energy control means for controlling thermal energy applied to the ink sheet from the thermal head;
With
The thermal energy control means includes
When printing the protective layer with a mat, it is necessary to print the thermal energy at the rear end portion of the one printed image before the cutting position of the one printed image with the mat. Gradually decreasing the energy above the cutting position, and gradually decreasing the thermal energy below the energy required to print the protective layer with a mat.
Thermal transfer printing device. The thermal energy control means controls the thermal energy based on the number of lines to which the protective layer is transferred.
The thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 1. The thermal energy control means controls the thermal energy based on density data of the protective layer printing given from the outside as print data.
The thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 1.

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