JPH0193373A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance effectiveness in use of an ink sheet, ensure distinct color separation and enable clear printing, by recording in different colors by different systems, namely, a thermal recording system and a thermal transfer recording system, according to the periods of forward recording and backward recording. CONSTITUTION:It is judged whether a recording head 2 is moved forward or backward, and a thermal transfer ink ribbon 3 is mounted in position or dismounted by an ink ribbon-mounting/dismounting mechanism 6. An upper half 31 of an electrothermal transfer ink ribbon 30 is provided with only a resistor layer 33 on a base film 34, and only a lower half 32 of the ribbon 30 is provided with an ink layer 35 in addition to the resistor layer 33 on the base film 34. A control is conducted so that the head 2 makes contact with the upper half 31 of the ribbon 30 when being moved forward and makes contact with the lower half 32 of the ribbon 30 when being moved backward. Thus, the head 2 functions as a thermal head at the time of the forward movement, and functions as a thermal transfer head at the time of the backward movement. Accordingly, printing in two colors on a transfer recording paper 1 can be performed favorably.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive recording device used in personal computers, WPs, FAXs, etc. The present invention relates to a recording device using a combination of thermal and thermal transfer methods.

(Prior Art) As a conventional recording device that combines thermal sensitivity and thermal transfer, there is a multicolor thermal transfer recording device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-210872. This technology uses a thermal method for black, which is frequently used, to reduce the printing frequency and time and improve the utilization rate of transfer sheets.In other words, black thermal transfer is generally performed by overlapping three color ink ribbons of red, blue, and yellow. However, this method increases the efficiency of using three color ink ribbons by separating the black color and using heat-sensitive coloring.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of an ink sheet illustrating the above-mentioned conventional recording apparatus. The ink sheet 100 of this multicolor thermal transfer recording device includes an ink layer (Y) 101 and an ink layer (M) 1.
02, an ink layer (C) 103, and a non-transfer area (base film) 104. A printing control system (not shown) is composed of a color detection circuit, a single image signal input circuit, a color separation circuit, and a comparison circuit. With this configuration, black, which has a high printing ratio, is separated and thermally recorded in the non-transfer area 104 of the ink sheet 100, and the remaining difference color data is thermally transferred and recorded in the application areas of the three color ink layers 101, 102, 103. do. This apparatus uses a line type head as a recording head, and ink layers 101, 102, 103 of each color are required for the length of the transfer paper in order to sequentially record the Y, M, and C sides. According to this device, whereas the usual method of overlapping three colors to produce black requires recording three times, which takes time and requires energy for each recording, thermal recording can be performed by separating black. This method has the advantage of saving time and energy.

However, regarding consumption of the ink sheet, there is a problem that the usage rate of the ink sheet cannot be improved because the unused portion cannot be reused.

In addition, as a recording method that develops two colors using conventional thermal paper, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-69, a multicolor thermosensitive paper using thermal paper that develops two separate colors of red and black depending on the difference in applied energy is used. There is a recording method. However, this method has problems in that the vividness of the red color, which is produced with low energy, is low and the storage stability is also poor.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The above-mentioned conventional technology did not take into consideration the improvement of the usage rate of ink sheet 1- or the sufficient separation of the two colors of red and black, and there were problems such as consumption of the ink sheet, lack of sharpness of red color development, and storage stability. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus using a combination of heat-sensitive and thermal transfer systems, which can improve the usage rate of ink sheets, clearly separate red and black colors, and provide clear printing.

[Means for solving problems]

The above object is to provide a recording device that uses thermal paper as the transfer paper and prints by moving the recording head back and forth, and has a recording means that records different colors using different methods such as thermal or thermal transfer depending on the period of forward or backward movement. This is accomplished by a recording device.

[Effect]

The above-mentioned recording device uses the above-mentioned recording means to record in different colors using different methods, either thermal or thermal transfer, by inserting or detaching a thermal transfer ink ribbon depending on whether the recording head is moving forward or backward, so that recording with clear color separation can be achieved. For example, even if black is thermally recorded and red is thermally transferred, the energy required for pigment-type fused thermal transfer is sufficiently low compared to the energy required for thermal recording, so red is recorded after black is thermally recorded. Since the thermal paper will not be sensitive even if the thermal transfer is repeated, the color separation between red and black will be clear and the two images will be sharp.
Color recording can be done easily.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a transfer paper, 2 is a recording head, 3 is a thermal transfer ink ribbon, 4 is a platen roller, 5 is a head support rod, 6 is an ink ribbon insertion/removal mechanism,
7 is a recording head conveyance system. With this configuration, the recording head 2 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction by the conveyance system 7. At this time, the thermal transfer ink ribbon 3 is inserted and removed by the ink ribbon insertion/removal mechanism 6, with the printing control system (not shown) accommodating forward and backward movements, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 3 is inserted into and removed from the ink ribbon insertion/removal mechanism 6, and the transfer paper 1 made of thermal paper is either thermal transfer or thermal transfer. Two colors are printed depending on the method. Further, after printing, the transfer paper 1 is conveyed by the recording head width in the sub-scanning direction by the conveying platen roller 4, and recording is performed sequentially.

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of an electrical transfer ink ribbon showing an embodiment of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 3 shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, 30 is an ink ribbon for electrical transfer, 31 is an upper half of the ribbon, 32 is a lower half of the ribbon, 33 is a resistive layer, 34 is a base film, and 35 is an ink layer. The upper half 31 of this current transfer ink ribbon 30 has only a resistance layer 33 formed on the base film 34, and only the lower half 32 has an ink layer 35 formed in addition to the resistance layer 33 on the base film 34. With this configuration, when the recording head 2 consisting of the current transfer type recording head shown in FIG. 1 moves forward, the current transfer ink ribbon 30
By controlling the recording head 2 to contact the upper half 31 and contact the lower half 32 during the backward movement, the recording head 2 functions as a thermal head during the forward movement and as a thermal transfer head during the backward movement. Two-color printing can be successfully performed on transfer paper 1 made of thermal paper. In this embodiment, the structure of the device can be simplified.

In another embodiment, a separate thin film resistance sheet is interposed between the current transfer type recording head 2 and the thermal transfer paper 1 during thermal recording according to the reciprocating movement of the recording head 2; By replacing the ink film with a normal current transfer ink film having a three-layer structure of a resistive layer 33, a base film 34, and an ink layer 35, two colors can be printed back and forth.

In this embodiment, the efficiency of using the ink film can be improved.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the order of thermal recording and thermal transfer recording is such that the energy required for pigment melt transfer recording can be made sufficiently lower than the energy required for thermal recording. It is preferable to perform thermal transfer during the backward movement from the beginning to improve color separation in two-color printing.

In addition, the color of thermal recording and thermal transfer recording is black, but if red thermal transfer is performed after one-tone black thermal printing, the printing will overlap and the red will become dark, so thermal paper It is preferable that the color is red and the thermal transfer recording is black because the color separation becomes clearer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by recording two colors such as red and black using different methods such as thermal sensitivity or thermal transfer depending on the reciprocating motion, each recording energy can be significantly different, so that the two colors do not interfere with each other. It has the effect of changing records with clear color separation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of an ink ribbon for electrical transfer, which is an embodiment of the thermal transfer ink ribbon of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of an ink sheet illustrating a conventional recording device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Transfer paper, 2... Recording head, 3... Thermal transfer ink ribbon, 4... Platen roller, 5... Head support rod, 6... Ink ribbon insertion/removal mechanism, 7...・
Recording head conveyance system, 30... ink ribbon for electrical transfer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a recording device that uses thermal paper as the transfer paper and prints by moving the recording head back and forth, different colors are recorded using different methods, thermal or thermal transfer, depending on the period of forward or backward movement. A recording device having a recording means. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording means is a mechanism for inserting a thermal transfer ink ribbon between the transfer paper and the recording head during one of the forward and backward movements to perform recording. 3. The recording head is an energized transfer type recording head, and the recording means includes a thin film resistive sheet of integrated or separate structure or an energized transfer ink between the transfer paper and the recording head depending on the period of the forward or backward movement. 2. A recording device according to claim 1, wherein the recording device is a means for recording with a ribbon interposed therebetween. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording order is such that the recording is performed using a different method, thermal or thermal transfer, depending on the period of the forward or reverse movement, with thermal recording first and thermal transfer recording last. 5. The first claim is that the color recorded by the heat-sensitive or thermal transfer method is black for the heat-transfer record and another color for the heat-sensitive record.
Recording device as described in section.