JPH02150828A - Color image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To monitor and correct a position shift at the time of composition by writing a positioning mark invariably at the same position while writing an image on a liquid crystal panel, and detecting the positioning mark and stopping the conveyance when the liquid crystal panel is conveyed to a specific position. CONSTITUTION:A projection exposure system which projects an image 48 on an intermediate image medium 47 and exposes a photosensitive film to the image and a receiver sheet for transfer where the image on the film is copied are used. Then while the image 48 is written on the intermediate image medium 47, the positioning mark 49 is written outside an image write area invariably at the same position relatively to the write area and used to set the intermediate image medium 47 at a specific position of the projection optical system, and then the image is projected on the photosensitive film for exposure. Consequently, a copy image of excellent image quality which has a small color deviation is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a digital printer, particularly an image recording method using various intermediate image media, a photosensitive film, and a transfer receiver sheet for transferring an image on the film. It is related to the device.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention includes various intermediate image media, a photosensitive film, a projection exposure system for projecting and exposing an image on the intermediate image medium onto the photosensitive film, and a transfer receiver sheet for copying the image on the film. In the color image recording apparatus used, at the same time as writing an image on the intermediate image medium, a positioning mark is written outside the image writing area and always at the same position relative to the writing area, and the positioning is performed. By aligning the intermediate image medium to a predetermined position of the projection optical system using the markings, and then performing projection exposure onto the photosensitive film, there is little color shift even if a relatively simple transport mechanism is used. This makes it possible to obtain a copy image of good image quality.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional configuration of a color image recording apparatus using various intermediate image media, a photosensitive film, and a transfer receiver sheet for transferring images on the film.

In FIG. 2, the writing system 30 includes a semiconductor laser (not shown), a main scanning scanner (which scans in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper) including a polygon mirror 5 and a mirror 6, and the main scanning scanner attached thereto. a ball screw 4 for sub-scanning the moving table 2B in a direction substantially perpendicular to the main scanning direction, and a sub-scanning pulse motor l for rotating the ball screw 4.
a slit 3 attached to the movable table 28 to indicate the current position of the movable table 28; and a photointerrupter 2 paired with the slit 3 to detect the mechanical origin of the movable table 28. It consists of

The intermediate image medium transport system 31 is for yellow and cyan.

As an intermediate image medium for visualizing the image signal of each color light component of magenta into a two-dimensional image, three laser beam writing type liquid crystal light pulps 10, 11, and 12 having exactly the same structure for yellow cyan and magenta are used, and the above-mentioned A moving table 29, the plan view of which is shown in FIG. a ball screw 13 for rotating the ball screw 13; a conveying pulse motor 9 for rotating the ball screw 13;
It consists of a slit 8 attached to the moving table 29 to indicate the current position of the moving table 29, and a photointerrupter 7 paired with the slit 8 to detect the mechanical origin of the moving table 29. Ru.

The liquid crystal panels 10, 11, 12 for each color light exposure of yellow, cyan, and magenta are mounted on the movable table 29 at intervals of length L, as shown in FIG. Write from the top of the
It has a structure in which reflective projection is performed from the bottom surface, and the three liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 and the moving table 29 are conveyed as one in the operating direction A shown in FIG. 3.

The projection exposure system 32 includes a halogen lamp 17, a reflection mirror 18 for increasing light collection efficiency, a condenser lens 15 for converting the emitted light from the halogen lamp into a slightly convergent luminous flux, and a condenser lens 15 for cutting heat rays. A filter 16 for 1 to 1 reflects the light beam from the halogen lamp 17 and projects it onto the liquid crystals 10° 11 and 12 on the moving table 29,
a half mirror 14 that transmits the reflected light from the liquid crystal;
a projection lens 19 for forming an image on a liquid crystal panel onto a capsule sheet 20 by the light beam transmitted through the half mirror 14; a capsule sheet winding roller 22 for winding up the capsule sheet 20; Back tension roller 21 for uniform pulling
It consists of

The capsule sheet 20 may be made of a coloring precursor al+ a@ that develops cyan, magenta, or yellow, such as a microcapsule sheet manufactured by Meade, Inc. in the United States.
+ a2 and a different wavelength λ1 for each color precursor. λ
8. A coloring precursor a that changes its viscosity etc. in response to light of λ1. a sensitive composition that immobilizes at* a2;
,b! , b, surrounded by a thin film C of gelatin or the like, and a PET film uniformly coated with three types of microcapsules is used.

The transfer system 33 transfers the coloring material a on the capsule sheet 20.
1. a2. a receiver sheet supply roller 23 that supplies a receiver sheet uniformly coated with a developer that reacts with a3 to cause a coloring reaction; and a pressure roller 24 that presses the capsule sheet 20 and the receiver sheet together to overlap them. , a pressing spring 25 for applying a predetermined pressing force;
Cutter 2 for cutting the receiver sheet to a predetermined length
6 and output paper 27 which has been transferred and cut into a predetermined length.
It consists of

Next, the operation of the conventional device configuration will be explained using the operation explanatory diagram of FIG. 4 and the operation flow sheet of the conventional device configuration of FIG. 5.

First, as the first initialization operation of the device, the moving table 28 with the laser scanner attached is moved in the sub-scanning direction C.
If the photo ink printer 2 and slit 3 overlap,
The movement of the moving table 28 in the C direction is stopped. Then, the moving table 28 is moved in the b direction by a distance W and stopped (step 1), and this point becomes the writing start point. Next, as a second initialization operation of the device, the moving table 29 on which the three liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 are attached is transported in the C direction, and when the photo ink club tough and the slit 8 overlap, the C of moving table 29
The conveyance in the direction is stopped (step 2).

This completes the device initialization operation.

Next, the process of image writing and projection exposure begins.

First, at the same time as the laser scanner unit starts writing an image in the main scanning direction, the moving table 28 is sub-scanned in the b direction at a constant speed (step 3).

Then, when the distance of the movable table 28 from the mechanical origin defined by the photo ink printer 2 becomes W+L, the sub-scanning of the movable table 28 in the b direction is stopped. 4) Immediately perform a return operation by a distance in the direction C (step 5). In the process up to this point, writing of the image to the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel IO has been completed, and the moving table 28 is
This means that the turn operation for writing the next image onto the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure has been completed.

Next, the moving table 29 on which the three liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 are attached is conveyed in the C direction.

As a result, the liquid crystal panel 10 for yellow exposure on which an image has already been written is transported to the regular position of the projection exposure system, and the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure is transported to the regular position of the writing system. (Step 6) Further, writing of an image is started on the cyan exposure liquid crystal panel 11 in the same manner as in the case of the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel IO. Simultaneously with writing an image on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure, reflection projection exposure of the image formed on the liquid crystal panel 10 for yellow exposure is performed on the capsule sheet 20 (step 7), the liquid crystal panel for cyan exposure 11
Writing an image on the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel 10 and projecting the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel 10 simultaneously are performed at the first copy-out time, that is, after the operation starts, the color output paper 27 is finally output. The aim is to shorten the time it takes.

When the image is written on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure and the reflective projection power of the liquid crystal panel 11 for yellow exposure is completed,
The moving table 28 is returned by L in the C direction, and the moving table 29 is conveyed by the distance in the C direction (step 8). In the process up to this point, the yellow component image formed on the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel IO is exposed onto the capsule sheet 20, and the cyan exposure liquid crystal panel 11, on which the image has already been written, is transferred to the projection exposure system. This means that the liquid crystal panel 12 for magenta exposure has been transported to the regular position of the writing system 30 at the regular position 32 .

Subsequently, the image formed on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure is projected onto the capsule sheet 20, and
An image is written to the liquid crystal panel 12 for magenta exposure. Then, when the image writing on the magenta exposure liquid crystal panel 12 and the reflection projection on the cyan exposure liquid crystal panel 11 are completed (step 9).

The moving table 28 is returned by L in the C direction, and the moving table 29 is transported by L in the C direction to project and expose the image formed on the magenta exposure liquid crystal panel 12 onto the capsule sheet 1-20. .

Through the above process, three colors for yellow, cyan, and magenta are created.
The images corresponding to the yellow, cyan, and magenta colored lights written on the liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 are superimposed and synthesized on the capsule sheet 20.

The subsequent operation is as shown in FIG.
The capsule sheet take-up roller 22 rotates and sends the exposed capsule sheet 20 to the transfer system 33. and,
Simultaneously with the rotation of the rollers 22 and 24, a receiver sheet is fed from the receiver sheet supply roller 23, and the capsule 20 and the receiver sheet are overlapped and pressed by the pressure roller 24. As a result, the image on the capsule sheet 20 is transferred onto the receiver 1.
After being cut to the required length by the cutter 2G, it is outputted to the outside as output paper 27. In addition, the used capsule sheet 20 is taken up by a capsule sheet take-up roller 2.
It is recovered by 2.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in a color image recording device having the above configuration and system, there are two problems: ■ Repeated positioning error of the writing start position in the writing system using a laser scanner ■ Positioning accuracy error in the liquid crystal panel transport system Due to the error, color shift occurs in the composite image on the capsule sheet. Therefore, in order to prevent this color shift, in the conventional apparatus as described above, high-precision ball screws are used for the sub-scanning ball screw and the conveyance ball screw, but these are very expensive. Furthermore, it is impossible to eliminate thermal deformation (expansion/contraction) of the screw shaft due to temperature changes during use, as well as lead fluctuations in the longitudinal direction that occur during screw shaft processing. It was not possible to monitor and correct the resulting misalignment.

C. Means for Solving the Problem] Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, when writing an image on a liquid crystal panel, which is an intermediate image medium, a means for always writing an alignment mark at the same location at the same time as an image is written; and means for detecting the alignment mark when the liquid crystal panel is conveyed to a predetermined position in a projection exposure system; A means for stopping conveyance of the liquid crystal panel when the positioning mark is detected is provided.

[Effect]

With the above configuration and system, it becomes possible to monitor and correct positional deviations when images on a plurality of liquid crystal panels are projected onto a photosensitive film and are superimposed and synthesized.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. In the following description, the same parts as in the conventional embodiment described above are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the alignment mark writing means according to the present invention.

The laser scanning system shown in FIG. 1 uses a semiconductor laser 45 as a laser light source, which turns on and off the laser emission according to a laser modulation signal input according to an image signal.
A collimator lens 44 that collimates the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser to make it substantially parallel, and a polygon mirror 5 that rotates at a predetermined constant rotation speed and distributes the beam light emitted from the collimator lens 44 in the main scanning direction. , an fθ lens 42 that is disposed between the polygon mirror 5 and the liquid crystal panel 47 and focuses the light beam reflected by the polygon mirror 5 onto the liquid crystal panel 47; and an fθ lens 42 that corrects the surface tilt of the polygon mirror 5. For this purpose, front-stage and rear-stage cylindrical lenses 43.41 are arranged between the collimator lens 44 and the polygon mirror 5, and between the fθ lens and the liquid crystal panel 47, and the main scanning by the laser light emitted from the rear-stage cylindrical lens 41. Optical sensor 40 for detecting the writing start position in the direction
It is composed of. Therefore, the configuration of the laser scanning system itself is the same as that of a commonly used laser scanner.

However, as shown in FIG. 1, when writing the image 48, the alignment mark 49 is also written at the same time. Since this alignment mark 49 is always written at the same address, the relative position from the image to be written is always the same.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the positioning mark reading/motor control section according to the present invention. In this Fig. 6, the configuration of two moving tables, liquid crystal panels 10, 11, 12, etc. is the same as the conventional embodiment shown in Fig. 2, but in addition to the conventional configuration, two lines are written on the liquid crystal panel. Two mark reading sensors 54 for reading the positioning marks are arranged on the projection surface of the liquid crystal panel. Furthermore, a differential amplifier circuit 52 for taking and amplifying the difference between the outputs from the two mark reading sensors 54, and a motor drive circuit 53 for driving the motor using the output from the differential amplifier circuit are newly added. be.

Next, the operation will be explained using an operation flow sheet of an embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIG.

First, as in the conventional embodiment, the writing system 30.
Initialize the II transmission system (Step 1 Step 2).

Next, we move on to the image writing and projection exposure process. First, at the same time as the laser scanner unit starts writing an image in the main scanning direction, the moving table 28 is sub-scanned in the b direction at a constant speed (step 3). Then, when the moving distance of the moving table 28 from the mechanical origin defined by the photo interpolator 2 becomes W+L, the sub-scanning of the moving table 28 in the b direction is stopped (step 4). 1. Immediately perform a return operation by a distance in the direction a (step 5).

Next, the moving table 29 on which the three liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 are attached starts to be transported in the C direction.

Then, after positioning is performed so that the outputs when reading the alignment marks 49 by the two mark reading sensors 54 are equal, the conveyance of the movable table 29 is finished. As a result, the liquid crystal panel 10 for yellow exposure on which the image has already been written is transported to the fixed position of the projection exposure system 32, and the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure is transported to the writing system 30 (step 6).

Furthermore, in the same manner as in the case of the liquid crystal panel 10 for yellow exposure, writing of an image is started on the liquid crystal panel for cyan exposure. At the same time as writing an image on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure, the capsule sheet 20 of the image formed on the liquid crystal panel 10 for yellow exposure
Reflection projection exposure is performed on (step 7).

When the image writing on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure and the reflective projection on the liquid crystal panel IO for yellow exposure are completed, the moving table 2B is returned to the direction a. Then, the movement of the moving table 29 is started, and the positioning mark 50 is read by the two mark reading sensors 54.
After positioning so that the outputs are equal when read, the conveyance of the moving table 29 is finished (step 8).
. In the process up to this point, the yellow component image formed on the yellow exposure liquid crystal panel IO is exposed onto the capsule sheet 20, and the cyan exposure liquid crystal panel 11, on which the image has already been written, is transferred to the projection exposure system 32. This means that the magenta exposure liquid crystal panel 12 is transported to the writing system 30 at the fixed position.

Subsequently, the image formed on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure is projected onto the capsule sheet 20, and
An image is written on the magenta n-light liquid crystal panel 12. When the image writing on the liquid crystal panel 12 for magenta exposure and the reflection projection on the liquid crystal panel 11 for cyan exposure are completed (step 9), the moving table 2 is returned by L in the direction a, and the moving table 29 is moved to C. In the same manner as described above, the projection exposure system 32 is stopped at a fixed position using the alignment mark 51, and the image formed on the magenta exposure liquid crystal panel 12 is projected onto the capsule sheet 20. conduct.

Through the above process, three colors for yellow, cyan, and magenta are created.
The images corresponding to the yellow, cyan, and magenta colored lights written on the liquid crystal panels 10, 11, and 12 are superimposed and synthesized on the capsule sheet 20.

Moreover, yellow and cyan.

Since the images formed on the magenta liquid crystal panel and the positioning marks are in the same relative position with the respective projected images, the images corresponding to the respective colored lights projected onto the capsule sheet 20 may shift, causing color shift. do not have.

The subsequent operations are similar to those of the conventional embodiment.

In this embodiment, a laser writing type liquid crystal was used as the intermediate medium on which the image is written, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other media such as conventional photosensitive drums and selenium flat plates can also be used.

Furthermore, as a method of transporting the liquid crystal panel, a linear feeding method was adopted in this embodiment, but the same effect can be achieved by using other methods and configurations such as a method of rotating using a rotating disk. .

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the positioning mark does not have to be two lines, and can have various shapes such as a single line or a cross shape depending on the combination with the sensor.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, (1) the repetitive positioning accuracy required of the writing system 30 can be lowered, so that the writing system can adopt a relatively simple and inexpensive sub-scanning method.

■ Since the liquid crystal panel transport system forms a closed loop, it is possible to monitor and correct positional deviations, so color deviations do not occur.

There is an effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the alignment mark writing means in the present invention, Fig. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the conventional device configuration, and Fig. 3 is a flat surface of the table where the liquid crystal is mounted. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operation in the conventional device configuration, FIG. 5 is an operation flow sheet in the conventional device configuration, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the positioning mark reading and motor control section according to the present invention. , FIG. 7 is a flow sheet showing the operation of an embodiment according to the present invention. ■... Sub-scanning pulse motor 2.7... Photo ink printer 4.13... Ball screw 5... Polygon mirror 9... Conveyance pulse motor 10... Yellow exposure liquid crystal Panel 11...
・ 12・ ・ ・ 20・ ・ ・ 23・ ・ ・ 24・ ・ 30・ ・ ・ 31・ ・ 32・ ・ 33・ ・ 49.・ ・ ・ Liquid crystal panel for cyan exposure Liquid crystal panel for magenta exposure Capsule sheet Receiver sheet Supply roller Pressure roller Moving table Writing system Intermediate image medium transport system Projection exposure system Transfer system Alignment mark Alignment mark Differential amplifier circuit Motor drive circuit Mark reading sensor

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An intermediate image medium for visualizing a digital image signal into a two-dimensional image, a writing device for writing the digital image signal on the intermediate image medium, a color former of different colors, and a color former for a specific wavelength. Microcapsules are encapsulated with a sensitive substance that immobilizes the coloring agent.
A uniformly coated capsule sheet, a projection exposure system that projects and exposes the image on the intermediate image medium onto the capsule sheet, and a developer that reacts with the coloring agent on the capsule sheet to cause a coloring reaction. An image storage device comprising: a coated receiver sheet; and a pressure roller that overlaps and presses the capsule sheet and the receiver sheet, breaks the microcapsules under pressure, and transfers the image on the capsule sheet onto the receiver sheet. When an image is written on the intermediate image medium by the writing device, an alignment mark is placed outside the image area to be written and at the same position relative to the image area at the same time as the image is written. a means for writing, a means for detecting the alignment mark when the intermediate image medium on which the alignment mark and the image are written is conveyed to a predetermined position of the projection exposure system; and a means for detecting the alignment mark; A color image recording apparatus comprising: means for stopping conveyance of the intermediate image medium when an alignment mark is detected.