JPH03136029A - Image recorder and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify a color adjustment operation by providing a means for carrying out color separation and exposure, a means for adjusting exposure for each color, a means for circulating a mask original plate in the device, a means for switching the plural operation modes of the device, and a means for exerting control suitable for each operation mode. CONSTITUTION:The subject image recorder is provided with the exposure means 41, the exposure control means 105, the recycling means 21, the switch means 105, and the control means 101. The exposure means 41 makes the mask original plate 15 and a photosensitive sheet 50 adhere to each other and carries out color separation and exposure; the exposure control means 105 adjusts exposure; the recycling means 21 circulates the mask original plate; the switching means 105 switches the plural operation modes of the device; the control means 101 exerts control suitable for the switching operation mode. The device is operated in a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode the device operates as follows: after the mask original plate 15 is exposed, a color picture is outputted with the mask original plate 15 stopped in the recycling means 21; after exposure is adjusted, the mask original plate 15 is circulated again to expose the picture onto the photosensitive sheet 50, and consequently the color picture is outputted. In the second mode the device operates as follows: the mask original plate 15 is circulated with the prescribed number of times, and a color picture is outputted. Thus, color adjustment can be simplified.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that outputs a color image using a mask original plate on which a light-shielding image is formed based on image information, and a control method thereof.

[Prior art] Conventionally, in this type of image recording device, it has been necessary to perform color adjustment due to changes in the paper quality (light transmittance) of the mask original used, the sensitivity of the photosensitive paper, the toner density of the laser printer used, etc. was there. In that case, using the original mask,
Output a color image, look at the hue of the output image, and
Adjust the exposure amount for each color (red), G (green), and B (blue), insert the ejected mass flow original into the device again by hand, output a color image, and check the hue. Repeat the operation. was. Problem H1 to be Solved by the Invention However, there is a problem in that the color adjustment operation takes a considerable amount of time and is a burden to the operator. [Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to simplify the work of color adjustment. [Means for Solving Problem 1 1] In order to achieve this object, the image recording apparatus of the present invention includes an exposure means for bringing a mask original plate and a photosensitive paper into close contact and performing color separation exposure, and an exposure amount control for adjusting the exposure amount. a recycling means for circulating the mask original; a switch means for switching operation modes of a plurality of devices; and a control means for performing control corresponding to the operation mode. [Function] The image recording apparatus of the present invention having the above configuration outputs a color image with the mask original plate stopped in the recycling means after exposure to photosensitive paper, and after adjusting the exposure amount, operates the recycling means again. The original mask is circulated and exposed to photosensitive paper.
a first operation mode in which a color image is output; a mask original is circulated a predetermined number of times by a recycling means and discharged from the apparatus;
The control method includes a second operation mode that outputs a color image. [Example] Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a monochrome laser printer 1 and a color image recording device 20 in a combined arrangement. First, a monochrome laser printer 1 is mounted on top of a color image recording device. A polygon scanner 2 in a laser printer 1 draws an electrostatic latent image by irradiating a charged photoconductor 3 with laser light.The photoconductor 3 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed is developed by a developer 4. A toner image is transferred onto plain paper or an OHP sheet supplied from a paper feed cassette 5 and fixed by a fixing device 6. The monochrome laser printer 1 records data transmitted from a host computer. The output from the laser printer 1 is sent to the paper path switching section 10, and if a black and white image is required, the output is sent to the monochrome paper tray 1.
If a color image is required, the image is sent to the paper ejection tray 12 and then taken into the color image recording device 20. The distal end side of the paper output tray 12 is rotatable between the position shown by the solid line and the position shown by am in FIG. The paper is taken into the color image recording device 20, and a set of three monochrome printed papers output from the laser printer 1 is used as a mask original 15 (15R, 15G, 15B) of the color image recording device 20. be done. . Next is power? - The configuration of the 1-image recording device 20 will be explained. That is, at the top of the main body of the color image recording device 20, a mask original conveying device 21 is located, in which an alignment device W131, a circulation guide 25, and three storage sections 26 and 27 located in parallel are connected in an annular manner. . The mask original transport device 21
alignment device 31 and storage ffI! 126 and 27 are connected to the output tray 12 of the monochrome laser printer 1 via the guide member 22, and the paper (mask original) output from the monochrome laser printer 1 is transferred into the mask original transport device 21. be introduced. *In addition, there is a date 2 in the mask original conveying device 21 below the guide member 22.
3 is arranged, and by this date 23, the mask original plate 15 that has been guided and conveyed by the guide member 22
are distributed to either the alignment device 31 side or the paper discharge tray 30 side. Further, a date 28 is arranged between the circulation guide 25 and the two storage sections 26 and 27, and the mask original 15 that has been guided and conveyed by the circulation guide 25 is transported by the date 28 to the upper side. It is sorted into either the storage section 26 side or the lower storage section 27 side. On the other hand, the mask original 15 inserted from the manual feed tray 29 is guided into the mask original transport device 21 via the date 24. The alignment device 31 is made by processing a bell) 31a made of a light-transmitting dielectric material (for example, polyethylene tele-7 tarley: PET) into an endless shape, and stretching it between two rotating shafts. It is composed of At least one of the two shafts is rotationally driven by a motor (not shown), and as the shaft rotates, the bell 31a is driven to circulate in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. The surface of the bell) 31a is
It is charged by a charging device (for example, a corotron), not shown, and attracts the mask original 15 by electrostatic attraction force. Further, a sensor for alignment is provided near the belt 31a, and is configured to read alignment marks printed at predetermined positions on the mask original plate 15 and set the mask original plate 15 at a predetermined position. It is composed of The alignment device r! An exposure device 41 is arranged above i31, and this exposure device 41 is connected to the alignment device 3.
It is movable in the left and right direction along 1. The exposure device 41 includes a linear white light source (hereinafter simply referred to as a lamp) 42 and a reflection plate 43 that reflects light from the lamp 42.
and arranged to surround the lamp 42 and the reflector 43,
The color separation filter 44 includes a red filter 44R, a green filter 44G, and a blue filter 44B. The photosensitive writing medium 50 is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-14304.
The main material is a photocurable resin using a photopolymerization initiator known in Publication No. 4, and includes a photocurable resin that cures with light of each wavelength of red, green, and blue, and cyan, magenta, Microcapsules containing yellow dye precursors are coated on a base sheet. @
The photosensitive recording medium 50 is housed in a cartridge 51 so as not to be exposed to light. The photosensitive recording medium 50 pulled out from the cartridge 51 is placed between the bell) 31a and the exposure table 52.
After passing between the fixed roller 56 and the slack remover 5
5. The image is taken up by the take-up roller 54 after passing through the movable guide 64, the pressure developing device 70, and the drive roller 57. When the exposure table 52 is exposed by the exposure device 41, the cam 5
3, thereby bringing the mask original 15 conveyed by the bell 31a into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50. Further, the fixed roller 56 clamps and fixes the exposed photosensitive recording medium 50 while the pressure developing device 70 performs a developing process. Furthermore, a slack removing device 55
This prevents the photosensitive recording medium 50 from sagging during the development process in the pressure development device 70, and also prevents the drive roller 57 from sagging.
The photosensitive recording medium 50 can be fed at a constant speed. The developer sheet 60 is constructed by coating a base paper with a developer described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739, and is placed in the cassette 61 so that the developer-coated surface faces downward. It is set. The direct color developer sheet 60 is fed to the cassette 6 by a feed roller 62 that is intermittently driven by a drive source (not shown).
The sheets are taken out one by one from No. 1 and supplied to the pressure developing device 70. Then, the color developer sheet 60 has a photosensitive record of exposure amount 0.
Overlaid with medium 50! ! ! ! Pressure developing device 7
As a result, the latent image formed on the photosensitive recording medium 50 by exposure is visualized on the color developer sheet 60. The heat fixing device 80 includes a heat roller 82 having a built-in heater 81.
, auxiliary roller 85, its heat roller 82 and auxiliary roller 85
It is composed of an endless belt 84 installed between them and a presser roller 83 that is pressed against the heat roller 82 via the endless belt 84, and the color developer is conveyed from the pressure developing device 70 while being movably guided by the id 64. sheet 6
0 is polished by the heat fixing device 80 and then discharged onto the paper discharge tray 63. Next, the configuration of the control means is shown in FIG. 2. CPU 101, RAM 102, ROMIO3,
An input/output boat 104, a switch panel 105 that performs exposure adjustment and mode switching, and a lamp scan motor 1 that causes the exposure device 41 to scan in the directions of arrows A and B.
06, a recycle motor 107 that drives the conveyance roller of the mask original conveyance device 21, and a belt feed motor 108 that drives the bell ( ) 31a of the alignment device 31. The operation of the device configured as described above will be explained next. First, the normal image recording operation mode will be explained. A mask original plate 15R for red color is created by the monochrome laser printer 1. This mask original plate 15R is a mask original plate on which toner, which is a light-shielding image, is placed on other parts of the microcapsules coated on the photosensitive recording medium 50 in order to harden the microcapsules containing a cyan dye precursor. It is. At this time, the monochrome laser printer 1
is at the position shown by the solid line, and the mask original plate 15R is at the position shown by the solid line.
Color image recording device 20 guided by guide member 22
The original mask is guided into the mask original conveying device 21 . At this time, if the sensor of the alignment device 31 confirms that there is no other mask original 15 in the alignment device 31, the mask original 15R is transported to the alignment device e31 by the date 23. Next, the alignment device 31 adsorbs the mask original 15R to the bell 31a using electrostatic adsorption force and transports it to the appropriate exposure position, and then, while the sensor reads the alignment mark printed on the mask original 15R, A driving source (not shown) is used to adjust the position to an accurate position. Next, the fixed roller 56 presses down the photosensitive recording medium 50,
A drive source (not shown) rotates the cam 53 by a predetermined angle and pushes the exposure table 52 upward, so that the photosensitive recording medium 50 comes into close contact with the belt 31a of the alignment device 31 while sandwiching the mask original 15R. When the exposure table 52 comes into close contact with the alignment device 31, the lamp 4
2 lights up, and the exposure device 41 performs scanning exposure in the direction of the arrow in order to expose the photosensitive recording medium 50 with red light via the red filter 44R and the mask original plate 15R. The fi light ends. Then, the lamp 42 goes out, and the exposure device 41 moves back in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the exposure device 4
The filter cylinder 44 of No. 1 is rotated by a drive source (not shown), and a green filter 44G is placed directly below the lamp 42.
is located. Here, in addition to the alignment mark, the mask original plate 15 is printed with a color-specific mark indicating the color separation mask original plate, which is read by a sensor at the same time as the alignment operation. . In addition, the filter cylinder 44 is equipped with a sensor that detects the origin of each of the three types of filters 44R, 44G, and 44B, and if the read color mark does not correspond to each of the filters 44R, 144G, and 44B of the exposure device 41, The filter cylinder 44 rotates to correspond to each predetermined filter 44R, 44G, and 44B. While the exposure device 41 moves backward, the exposure table 52 is lowered by the rotation of the cam 53, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is separated from the alignment device 31 and the mask original 15R. At this time, the photosensitive recording medium 50 has a back tension of 1 at the center of roll rotation of the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the cartridge 51.
When the exposure table 52 rises, the storage cartridge 51 has a length corresponding to the amount of rise of the exposure table 52.
drawn out from within. Also, when the exposure is finished, the exposure table 52
When the photosensitive recording medium 50 is lowered, it is rewound in a direction to take up the slack of the photosensitive recording medium 50. When the exposure by the red mask master plate 15R is completed and the lowering of the exposure table 52 is confirmed, the bell of the alignment device 31 is activated.
31a rotates, and the mask original 15R is moved to the circulation guide section 2.
After passing through 5, the user is guided to the storage section 26 by a date 28. Next, after the green mask original plate 15G created by the monochrome laser printer 1 passes through the ID member 22,
It is guided to the alignment device 31 by the date 23. Then, as in the case of the mask original 15R, after alignment is performed with respect to the photosensitive recording medium 50, the exposure table 52 is raised, and the photosensitive recording medium 5o and the mask original 15G are aligned with the bell of the alignment device 31. ) 31a, and then the lamp 4
2 lights up, and exposure to green light is performed via the green filter 44G. After exposure, the exposure table 52 is lowered, the mask original 15G is guided upward through the original guide part 25, the date 23 is rotated, and the mask original 15G is guided to the storage part 27. Exposure device 41
moves back to its original position, and filter shilling 44
rotates, and the blue filter 44B is positioned directly below the lamp. Similarly, the blue mask original plate 15B created by the monochrome laser printer is transferred to the mask original conveying device 2.
1 and aligned to a predetermined position by an alignment device 31. Thereafter, the exposure device 41 exposes the photosensitive recording medium 50 to blue light. Through the above operations, a latent image of a desired color image is recorded on the photosensitive recording medium 50. Next, as the exposure table 52 is lowered, the fixed roller 56 is separated, and the drive roller 257 is rotated, so that the photosensitive recording medium 50
Wind it up in the direction of arrow C. At this time, the photosensitive recording medium 5
A buffer 55 and a movable idler member 64 for taking up the slack of the motor are located at the positions indicated by solid lines. In addition, the pressure developing device 7
The pressure rollers 71 of No. 0 are spaced apart from each other. Therefore, during the winding operation, the microcapsules of the photosensitive recording medium 50 are not damaged or destroyed. The drive roller 57 stops when the rear end portion of the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50 reaches the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 . In synchronization with the movement of the photosensitive recording medium 50, a developer sheet 60 is sent out from the cassette 61 by a paper feed roller 62, and is stopped at a position where the front end of the developer sheet corresponds to the rear end of the photosensitive recording medium 50. do. Next, by a drive device (not shown), the pressure roller 71 of the pressure development device 70 is pressed against the photosensitive recording medium 50 while rotating in the direction of the arrow, and the fixed roller 56 clamps and fixes the photosensitive recording medium 50 again. As a result, the photosensitive recording medium 50 is superimposed on the color developer sheet 60 and is sent in the direction of the arrow while being pressurized, and the uncured microcapsules on the photosensitive recording medium 50 are destroyed by the pressure and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is A color image corresponding to the latent image on the recording medium 50 is developed onto the developer sheet 50. As the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the slack removing device 155 moves in the direction of the arrow E and absorbs the slack of the photosensitive recording medium 50. When the slack removing device 55 moves in the direction of arrow E, it is movable.
The guide 64 moves to the position indicated by am by a mechanism not shown, peels off the leading edge of the color developer sheet 60 from the photosensitive recording medium 50, and guides it toward the thermal constant N device 80. In the heat fixing device 80, the color developer sheet 60 receives thermal energy from a heater 81 via a rotating heat roller 82 and an endless belt 84, thereby promoting color development of a color image. At the same time, the color developer sheet 60
The paint polymer (binder resin) for fixing to the base paper is thermally melted and has a smoothness corresponding to the surface smoothness of the endless belt, so that the surface of the color developer sheet 60 has a moderate gloss. get. The color developer sheet 60 that has been subjected to color development and gloss treatment is separated by curvature from the endless belt 84 and is discharged to a paper discharge tray 63. Since the photosensitive recording medium 50 is clamped and fixed by the fixed roller 56 during the above-described series of development and coloring/glossy processing, changes in the tension of the capsule sheet 50 due to development in the subsequent process occur in the process before the exposure table 52. etc. are not affected. Therefore, while the development process for one screen is being performed, the exposure process for the latent image of another color image can be performed on the exposure table 52. Incidentally, when it is desired to obtain a plurality of color images from the same mask original 15, the mask original 15R that has been waiting in the storage section 26 is guided to the alignment device 31 again through the date 23 in the mask original conveying device 21, The same process as the exposure process for the first sheet is performed. The mask originals 15G and 15B are also guided one after another to the alignment device 31 using the storage sections 26 and 27 as soon as the exposure of the previous mask original 15 is completed. The mask original transport device 21 can thus repeatedly circulate the mask original 15 as many times as necessary. After obtaining the required number of color images from the same mask original 15, the date 23 rotates and guides each mask original 15 in the mask original transport device 21 to the paper discharge tray 30. Further, the mask original conveying device 21 is equipped with a manual feed tray 29 for manually taking in the mask original 15 created by other means as described above. Next, the operation mode during color adjustment will be explained. First, the mode is changed using the switch panel 105. In this state, mask originals 15R, 15G, and 15B are fed into the apparatus by the laser printer 1 or manually. The mask originals 15R, 15G, and 15B are sequentially exposed to close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50, and then the recycle motor 107 and the belt feed motor 108 is stopped. At this time, the mask originals 15R, 15G, and 15B are stopped at the storage portions 26, 27 and the bell) 31a. The photosensitive recording medium 50 on which the color latent image has been formed forms a color image on the color developer sheet 60 in the same manner as in the normal operation mode during image recording. At this time, the operator looks at the color tone of this image and adjusts the exposure amount using the switch panel 105. When a new exposure amount is input, the recycle motor 107 and the belt feed motor 10
8 again and position the mask originals 15R, 15G, and 15B in sequence with the positioning device W! 31, and the photosensitive recording medium 5
Perform contact exposure at 0. During this exposure, the exposure device 41 performs exposure while being moved in the direction of arrow A by the lamp scan motor 106 at a speed corresponding to the exposure amount input from the switch panel 105. After that, recycle motor 10
7 and the belt feed motor 108 are stopped, and the mask original plate 1 is removed.
A color image is output with 5R, 15G, and 15B remaining in the device, and colors 14t1. Repeat the same operation until the end. After completing the color adjustment, rotate the recycling motor 107 and belt feed motor 108 to remove the mask originals 15R615G, 15.
B is discharged to the paper discharge tray 30. [Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, there is no need to manually feed the mask original from the manual feed tray during color adjustment, or to create a similar mask original in the laser printer unit. Improves work efficiency during color adjustment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 2 show embodiments embodying the present invention, FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the configuration of an image recording device, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control means. be. 15...Mask original plate, 21...Recycling means, 4
1... Exposure means, 50... Photosensitive paper, 101... C
PU, 105...Switch means. Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A mask original plate on which a light-shielding image is formed based on image information; an exposure means for bringing photosensitive paper into close contact with the photosensitive paper and performing color separation exposure to form a color image on the photosensitive paper; an exposure amount control means for adjusting the exposure amount of the mask, a recycling means for circulating the mask original within the apparatus, a switch means for switching the operation mode of the plurality of apparatuses, and a control for performing control corresponding to the operation mode. An image recording device comprising means and. 2. Outputting a color image with the mask original plate stopped in the recycling means after exposure to photosensitive paper, and after adjusting the exposure amount from the outside by the exposure amount control means, operating the recycling means again. a first operation mode in which the mask master is circulated to expose a photosensitive paper to output a color image; and after the mask master is circulated within the recycling means a predetermined number of times, the mask master is discharged from the apparatus. and a second operation mode in which a color image is also output.