JPH03293162A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance recording speed by widening the recordable range of a recording medium and shortening a feed distance by detecting the recording timing of a recording medium to the vicinity of the terminal of a recordable region and feeding the recording medium and the ink sheet in the direction opposite to that at the time of recording to release both of them. CONSTITUTION:A recording position 93 is discriminated by a line counter and, when a shade region 96 is recorded, the energy applied to a thermal head 29 is reduced and an ink sheet 23 and a recording sheet 10 are recorded up to a position 94 without being immediately released and the platen roller 13 is reversed while the head 29 is held to a down state to feed the recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 by a distance D+E in the reverse direction. Thereafter, the head 29 is turned upwardly to return the recording sheet 10 by the quantity corresponding to one page and the next printing color of the ink sheet 23 is selected to perform recording. When recording using four colors is completed, the recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 are reversely fed by the distance D+E and the thermal head 29 is subsequently turned upwardly to feed the recording sheet 10 in a forward direction and the recording sheet 10 after recording is discharged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording by transferring ink from an ink sheet onto a recording medium.

[Prior Art] FIG. 8 shows the configuration of a recording section of a general thermal transfer printer. In the figure, a platen roller 13 winds the recording paper 10, and as the platen roller 13 rotates in the direction of arrow F, the recording paper 10 is conveyed in the forward or reverse direction. 14a and 14b are the recording paper 1 on the platen roller 13.
This is a pinch roller for pressing o. With this configuration, the ink sheet 23 and the recording paper 1° are subjected to thermal transfer recording by the heating element 29a of the thermal head 29. After the recording is performed at the position 40, the recording paper 10 and the ink sheet 23 are separated from each other at the position 41. recorded.

In general, in thermal transfer recording, if the time until the ink sheet and recording paper separate after recording is finished is not constant,
Differences occur in recorded image density. This varies depending on the nature of the ink, but in general, if a high viscosity ink is used, the image density will decrease if the time until peeling is delayed, and if a low viscosity ink is used, the time until peeling is delayed. The image density tends to be high.

Specifically, the viscosity of the ink is 40 at 100°C.
When using ink with a relatively low viscosity of α cps or less, the image density will increase if the time until peeling is delayed; When peeling is delayed, image density tends to decrease.

Therefore, after recording is completed, the platen roller 13 is rotated clockwise to convey the recording paper 10 and the ink sheet 23 by at least a distance in the direction of the arrow p.
The recording paper 10 and the ink sheet 23 are separated.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] For this reason, when the recording paper 10 is a cut paper, when recording is performed up to the very edge of the rear end of the recording paper 10, the arrow between the recording paper 10 and the ink sheet 23 for this separation occurs. When the recording paper 10 is conveyed in the p direction, the rear end portion of the recording paper 10 is moved by the pinch roller 1.
4a, the ink sheet 23 and the recording paper 10 are separated from each other, and the time it takes for the ink sheet 23 to separate from the recording paper 10 becomes inconsistent. Furthermore, in the case of color thermal transfer recording, in the case of color thermal transfer recording, one color When recording is completed, it is necessary to move the recording paper 10 back by one page and then record with the next color.For this reason, the range that can be recorded on the recording paper 10 is from the rear edge of the recording paper 10 to ( The distance between the pinch roller 14a and the recording position of the thermal head 29)+(peeling distance D).

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and does not transport the ink sheet and the recording medium in the forward direction to separate the ink sheet and the recording medium after recording on the edge of the recording medium. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a recording device that can widen the range that can be recorded on a recording medium, shorten the conveyance distance of the recording medium or the ink sheet, and improve the recording speed. do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the recording device of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a recording device that transfers ink from an ink sheet to a recording medium for recording, comprising a mounting means for mounting the ink sheet;
a recording means for causing a recording head to act on an ink sheet mounted on the mounting means and relatively moving the recording head and a recording medium to record on the recording medium; a recording head pressure contact unit that presses against the recording medium; a detection unit that detects the timing of recording near the end of the printable area of the recording medium; and a peeling means for peeling the ink sheet and the recording medium by conveying the sheet in a direction opposite to that during recording by the recording means.

[Operation] In the above configuration, the recording head acts on the attached ink sheet, moves the recording head and the recording medium relatively, and records on the recording medium.

During this recording, the timing of recording near the end of the recordable area of the recording medium is detected, and after recording near the end of the recordable area, the recording medium and the ink sheet are moved in the opposite direction to the direction during recording. The ink sheet is conveyed to separate the recording medium from the ink sheet.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Description of the thermal transfer printer (Fig. 1)> Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of the mechanical section A of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment, and an enlarged view of the recording section by the thermal head 29 of this thermal transfer printer is shown in Fig. 8. Since the configuration is similar, common parts are indicated by the same numbers.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a recording sheet (cut paper) as a recording medium, which is housed in a recording sheet cartridge 11 and is removably attached to the main body of the apparatus. Reference numeral 12 denotes a recording sheet supply roller, which is connected to a recording sheet supply motor 60 (FIG. 2), and by rotationally driving the motor 60, the cartridge 11 passes through the registration roller 9.
Thus, the recording sheet 10 can be supplied to the platen roller 13. A recording sheet conveying motor 65 (FIG. 2) is connected to the platen roller 13, and as the recording sheet conveying motor 65 rotates, the recording sheet 10 is transferred to the platen roller 13 by pinch rollers 14a and 14b.
It is transported while being pressed against the As the platen roller 13 rotates in the forward direction (in the direction of the arrow), the recording sheet 10 is guided to the ejection path 16 and further guided to the ejection roller 17. Reference numeral 15 denotes a position sensor for detecting the leading and trailing ends of the recording sheet 10.

A discharge solenoid 18 is connected to the discharge roller 17, and by turning this solenoid 18 on and off, the discharge roller 17 is pressed against the driven discharge roller 19.
Or you can leave. This discharge roller 17
A discharge motor 61 (Fig. 2) is connected to the
By rotating the motor 61 while the discharge roller 17 and the driven discharge roller 19 are in pressure contact,
The recording sheet 10 conveyed through the discharge path 16 can be discharged onto the discharge tray 20.

Further, the recording sheet 10 is placed in the opposite direction of the platen roller 13 (
(in the opposite direction of the arrow), and is guided to the return passage 22 by the switching lever 21.

This operation is performed, for example, when recording a color image, after recording of a certain color is completed, overlapping recording of the next color is performed to record a color image by subtractive color mixture.

The ink sheet 23 is coated with each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black sequentially, and the supply roll 24
The ink is then guided to the platen roller 13 and the ink color sensor 25, and then wound onto a take-up roll 26. Winding roll 26
An ink sheet conveying motor 64 (Fig. 2) is mounted on the rotating shaft of the ink sheet.
The rotation of the motor 64 rotates the take-up roll 26 to take up the ink sheet 23 and transport the ink sheet 23 in the direction of arrow a. In addition, an ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66 (FIG. 2) is connected to the supply roll 24, and rotates the supply roll 24 counterclockwise to move the ink sheet 23 in the direction opposite to arrow a. can be transported.

Ink sheet 23, supply roll 24 and take-up roll 2
6 is housed in an ink cartridge 27, and this ink sheet cartridge 27 is removably guided and supported by the printer body. 28 is a sensor for determining the type of ink sheet 23, which detects a mark (not shown) provided on the ink sheet cartridge 27 and outputs a corresponding signal. With this configuration, the type of ink sheet 23 contained in the cartridge 27 can be determined based on the signal from the sensor 28.

29 is a line type thermal head (multiple heating elements 2
9a) and is fixed to the shift lever 30. This shift lever 30 is rotatably supported around a shift shaft 31 and has a cam roller 34 that engages with a shift cam 32. As a result, the shift cam 32 rotates counterclockwise and pushes down the cam roller 34, thereby pressing the thermal head 29 against the platen roller 13 (head down). Also, the shift cam 32 rotates clockwise, and the cam roller 34
When the thermal head 29 is no longer pressed down, the thermal head 29 is separated from the platen roller 13 by the force of the spring 35 (head up).

Reference numeral 33 denotes a position sensor for the thermal head 29. The position of the shift cam 32 can be detected based on a signal from this sensor 33, and it can be determined whether the thermal head 29 is up or down. Note that this shift cam 32 is connected to the thermal head moving motor 62 (second
By rotating this motor 62, the thermal head 29 can be raised or lowered as described above.

Reference numeral 36 (FIG. 8) is a peeling guide provided on the downstream side of the ink sheet 23, which is fixed to the thermal head 29 and has a width comparable to or wider than the ink sheet 23. The passage path of the ink sheet 23 is regulated by this downstream peeling guide 36, and the path through which the ink sheet 23 passes is regulated by the downstream peeling guide 36.
3, a path is formed in which the ink sheet 23 and the recording sheet 10 are conveyed in an overlapping manner to a peeling point 41 on the downstream side.

37 (FIG. 8) is a peeling guide located upstream of the ink sheet 23, which has the same width as the downstream peeling guide 36, and regulates the path of the ink sheet 23 on the upstream side of the thermal head 29. ing. As a result, when the supply roll 24 is rotated counterclockwise by the ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66 and the ink sheet 23 is conveyed in the reverse direction, and the platen roller 13 is conveyed counterclockwise, the ink sheet 23 is conveyed from the recording position 29a to the upstream peeling point 42, superimposed on the recording sheet 10. Note that the downstream peeling guide 36 and the upstream peeling guide 37 described above also serve to regulate the conveyance path of not only the ink sheet 23 but also the recording sheet 10.

<Description of the overall configuration (Fig. 2)> Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment. are indicated by the same number, and their explanation will be omitted.

A CPU 203 such as a microprocessor controls the entire apparatus by inputting and outputting various control signals in accordance with a control program stored in a ROM 205 shown in the flowchart of FIG. A host interface control unit 204 controls the interface with the host computer 200, which is an external device, and performs controls such as receiving recorded information from the host computer 200 and transmitting printer status to the host computer 200. It is. Reference numeral 206 is used as a work area for the CPU 203, and also includes a page memory 207 that stores recording information line by line, a counter CNT that counts the number of recorded lines, and the like. Reference numeral 201 denotes an operation panel including an operation section and a display section. The operator sets printer conditions through the operation section, and the status of the printer is displayed on the display section.

A recording sheet supply control unit 210 controls the rotation of the recording sheet supply motor 60 that rotationally drives the recording sheet supply roller 12 and registration rollers 9 under the control of the CPU 203 . 211 is a recording sheet discharge control unit;
The ejection motor 61 that drives the rotation of the ejection roller 17 and the ejection solenoid 18 are driven by instructions from the PU 203 . 212 is a thermal head position control unit, which is a CPU
The thermal head drive motor 62 is rotationally driven in accordance with the instruction 203 to move the thermal head 29 up and down. A thermal heat control unit 213 detects the temperature of the thermal head 29 using a thermistor 39, and performs heat control of the thermal head 29 according to instructions from the CPU 203.

214 is a recording data transfer control unit which transfers one line of recording data stored in the page memory 207 of the RAM 206 to the thermal head 29 under the control of the CPU 203.
Transfer to. 215 is an ink sheet conveyance control unit which inputs signals from the ink sheet type sensor 28 and ink color detection sensor 25 and outputs them to the CPU 203;
The ink sheet conveyance motor 6 is controlled by the CPU 203.
4 to convey the ink sheet 23.

Furthermore, the ink sheet 23 can be rewound onto the supply roller 24 by rotationally driving the ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66 . 202 is a recording sheet conveyance control unit which inputs a sensor signal from the recording sheet position sensor 15 and sends it to the CPU 203.
At the same time, under the control of the CPU 203, the recording sheet conveyance motor 65 is rotationally driven to rotate the platen roller 13 in the forward direction (discharge direction) or in the opposite direction. can do.

<Description of Ink Sheet (FIG. 3)> FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the color ink sheet 23a used in the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment.

The color ink sheet 23a is a unevenly coated ink sheet, and yellow, magenta, cyan, and black heat-melting inks are sequentially applied onto a base film over a length longer than the recording length. 230 is a mark provided for each of the four colors, and each of 231 to 234 is a mark (color code) provided corresponding to an ink color. By detecting these marks 230 to 234 with the ink color detection sensor 25, the color of the ink on the ink sheet 23a to be recorded can be detected and identified.

On the other hand, if the ink sheet 23 is a monochrome ink sheet, for example, a black ink sheet, the ink (black) should be painted unevenly over almost the entire surface of the ink sheet without any gaps like the color ink sheet 23a. This is an ink sheet coated with.

<Description of Thermal Head (FIG. 4)> FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the thermal head 29 of the embodiment.

In the figure, the clock (CL) is input from the data input terminal 297.
K) Recorded data manually entered serially in synchronization with the signal is stored in the shift register 294. Thus, 19
When 42 minutes of recording data is set in the shift register 294, it is latched into the latch circuit 293 by the latch signal 296.

Next, when the strobe signal (STB) is manually input, the output of the AND circuit 292 whose corresponding recording data is at the high level "1" becomes high level while the strobe signal is at the high level. This allows the corresponding transistor 2
91 is in the on state for that time, and the corresponding heating element 29
A current from the common electrode 290 is passed through a to generate heat.

<Operation Description (FIGS. 1 to 9)> FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the recording operation in thermal transfer printing of the embodiment, and a control program for executing this process is stored in the ROM 205.

This recording process is started by receiving data from the host computer 200, storing a small amount of recording data (one page worth of recording data) in the page memory 207, and inputting a recording start instruction from the host 200.

First, in step S1, the recording sheet supply motor 60 is rotationally driven to feed one recording sheet 10 from the paper feed cassette 11.
When the recording sheet 10 is taken out or manually inserted, the paper feeding roller 12 is driven to rotate in order to feed the recording sheet 10. As a result, the leading edge of the recording sheet 10 reaches the position of the registration rollers 9. At this time, record sheet 1
Since the recording sheet 10 is conveyed to the registration rollers 9 by the paper feed roller 12 to the extent that it is slightly slack, the leading edge of the recording sheet 10 is aligned by the registration rollers 9 due to the rigidity of the recording sheet 10 itself. In step S3, the recording sheet 10 is moved to the platen roller 1 based on the rotational drive amount of the registration roller 9.
It is determined whether the platen roller 13 and the pinch roller 14 have been conveyed to the position where they are sandwiched between the platen roller 13 and the pinch roller 14a.
If the registration roller 9 has not been conveyed to the position where it is held by the rollers a, the process returns to step S2, and the registration rollers 9 are further rotated.

In this manner, when the leading edge of the recording sheet 10 reaches the position of the platen roller 13 in step S3, the process proceeds to step S4, where the thermal head moving motor 62 is driven to press the thermal head 29 against the platen roller 13 (head down). Then, in step S5, the platen roller 13 is rotated in the forward direction (in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Turn. Then, in step S6, the platen roller 13 is rotated in the direction of the arrow to convey the recording sheet 10 in the forward direction until the leading edge of the recording sheet 10 is detected by the position sensor 15.

In step S7, the line counter CNT is set to °°0".

In step S8, the recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 are started to be conveyed, the recording data is read from the page memory 207, and one line of image data is serially transferred to the thermal head 29. Next, in step S9, one line of data is latched in the latch circuit 293,
A strobe (STB) signal is output to energize the thermal head 29 (for example, at time t3). Next step S1
0, the line counter CNT is incremented by 1, and the process proceeds to step S11.
Then, it is checked whether the value of this counter CNT has exceeded a predetermined value (n).

This predetermined value n is the number of lines obtained by subtracting the number of lines having a length corresponding to the peeling distance shown in FIG. 8 from the total number of lines that can be physically recorded on one page. Therefore, depending on whether the value of the line counter CNT has reached this predetermined value n,
It can be determined whether the recording position has reached the position indicated by 93 (FIG. 9).

This is shown in FIG. 9, where 91 indicates a conventional recordable area and 92 indicates a recordable area according to this embodiment. In thermal transfer recording, if peeling between the ink sheet 23 and the recording sheet 10 is not considered, the entire area shown by 92 can be recorded. Since it is necessary to separate the ink sheet 23 from the recording sheet 10 by conveying it in the paper ejection direction 10, the final recording position is the position 93.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, when recording the area indicated by the diagonal lines, the energy 7 applied to the thermal head 29 is reduced to lower the recording density. In this area, unlike during normal recording, the ink sheet 23 and recording sheets 1 to 10 are not immediately separated, and when recording is performed up to the position indicated by 94, the thermal head 29 is kept in the down state. The ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66 is rotationally driven to rotate the platen roller 13 in the opposite direction to convey the recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 in the opposite direction by at least the distance (D + E) shown in FIG. . Thereafter, the thermal head 29 is raised again, the recording sheet 10 is moved back by one page, the next printing color of the ink sheet 23 is selected, and the next page is recorded.

When the four-color recording is completed, the recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 are conveyed in the opposite direction by the distance (D+E) as described above, the thermal head 29 is raised, and the recording sheet 8 is then conveyed in the forward direction. The sheet 10 is conveyed and the recorded recording sheet 10 is discharged.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 7 again, when it is detected in step Sll that the recording position has reached the shaded area in FIG. 9, the process advances to step SL2. Here, as in step S8, conveyance of the recording sheet 10 and ink sheet 23 is started, one line of recording data is transferred to the thermal head 29, and the process proceeds to step S13.

In this embodiment, since the ink sheet 23 is coated with ink having a relatively low viscosity, it is thought that the image density in the shaded area where peeling is delayed increases. For this reason, in order to correct this, the thermal head 29 is driven to generate heat with less energy applied than during recording in step S9, and the shaded area in FIG. 9 is recorded.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the time for energizing the thermal head 29 in the normal recording area is tl, and the time for energizing the thermal head 29 in the peeling area (the shaded area in FIG. 9) is t2 (t+>
t2), the current application time is shortened in the peeled region. Here, when VCC = 20V and the resistance value R of the heating resistor = 1500Ω, at t+ = 740μ seconds,
t2 is about 30 to 95% of tl, about 220 μs to 700
It can take a value of μs.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 6, without changing the pulse width of the strobe signal, in a normal recording area, the applied voltage Vcc of the thermal head 29 is set to V+ (for example, V, = 20 V), V2 (V
, >V2). Here, since the applied energy is proportional to the square of the voltage, ■2 becomes ■1
The value is about 55% to 97%.

On the other hand, if an ink sheet coated with ink having a relatively high viscosity is used, in order to correct the decrease in image density in the shaded area, a larger amount of energy is applied to the thermal head than in step S9. 29, in which case high applied energy values of about 105-170% can be taken. Note that the value of the applied energy that is changed for correction does not need to be a fixed value (for example, the correction factor is maximized at the point where the time to peeling is the longest in the shaded area (where the correction starts), and then It is also possible to gradually reduce the correction factor.

Generally, when thermal transfer recording is performed without peeling, the recording density is higher than that during normal recording, but in this embodiment, the thermal head 29 (when the viscosity of the ink on the ink sheet 23 is relatively low). As a result, after thermal transfer recording by the thermal head 29, the ink sheet 23 and the recording sheet 10 are not peeled off immediately. The image density of the area 96 where this has been performed becomes approximately the same, and the quality of the recorded image of one page recorded on the recording sheet 10 is approximately the same.

In this way, in step S14, the peeled area (hatched area in FIG. 9)
When the image recording for one page is completed, the process advances to step S15, where the ink sheet conveyance motor 64 is immediately stopped, the rotation of the recording sheet conveyance motor 65 is reversed, and the rotation of the recording sheet conveyance motor 65 is reversed. The recording sheet 10 and the ink sheet 23 are rotated by rotating the ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66.
and the distance (D+E) in the opposite direction. thus,
When the recording paper 10 and the ink sheet 23 are separated in the separation area, the process proceeds to step 816, where the rotation of the recording sheet conveyance motor 65 and the ink sheet reverse conveyance motor 66 is stopped.

Then, in step S17, the thermal head 29 is raised, and the pressing force of the thermal head 29 on the platen roller 13 is released. Next, in step S18, it is checked whether the image recording for the four colors has been completed, and if it has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S22, and the recording sheet 10 is moved a little further than the distance corresponding to the area indicated by 92 in FIG. Return by a long distance and return to step S4.

This takes into account the slippage between the platen roller 13 and the recording sheet 10, and returns the recording sheet 10 by a distance slightly longer than the length of one recorded page. to the recording sheet position sensor 1.
5 to accurately locate the beginning of the recording sheet 10. Note that when the recording sheet 10 is conveyed in the reverse direction, the recording sheet 10 is guided to the return path 22 by the switching lever 21.

When recording in the four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black is completed in this manner, the process advances to step S19, and the platen roller 13 is rotated in the direction of the arrow to convey the recorded recording sheet 10 in the paper ejection direction. In step S20, the solenoid 18 is released to bring the paper ejection roller 17 into pressure contact with the driven roller 19. Then, in step S21, the paper ejection roller 17 is rotationally driven to eject the recording sheet 10 onto the paper ejection tray 20.

In this embodiment, the peeling distance portion 96 (FIG. 9) is detected by counting the number of lines recorded by the counter CNT; however, the present invention is not limited to this; The total number of lines for one page may be given in advance by the computer 200, and the peeling distance portion 96 may be detected based on the number of lines. In addition, when recording each line of data sent from the host computer 200, a signal indicating that the peeling distance portion 96 has been reached is input from the host computer 200.
The heat correction described above may also be performed.

In addition, if the length of the recording sheet is unknown and the peeling distance part is unknown, a recording method that detects the trailing edge of the recording sheet 10 on the conveyance path of the recording sheet 10 from the registration roller 9 to the platen roller 13 may be used. A sheet trailing edge position sensor may be provided, and the timing for starting the heat correction described above may be determined based on information from the sensor.

[Other Embodiments (FIG. 10)] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of a recording section of a thermal transfer printer according to another embodiment, and parts common to the above-described embodiments are indicated by the same symbols.

Here, the recording sheet is not a cut sheet but a roll 410.
The roller 414 is rotated by a recording paper conveying motor 412, and the driven roller 415, which is pressed by the roller 414 and conveys the recording paper while nipping it, move the arrow E. direction or the opposite direction. This driven roller 415 is attached to a lever 416 that rotates around a shaft 417, and is pressed against the roller 414 by the tension of a spring 56 422.

The thermal head 29 is attached to a head holder 418 that rotates about a shaft 421.

In this way, the solenoid 420 causes the head holder 418 to
is pressed, the thermal head 29 is raised, and the solenoid 420 is not biased (then the spring 419
is pressed against the platen roller 13 by the force of the expanding force.

With the above configuration, when recording an image, the recording paper 444 is held between the rollers 414 and 415, and is conveyed in the direction of arrow E by rotationally driving the roller 414 by the recording paper conveyance motor 412.

In addition, the ink sheet 23 is moved by the ink sheet conveyance motor 6.
4 rotates the winding roller 26, thereby transporting the recording paper 444 in the same direction.

As in the case of the above-mentioned embodiment, when recording an area corresponding to the separation distance G from the rear end of one page, the energy applied to the thermal head 29 is reduced, and when recording is completed, recording is performed. The recording paper 444 and the ink sheet 23 are conveyed in opposite directions.
Transport is carried out in the opposite direction to separate the two. In the case of color recording, the thermal head 29 is brought up from this state, and the pressure on the conveying roller 414 by the driven roller 415 is released. Then, the recording paper rewinding motor 411 is rotationally driven to rewind the recording paper 444 by approximately one page in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow E, and transfer recording is performed using the next color. In this way, each color is recorded as described above,
When the four-color recording is completed, the recording paper 444 is conveyed in the direction of arrow E, and the trailing edge of the page is cut by the cutter 413 to complete the recording process.

This eliminates the need to transport the ink sheet 23 and the recording paper 444 by the peeling distance G, which is performed every time recording for each color is completed. Therefore, the time for transporting the recording paper 444 and the ink sheet 23 by this peeling distance G can be saved, and the ink sheet 23 can also be saved by this peeling distance.

Note that this is not limited to the case of color ink sheets, but even in the case of single-color ink sheets, the next page can be recorded without leaving a gap from the point at which the previous page has finished recording, so the ink sheet and recording paper can be You can save money.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the case of a line-type thermal head was explained, but the present invention can also be applied to, for example, a serial-type thermal head. In this case, by performing the heat correction described above near the end of one line, there is no need to scan the carriage to separate the ink ribbon from the recording sheet near the end of one line, thereby wasting the ink ribbon. (At the same time, the traveling distance of the carriage can be shortened, so the recording time can be shortened.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, explanation was given of the case of thermal transfer recording using a melt-type ink sheet using heat-melt ink.
The present invention is not limited to this, but can also be applied to thermal transfer recording using a sublimation ink sheet using, for example, sublimation ink.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the case of a color thermal transfer printer was explained, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and can of course be applied to the case of monochrome thermal transfer recording.

9 0 As explained above, according to this embodiment, after recording the trailing edge of the image on the recording sheet, there is no need to transport the ink sheet and the recording sheet in the forward direction to separate them. You can record with less margin at the bottom.

In addition, for peeling off the ink sheet and recording sheet,
These ink sheets and recording sheets are transported in opposite directions.
This can be seen as part of the operation of returning the recording sheet when performing color recording. Therefore, by carrying the recording sheet and the ink sheet in the opposite direction for performing this peeling, the carrying distance required to return the recording sheet and the ink sheet by one page for printing in the next color becomes shorter. This has the effect of shortening the time required to record one page in color.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is no need to transport the ink sheet and the recording medium in the forward direction in order to separate the ink sheet and the recording medium. This has the effect of widening the recordable range, shortening the conveyance distance to the recording medium, and improving the recording speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing the structure of the mechanical section of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of the electric circuit section and the mechanical section of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is the implementation example. A diagram showing an example of a color ink sheet used in the example thermal transfer printer. Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the thermal head. Figure 5 shows when heat correction is performed by changing the energization time to the thermal head. 6 is a timing diagram when heat correction is performed by changing the voltage applied to the thermal head, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the recording process in the thermal transfer printer of this embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a general diagram. FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of the recording section of a typical thermal transfer printer, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the recording range within one page of a recording sheet, and FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of the recording section of a thermal transfer printer of another embodiment FIG. In the figure, 10... Recording sheet, 12... Recording sheet
Supply roller, 13...Platen, 15...Recording sheet position sensor, 17...Ejection roller, 18...
Solenoid, 19... Driven roller for discharge, 20...
Tray, 23... Ink sheet, 24... Ink sheet supply roll, 25... Ink color detection sensor, 2
6... Ink sheet winding roller, 27... Cartridge, 28... Ink sheet type sensor, 29...
・Thermal head 30 ・Shift lever 32 ・・
・Shift cam, 33... Thermal head position sensor,
36...Downstream peeling guide, 37...Upstream peeling guide, 60...Recording sheet supply motor, 61...
Recording sheet discharge motor, 62... Thermal head drive motor, 64... Ink sheet conveyance motor, 6
5... Recording sheet conveyance motor, 66... Ink sheet conveyance motor, 200... Host computer,
203...CPU, 205...ROM, 206...
-RAM, 207...Page memory. 3 4 JP-A-3 293162 (15)

Claims (9)

[Claims] (1) A recording device that transfers ink from an ink sheet to a recording medium for recording, which comprises: a mounting means for mounting the ink sheet; and a recording head acting on the ink sheet mounted on the mounting means, the recording head a recording device that relatively moves the recording head and the recording medium to record on the recording medium; a recording head pressure contact unit that presses the recording head against the ink sheet and the recording medium; a printable area of the recording medium; a detection means for detecting the timing of recording near the end; after recording near the end of the recordable area, transporting the recording medium and the ink sheet in a direction opposite to the direction in which the recording means records; A recording apparatus comprising: a peeling means for peeling off the ink sheet and the recording medium. (2) During conveyance by the peeling means, the recording medium and the ink sheet are conveyed while the recording head is kept in pressure contact with the ink sheet and the recording medium by the recording head pressure contact means. A recording device according to claim 1. (3) When the recording means is recording, if the detection means detects that recording is being performed near the edge of the recording medium, control is performed to change the energy applied to the recording head. 2. A recording device according to claim 1, further comprising means. (4) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is a thermal head. (5) The recording means uses a color ink sheet,
2. The recording medium according to claim 1, wherein each time color recording is completed, the recording medium is conveyed in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction during recording to perform color recording by additive color mixing. Recording device. (6) The control means is configured to reduce or increase the energy applied to the thermal head depending on the type of ink applied to the ink sheet. Recording device. (7) The applied energy controlled by the control means is controlled to reduce the applied energy to 30 to 95% or to increase it to 105 to 170%. The recording device according to item 6. (8) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detection of the vicinity of an end of the recording medium by the detection means is determined based on the number of recorded lines. (9) The detection of the vicinity of the end of the recording medium by the detection means is determined based on a signal from a sensor that detects the end of the recording medium. recording device.