JPH04104653U - image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The object is to provide an image recording device that is inexpensive, compact, and does not deteriorate the quality of recorded images due to uneven light intensity. [Configuration] The image recording device C is provided with an LCD 6,
A unitized exposure device 17 is disposed above the CD 6 and is movable for scanning in the direction of arrow AB by a driving means. In the exposure device 17, lamp groups 31 made of high-output light emitting diodes and the like are arranged in two rows in a staggered pattern. During exposure, the exposure device 17 is scanned and moved.
The entire surface of the microcapsule paper 7 is exposed uniformly.

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

0001

[Industrial application field]

This invention records the image by exposing the image formed on the optical shutter to a photosensitive recording medium. The present invention relates to an improvement of an image recording device that performs.

0002

[Conventional technology]

Figure 4 shows a conventional liquid crystal light valve (hereinafter referred to as LCD), which is an optical shutter. The schematic configuration of an optical system of an image recording apparatus using the following is shown. As shown in FIG. 4, in the image recording device, the light emitted from the light source 1 is first , the light is transformed into nearly parallel light by the reflection plate 2, heat ray absorption glass 3, condenser lens 4, etc. Corrected. The corrected light passes through a red color separation filter 5a and a green color separation filter 5a. selectively passes through the filter 5b, color separation filter 5c for blue, and further passes through the LCD 6. light is selectively irradiated onto the photosensitive member 7 that is not in close contact with the LCD 6, and the photosensitive member 7 Images are recorded by causing a color reaction using the photocuring properties of the photosensitive material inside. there was. In addition, images are recorded by causing a coloring reaction using the photocurable properties of photosensitive materials. An example is JP-A-59-30537.

0003

[Problem that the idea aims to solve]

However, in conventional image recording devices, the expensive condenser lens 4 is not necessary. It was essential. That is, in the case of a non-contact method in which the light source 1 and the photosensitive member 7 are separated, the light Due to the spread of light from the source 1, the image exposed on the photosensitive member 7 becomes blurred. The light had to be corrected to parallel light using a condenser lens 4. Also, LCD If the size of the lens 6 is about 10 inches, a lens or lens of a size matching that size is required. or use a longer optical path length from the light source to the photosensitive material. This results in an increase in the size of the device. Furthermore, the longer the optical path length, the more effective the light from the light source becomes. A powerful light source is required due to the poor rate of exposure, and exposure due to uneven light intensity on the image plane Since unevenness occurs, there is a problem that the quality of the recorded image deteriorates.

0004 This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is inexpensive, small, and The purpose is to provide an image recording device that does not reduce the quality of recorded images due to uneven light intensity. do.

[0005]

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention uses an optical shutter to capture the light emitted from the light source. irradiate the photosensitive recording medium through the optical shutter, and respond to the image signal applied to the optical shutter. In the image recording apparatus that exposes the photosensitive recording medium, the light source has a substantially flat surface. It consists of a plurality of light sources that emit linear light, and the plurality of light sources move over the photosensitive recording medium. Configured to scan.

[0006]

[Effect]

According to the present invention, each of the plurality of light sources (e.g., light emitting diodes) can emit approximately Parallel light is emitted. Since the light is almost parallel, it exposes the photosensitive recording medium through the optical shutter. A condenser lens is not required when transmitting light. Also, multiple light sources and photosensitive recording Even if the distance from the medium is short, the entire photosensitive recording medium can be exposed by scanning. Further, since the interval is short and scanning exposure is performed, uniform exposure is achieved.

[0007]

【Example】

Hereinafter, embodiments embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image recording apparatus C according to the present invention. The image recording device C has Photosensitive pressure sensitive paper (hereinafter referred to as microcapsule paper) 7 as a photosensitive recording medium and color developer Sheet 19 is used. Here, the support of the microcapsule paper 7 is Microcapsules are coated on the surface, and inside the microcapsules are It includes a dye precursor that reacts with a color developer. In addition, supporting the color developing sheet 19 A color developer is applied to the surface of the body and develops color by reacting with the dye precursor. . The details are described in the specification of U.S. Patent No. 4,399,209, etc. The description in the specification will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1, an LCD 6 is disposed in the center of the image recording device C, and above the LCD 6 is a unit that can be moved for scanning in the direction of arrow AB by a driving means (not shown). An exposure device 17 is provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A and 3B, in the exposure device 17, lamp groups 31 made of high-output light emitting diodes and the like are arranged in two rows in a staggered pattern. The lamp group 31 is housed in a case 18 that blocks light other than light emitted from the light emitting section. A simple lens 31a is provided at the tip of each light emitting part of the lamp group 31, and substantially parallel light (approximately 15 degrees) is formed by this lens 31a. In addition, when exposing a photosensitive recording medium by non-contact exposure, it has been confirmed through experiments that if the incident angle of light is suppressed to about 15 degrees, the image can be exposed without blurring. In addition, in the staggered arrangement (see FIG. 3 (B)), the exposure areas (shown by dotted lines) of the individual lamps on the photosensitive recording medium are made so that they do not overlap, and the distance between the optical axes of the lamps at both ends is L ₁ is made to match the length L ₂ of the LCD (10.4 inches) 6 in the short direction. Since the exposure areas R do not overlap as described above, the microcapsule paper 7 is uniformly exposed. A filter unit 5 consisting of three color filters 5R, 5G, and 5B of red, green, and blue is arranged below the lamp group 31. With these color filters 5R, 5G, and 5B, desired wavelength light can be obtained from the irradiated light. The LCD 6 is arranged below the filter unit 5, and an exposure stage 11 is arranged below the LCD 6 so as to bring the microcapsule paper 7 close to the LCD 6.

[0009] A cartridge shaft 9 and a take-up shaft 16 are arranged inside the light-shielding cartridge 8. The unexposed microcapsule paper 7 is stored in the cartridge shaft 9 in a wound state. The used microcapsule paper 7 is then wound around the winding shaft 16. micro The capsule paper 7 is pulled out by a feed roller 10, exposed to an exposure table 11, and conveyed by a conveyance roller 1. 2, passes between the pressure rollers 13a and 13b, and then passes through the separation roller 14 and the final row. It passes through the roller 15 and is wound onto the winding shaft 16. The microcapsule paper 7 is for the LCD 6. It is exposed to light in a stationary state below, and a latent image corresponding to the image signal is formed. color development A suction cup 20 of a paper feeding mechanism is arranged at the upper right of the cassette 19a containing the sheets 19. The uppermost sheet of the color developing sheet 19 is separated and fed by the suction cup 20. It is. The separated color developing sheet 19 is transferred to the pressure roller 13 by the paper feed roller 21. It is transported between a and 13b. The photoresist developed under pressure by pressure rollers 13a and 13b The color sheet 19 is thermally fixed by a thermal fixing device 22 located at the lower left of the apparatus. . The heat fixing device 22 transports the color developer sheet 19 using a transport roller 23 and pulls it inside. It is structured so that it is thermally fixed by the heat generated by the heater 24 built into the case 25. has been completed.

0010 Next, the operation of the image recording device C will be explained. First, when the print start key (not shown) is pressed, the external An image corresponding to the input image signal is displayed. In this case, first , an image corresponding to a cyan image signal is displayed. Next, the exposure device 17 The lamp group 31 is turned on, and the exposure device 17 is moved by the solid line in the figure by a driving means (not shown). The microcapsule paper 7 is scanned from the position indicated by the dotted line to the position indicated by the dotted line, and the microcapsule paper 7 is exposed to light. run The light of the group 31 is focused by a simple lens provided at the tip of each light emitting part, and the light is red. The light passes through the filter 5a and the LCD 6 and is irradiated onto the microcapsule paper 7. scanning When the exposure is completed, the lamp group 31 is turned off and the exposure device 17 returns to the direction of arrow A. At the same time, the red filter 5a is replaced with the green filter 5b. then , an image corresponding to the magenta image signal is displayed on the LCD 6. Then, The lamp group 31 of the exposure device 17 is turned on again, and the light from the lamp group 31 becomes a green color. Passing through the filter 5b and the LCD 6, it runs in the direction of arrow B from the solid line position to the dotted line position. be inspected. After the exposure device 17 is scanned to the dotted line position, the lamp group 31 is turned off. , the exposure device 17 returns to the solid line position in the direction of arrow A. While returning green fi The filter 5b is switched to the blue filter 5c. After switching, there is no input on LCD6. An image corresponding to the Erotic image signal is displayed, and the exposure device 17 performs the same process as described above. Scanning exposure is performed. Optimum exposure time run for the three colors cyan, magenta, and yellow The microcapsule paper 7 is exposed to light by the scanning exposure, and the microcapsule paper 7 is exposed in places. A latent image of the desired color image is formed.

[0011] After forming the latent image, the microcapsule paper 7 is moved by the feed roller 10, the conveyance roller 12, and the It is conveyed by the final roller 15 and is temporarily placed in front of the pressure rollers 13a and 13b. will be stopped. On the other hand, the uppermost color developing sheet 19 is separated one by one by the suction cup 20. , the leading edge of the color developer sheet 19 is conveyed by the paper feed roller 21, and the leading edge of the color developing sheet 19 , 13b, it stops. After stopping, the pressure rollers 13a and 13b Pressure is applied while rotating the microcapsule paper 7 and the color developing sheet 19, and the microcapsule paper The latent image on the color developer sheet 19 is transferred and developed. The color developer sheet 19 after development is It is separated from the microcapsule paper 7 by the separation roller 14, and is separated from the microcapsule paper 7 by the conveyance roller 23. The image is conveyed to the heat fixing device 22, where it is heat fixed by the heat generated by the heater 24, and after the heat fixation, the image is The image recording device C is discharged to the outside.

0012

[Effect of the idea]

As is clear from the detailed explanation above, according to the present invention, almost parallel light can be generated. The photosensitive recording medium is scanned and exposed using multiple light sources. , it is possible to perform exposure with a uniform amount of light at a small size and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an exposure device and an LCD.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are a side view and a plan view showing the arrangement of a plurality of light sources and exposure areas.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of an optical system of a conventional image recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

C...Image recording device 6...LCD (light shutter) 7...Microcapsule paper (photosensitive recording medium) 17...Exposure device 19...Developer sheet 31... Lamp group 31a...Lens

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image recording apparatus that irradiates light emitted from a light source onto a photosensitive recording medium through an optical shutter, and exposes the photosensitive recording medium according to an image signal applied to the optical shutter. . An image recording apparatus, wherein the light source is composed of a plurality of light sources that emit substantially parallel light, and the plurality of light sources scan the photosensitive recording medium.