JPH04320153A - Thermal sublime type color video printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print out required and sufficient recording data by printing out a color picture on one side of print paper and printing out the recording data onto the other side of the print paper when the color picture is formed on the print paper by thermal sublime ink. CONSTITUTION:Print paper 202 is contained in a paper feed cassette 201, a paper feed roller 203 feeds one by one paper 202 and a carrier roller 204 feeds the supplied paper 202 to each position. The paper guide 205 leads the paper 202 in the correct direction to wind the paper 202 onto a platen roller 206 under the paper 202 opposite to a thermosensing had 208 at the printing. Plural sets of ink sheets (one set consists of yellow, magenta, cyan sheets) are contained in an ink cartridge 207. The head 208 is heated corresponding to a gradation data received and a dot print head 210 prints out the received print data onto a rear side of the paper 202 by using the platen roller 209. Thus, the required and sufficient data is written.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal dye sublimation color video printer, and more particularly to its printing process.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art The configuration of a conventional thermal dye sublimation color video printer is shown in FIG. 7, and its printing operation will be explained. Print paper 602 is stored on paper feed cassette 601 . The print paper 602 is fed out one by one by a paper feed roller 603, and then transferred to a paper guide 6 by a transport roller 604.
05 to the platen roller 606. 60
7 is an ink sheet cartridge, as shown in FIG. 8, Ye (yellow) 701 and Mg (magenta) 702.
, Cy (cyan) 703 make up one set, and a plurality of sets of ink sheets are continuously rolled up. A thermal head 608 generates heat according to gradation data (not shown).

The printing paper 602 is sent toward a thermal head 608 while being wound around a platen roller 606, and when the image printing area reaches the thermal head 608, the thermal head 608 is first pressed against the Ye ink sheet. . The thermal head 608 generates heat according to the gradation data, and the Ye ink sublimates and is transferred onto the print paper 602. When printing of Ye is completed, the thermal head 60
8 moves away from the platen roller 606, and the platen roller 606 rotates in the opposite direction to align the beginning of the image print area with the thermal head 608 again. At this time, the ink cartridge 607 is locating the beginning of the Mg ink sheet. Next, the thermal head 608 moves toward the platen roller 606 and presses the Mg ink sheet onto the printing paper 602, and Mg printing begins in the same manner as Ye printing. After printing Mg, Cy
The same applies to After printing Ye, Mg, and Cy, the print paper 602 is transferred to the conveyance roller 60.
4, the paper is ejected to the stacker 609, and the printing operation ends.

0004

By the way, in such heat sublimation type color video printers, there is a need to save recorded data about printed images together with the images. To meet this need, there have been printers that print recorded data in the margins of the color image on the front side of print paper using a printing process for color image formation, but such printers require a narrow printing area. There was a problem that sufficient information could not be written.

The heat sublimation type color video printer of the present invention was developed in view of these problems, and its purpose is to provide a heat dye sublimation type color video printer that can print necessary and sufficient recording data on print paper. - To provide a video printer.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a heat sublimation type color video printer that forms a color image on print paper using heat sublimation ink. It has a first printing process for printing an image and a second printing process for printing recorded data on the other side of the printing paper.

[0007]

That is, in the present invention, necessary and sufficient data can be written by providing a second printing process for recording recorded data on the other side of the printing paper.

[0008]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention. 201 is a paper feed cassette, and print paper 202
Contains. Reference numeral 203 is a paper feed roller that feeds out the print paper 202 one by one, and 204 is a conveyance roller that transports the fed print paper 202 to each position. A paper guide 205 guides the print paper 202 in the correct direction and winds the print paper 202 around a first platen roller 206 that faces the thermal head 208 and underlays the print paper 202 during printing. 2
07 is an ink sheet cartridge in which a plurality of sets of ink sheets of Ye (yellow), Mg (magenta), and Cy (cyan) are rolled up. 208
receives gradation data (not shown) with a thermal head, and generates heat in accordance with the gradation data. A second platen roller 209 faces the dot print head 210. The dot print head 210 receives print data (not shown) and prints the record data on the back side of the print paper 202. Reference numeral 211 is a paper discharge stacker in which printed print paper is stored.

The basic operation of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
This will be explained with reference to a chart. First, step S101
The operation starts in step S102, and a color image is formed in a first printing process on the front side of the printing paper. Next, in step S103, it is determined whether it is necessary to print record data on the back side of the printing paper, and if it is not necessary, the process advances to step S105 and the operation ends. If necessary, the process proceeds to step S104, and after printing the recorded data on the back side of the printing paper, step S105
The operation ends.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, when a printing operation starts, a paper feed roller 203 feeds one sheet of print paper 202 from a paper feed cassette 201. Print paper 202 reaches conveyance roller 204 along paper guide 205 and is sent to first platen roller 206 . At this time, thermal head 2
08 is moving in a direction away from the first platen roller 206. This is to align the ink sheet in the ink sheet cartridge 207 to the position of Ye, which is the first print color. The print paper 202 that has reached the first platen roller 206 wraps around the thermal head 202.
08, and when the image print area on one side of the print paper 202 comes to the position of the thermal head 208, the first platen roller 206 stops. Next, the thermal head 208 moves in the direction of the first platen roller 206, presses the Ye ink sheet against the printing paper, and generates heat according to gradation data sent from an image processing circuit, which will be described later. At the same time, the first platen roller 2
06 is rotated, a Ye color image is formed on the print paper 202. When the Ye image printing is completed, the first platen roller 208 temporarily stops, and the thermal head 208 moves away from the first platen roller 206 and then rotates in the opposite direction to print the image in the image print area of the print paper 202. Align the beginning with the thermal head 208 again. Also, during this time, the ink cartridge 207 is searching the beginning of the next Mg ink sheet. Thereafter, the Mg image is printed on top of the Ye image in the same manner as the Ye image, and the Cy image is printed in the same manner as the Mg image. When printing of the three images of Ye, Mg, and Cy is completed, the print paper 202 is removed from the first platen roller 206 and transferred to the second platen roller 2.
Sent to 09. The print paper 202 is wound around the second platen roller 209 and the dot print head 210
Recorded data is printed on the back side of the print paper 202. The recorded data follows print data sent from a print control circuit (not shown). The print paper 202 on which the recording data has been printed is discharged to the stacker 211, and the printing operation ends.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an image processing circuit that sends gradation data to the thermal head 208 of FIG. 2. A video signal is input to the image processing circuit 301 from terminal a. In the image processing circuit 301, the video signal is first subjected to Y/C separation, Y/color difference conversion, RGB
After conversion, the RGB analog signal is sent to the A/D 303. RGB analog signal is 8b by A/D303
it is converted into RGB digital signals, and one frame's worth of RGB digital data is taken into the frame memory 306. The RGB digital data in the frame memory 306 is sent to the digital processing circuit 307 separately for R, G, and B, and is again converted into an analog signal by the D/A 304 and displayed on the external monitor 305. R,G
, B are processed by the digital processing circuit 307,
After each color undergoes processing such as color correction, edge enhancement, and data interpolation in order, it is sent to the one-line memory 308. The gradation data conversion circuit 309 includes a 1-line memory 308
By reading out more monochromatic 8-bit digital data 255 times per line (corresponding to 256 gradations) and comparing it with the threshold value (1 to 255) of the internal counter, 1 bit
t gradation data (1 = heat generation, 0 = no heat generation) is generated and sent to the thermal head 208. This is performed for 480 lines for each color to form one color image. The control circuit 310 generates operation timings for each circuit, generates addresses for the frame memory 306, and controls a CPU (not shown).
The operating mode is set by communicating with the controller.

FIG. 4 shows the dot print head 210 of FIG.
Shows the surrounding system configuration. Record data is created by the record data creation software on the external personal computer 402, and the record data and print command code are sent to the print control circuit 403 in the record data print unit 401. The print control circuit 403 converts the recording data into print data j and sends it to the dot print head 404 while measuring the timing based on the paper position detection signal from the mechanism 405, and also decodes the print command code and sends it to the control signal k of the mechanism 405. is being generated. In this way, Figure 5 (1), (
Recorded data such as 2) is printed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that parts whose numbers are shown in the figures and whose lower two digits are the same as those in the first embodiment of FIG. 1 have similar functions. In this embodiment, a print process for printing record data by a dot printer is configured before a print process for forming a color image. Therefore, the color image surface of the print paper 802 does not come into contact with the platen roller, and deterioration of image quality due to ink stains can be prevented.

In the above two embodiments, a dot impact printer was used in the recording data printing process, but
A thermal transfer type printer or an inkjet type printer may be used as long as it does not affect the color image.

[0017]

As described above, in a heat sublimation color video printer that forms a color image on print paper using heat sublimation ink, the first printing process of printing a color image on one side of the print paper, and Since the printing area is expanded by having a second printing process that prints on the other side of the paper, it is possible to provide a thermal dye sublimation type color video printer that can print sufficient recorded data.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a thermal dye sublimation color video printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an image processing circuit that sends gradation data to the thermal head of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a system configuration around the dot print head in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5(1) and 5(2) are diagrams showing examples of recorded data.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of a thermal dye sublimation color video printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional thermal dye sublimation color video printer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of an ink sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

201...Paper feed cassette, 202...Print paper, 203
...Paper feed roller, 204...Transport roller, 205...Paper guide, 206...First platen roller, 207...Ink sheet
cartridge, 208... thermal head, 209... second platen roller, 210... dot print head, 21
1... Paper output stacker.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1. A heat sublimation color video printer that forms a color image on print paper using heat sublimation ink, which includes a first printing process for printing a color image on one side of the print paper, and a first printing process for printing a color image on one side of the print paper; A thermal dye sublimation color video printer characterized by having a second printing process for printing recorded data.