JPH0445472A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out image forming at a low cost and at a high speed by selectively utilizing a means recording an image by transferring ink of a heat sensitive material to a medium to have an image formed on, and a powder developing means obtaining the image by recording the image once to an image supporting body and then transferring the image on this image supporting body to the medium to have the image formed on. CONSTITUTION:In a color copying, a drum sheet winding up means is operated when a specifying switch is pushed, and a non heat sensitive material sheet SA is wound up to a periphery surface of a drum 22. Furthermore, while a developing device unit 42 is moved to a direction A and a cleaner unit 47 is moved in a direction of an arrow B and separated from the drum 22, the upper part fixing roll 80 has its direction changed to the direction of an arrow C and is separated from a lower part fixing roll 81. When a copying start key is pushed, image formation is carried out by the heat sensitive transfer and recording method by a first recording means 23. Then, in the case of a single tone (black and white) copying, when the specifying switch is pushed, the heat sensitive material sheet SB is wound up to the periphery surface of the drum 22. Furthermore, while the developing device unit 42 and the cleaner unit 47 are brought close to the drum 22, the upper part fixing roll 80 is brought into a pressurized contact with the lower part fixing roll 81. The heat sensitive recording unit 23 is evaded from the drum 22 by being moved to the direction of the arrow D. When the copying start key is pushed, image formation is carried out by the second recording means 25 with the zerography method.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a color printer or a color copying machine that forms a color image.

(Prior Art) In recent years, color image forming apparatuses utilizing digital technology and employing a thermal transfer recording method using a heat-sensitive ribbon (ink ribbon) have been developed and put into practical use.

This type of image forming apparatus produces a very high level of color image quality due to the stability and uniformity of the technology used in the thermal ribbon.

However, since the thermal ribbon is used, the image forming cost per sheet is high, and the image forming speed is also limited by the conveying speed of the thermal ribbon, which makes it difficult to increase the speed.

On the other hand, as a method that can achieve faster speeds, powder developers (hereinafter referred to as toner) of each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black are used to perform charging, exposure development, transfer, peeling, cleaning, fixing, etc. There is also a xerography type color image forming apparatus which forms an image through each process, but the inside of the machine is dirty due to toner scattering, and each developing device is large, making the entire apparatus large and heavy. In addition, since keeping each developing device in constant contact with the image forming drum would result in a very large drum, a method of sequentially contacting the developing devices with the drum has been adopted, but this method reduces the image quality. There were problems such as instability.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in conventional color image forming apparatuses, those using a thermal transfer recording method using a thermal ribbon can obtain a very high level of color image quality. There are problems in that the per image forming cost is high and the image forming speed is slow. Furthermore, xerography-type devices capable of high-speed recording had problems such as unstable color images, dirt inside the device, and the overall device being heavy and large.

Additionally, thermal transfer recording systems using thermal ribbons use non-photosensitive drums to support the paper, while xerography systems require photosensitive drums to form toner images. There was a problem that common drums could not be used.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and allows the selection of a thermal transfer recording method that provides a high level of image quality when obtaining color images, even though it has a relatively compact configuration. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which one type of xerography can be selected, which has a low cost per sheet and can perform high-speed image formation when not being used.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the image forming apparatus of the present invention, as a first means, selectively forms an image forming medium and an image support on their outer peripheral surfaces. a first recording means for recording an image by transferring ink of a heat-sensitive material onto the image forming medium located on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating means; and a first recording means located on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating means. a second recording means comprising a powder developing means for once recording an image on the image support, and then transferring the image on the image support to the image forming medium to obtain an image; The image forming apparatus is configured to include a recording means and an image mode specifying means for specifying an image forming operation by the second recording means.

Further, as a second means, a rotating means that selectively has the image forming medium and the image support on the outer peripheral surface thereof and rotates;
a first recording means for recording an image by transferring heat-sensitive material ink to the image forming medium on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating means;
a second powder developing means for obtaining an image by once recording an image on the image support on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating means and then transferring the image on the image support to the image forming medium; a recording means, a carry-out path for carrying out an image forming medium on which an image has been formed by the first recording means and the second recording means, and a carry-out path provided in the carry-out passage for carrying out an image forming medium on which an image has been formed by the second recording means; The fixing device fixes the image formed on the medium and is in a non-fixing operation state when the first recording device is forming the image.

(Function) According to the first means of the present invention, the first recording means for recording an image by transferring ink of a heat-sensitive material onto the image forming medium on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating means; After once recording an image on an image support, a second recording means equipped with a powder developing means is selectively used to transfer the image on the image support to an image-forming medium to obtain an image. can. As a result, when obtaining a color image, it is possible to form an image using a thermal transfer recording method that provides a high level of image quality, and when the image quality is not so important, such as a monochrome image, the cost per sheet is low, and high-speed image formation is possible. Xerography-based image formation becomes possible.

Further, since it is possible to selectively wrap the image forming medium and the image support around the outer periphery of one rotating means, the rotating means can be shared and the apparatus can be made more compact.

According to the second means, in addition to the effect of the eleventh means, there is provided a common transport path for transporting the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the first recording means and the second recording means. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the transport route. Furthermore, since the fixing means provided in the output path operates only when the second recording means performs the recording operation, and is inactive when the first recording means forms an image, the image formed by the first recording means The image on the image forming medium is not damaged by the influence of the fixing means, and it is possible to obtain a stable image with a common conveyance path.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the second invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, which selectively performs color image formation by a thermal transfer recording method using a thermal ribbon and monochrome image formation by a xerography method using a powder developer. This shows a color copying machine that made it possible.

Inside the copying machine body 1, there is a document table (transparent glass) on the top.
A document scanning section 3 for scanning and reading a document set on the document scanning section 2 is disposed, and an image forming section 4 is provided below the document scanning section 3. Reference numeral 5 denotes a document cover provided on the document table 2 so as to be openable and closable.

The document scanning unit 3 is guided by an exposure lamp 6 as a light source 4 that illuminates the document tray, a first mirror 7 and a second mirror 8 that receive reflected light from the document tray, and reflect the light sequentially. Consists of a third mirror 10 that guides the reflected light to the lens 9, a fourth mirror 11 and a fifth mirror 12 that sequentially reflect the light that has passed through the lens 9, and a photoelectric converter 13 that receives the reflected light from the fifth mirror 12. .

Further, an exposure lamp 6, a reflector 14 surrounding the exposure lamp 6 and concentrating the light from the exposure lamp 6 on the document surface;
The first mirror 7 is mounted on the first carriage 15. Further, the second mirror 8 and the third mirror 10 are mounted on a second carriage 16. Then, the first carriage 15 travels along the lower surface of the document table 2 in the right direction in the figure at a speed V via a drive means (not shown), and
The second carriage 16 moves at half speed (V/2) in the same direction.
It is designed to run on. As a result, the original document is scanned while keeping the optical path length up to the lens 9 constant.

Further, the fourth mirror 11 and the fifth mirror 12 are mounted on a third carriage 17, and are moved to predetermined positions during zooming to correct the optical path length.

The lens 9 has a fixed focal length and is moved in the optical axis direction when changing the magnification. This lens 9 may be composed of a variable focal length lens such as a zoom lens.

The photoelectric converter 13 photoelectrically converts the light reflected from the document tray to separate and output the image on the document tray as color signals of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light. , for example, is mainly composed of a CCD type line image sensor.

In this case, one pixel on the document is a continuous pixel on the CCD sensor.
It corresponds to three elements (R, G, B).

The output of the photoelectric converter 13 is stored as yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K) information by the conversion circuit and integrated circuit of the control means 20.

Further, the image forming section 4 has the following configuration.

That is, a drum 22 serving as a rotating means is disposed approximately at the center of the image forming section 4 .

This drum 22 functions as a platen roller facing a thermal head 24 of a first recording means 23 of a thermal transfer recording method, and a second recording means 2 of a xerography type.
It has the function of 5 photoreceptor drums. The drum 22 is
Its circumference is slightly longer than the length of the maximum size of paper P as an image forming medium.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a slit 30 is formed along the length direction, and the drum sheet S is wound at both ends around winding shafts 31 and 32 disposed within the drum 22. A midway portion is led out to the outside through this slit 30 and wound around the outer periphery.

As shown in FIG. 3, the drum sheet S is composed of a non-photosensitive material sheet SA such as a polyethylene terephthalate film (trade name: Mylar) and a photosensitive material sheet SB as an image support such as -〇PC. SA and Sa are selectively wound around the outer periphery of the drum 22 by performing a feeding and winding operation by rotating the winding shafts 31 and 32 in forward and reverse directions.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the slit 30 is closed by a gripper 34 which also serves as a shield plate and which is movable in the radial direction using a solenoid 33 as a driving source, and contains a developer (toner). ) etc. are prevented from entering, and one end of the paper P is held between it and the opening edge of the slit 30.

Then, while the leading edge of the paper P is held by the gripper 34, the drum 22 rotates in the direction of the arrow a in the figure, so that the paper P is wrapped around the drum sheet S on the outer circumferential surface of the drum 22, resulting in overlapping printing. This prevents the paper P from shifting during the process.

A plurality of pressure rollers 35 (only one shown in FIG. 2) are provided around the drum 22 at predetermined intervals to prevent the paper P from floating up from the drum 22.

Furthermore, a thermal recording unit 23 serving as a first recording means of a thermal transfer recording method is arranged at the upper left of the drum 22.

This thermal recording unit 23 has a thermal head 24 as a first image output means, and a thermal ribbon (ink ribbon) R as a transfer material is interposed between the thermal head 24 and the drum 22. It becomes.

The winding cores 36 and 37 of the heat-sensitive ribbon R are connected to a drive shaft of a motor (not shown) via a drive force transmission mechanism (not shown), and are driven to rotate as required.

The thermal recording unit 23 includes a developing unit 42 which will be described later.
Similarly, it is slidable in the direction toward and away from the drum 22.

Further, when the thermal recording unit 23 approaches the drum 22, the thermal head 24 is brought into pressure contact with and separated from the drum 22 by a cam mechanism (not shown).
4, the tension of the thermal ribbon R is adjusted by a ribbon tension adjustment mechanism (not shown), so that the thermal head 24 can be pressed without causing wrinkles or slack in the thermal ribbon R.

Further, the xerography-type second recording means 25 has the following configuration.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, a charger 40 as a charging means is arranged at the upper right part of the drum 22.
Furthermore, along the rotation direction of the drum 22, a light emitting array 41 as a second image output means, a developing device unit 42 as a developing means having black toner t, a transfer charger 43 as a transfer means, and a peeling means as a peeling means. The structure includes a charger 44, a first peeling claw 45, a second peeling claw 46, and a cleaner unit 47 as a cleaning means.

In addition, an upper cassette 5 is located in the lower right part of the copying machine main body 1.
0 and a lower cassette 51 are installed. moreover,
In the vicinity of the upper cassette 50, a paper feeding roller 52 serving as an ejecting means and a separation feeding mechanism 53 consisting of a feeding roller and a reversing roller are provided.
1, there are provided a paper feed roller 54 as a take-out means, and a separation feed mechanism 55 consisting of a feed roller and a reversing roller. Then, paper P as an image forming medium housed in the cassettes 54 and 55 can be selectively taken out.

Moreover, the paper P taken out from the cassette 54.55 is
The sheet is carried between the drum 22 and the guide plate 58, which is the receiving section, through a paper carry-in path 57 in which a pair of aligning rollers 56 are arranged.

In the recording mode using the first recording means 23 of the thermal transfer recording method, the paper P is wound around the drum 22 by the gripper 34, the pressing roller 35, and so on. In addition, a xerographic second recording means 25
During recording, the paper is guided to an image transfer section formed between the drum 22 and the transfer charger 43, and is guided to a paper discharge tray 61 as a paper discharge section via a paper discharge path 60 as a paper discharge path. There is.

Further, on the downstream side of the discharge path 60, a heat roller type fixing unit 62 and a pair of paper ejection rollers 63, which are fixing means, are arranged.

Further, the developing unit 42 is moved by a developing unit moving means 65 shown in FIG.
When the developing roller 66 is in the image forming mode by the first recording means 23), the gap between the developing roller 66 and the drum 22 is kept close to the drum 22 at a value suitable for development. (time), it is evacuated in a direction away from the drum 22 to avoid any adverse effects.

The developing device unit moving means 65 includes a rack 68 formed at the bottom of the unit body (casing) 67 and a pinion 70 that meshes with the rack 68 and is rotationally driven by a stepping motor 69. The stepping motor 69 causes the pinion 70 to rotate forward (rotation in the direction of the solid arrow) or reverse (rotation in the direction of the dashed arrow), thereby moving the developing unit 42 forward in the direction of the solid arrow or backward in the direction of the dashed arrow. It has become.

Further, the developing unit 42 is replaceable,
If necessary, it can be replaced with one containing toner of another color.

Further, the cleaner unit 47 and the thermal recording unit 23 are moved close to the drum 22 during operation by a cleaner unit moving means 72 and a thermal recording unit moving means 73 having the same configuration as the developing unit moving means 65. During operation, it is designed to retreat in a direction away from the drum 22.

Further, the developer unit moving means 65, the cleaner unit moving means 72, and the thermal recording unit moving means 73 are
As shown in FIG. 5, it is connected to control means 20.

The control means 20 also includes an image mode specifying means 74 for specifying a recording mode by the first recording means 23 of the thermal transfer recording method or a recording mode by the second recording means 25 of the xerography type, and a drum sheet. A drum sheet winding means 75 that winds up a non-photosensitive material sheet SA and a photosensitive material sheet SB such as OPC selectively around the outer periphery of the drum 22, and a gripper operating means 76 that operates the gripper 34.
is connected.

Further, the control means 20 includes a pair of aligning rollers 56.
, a paper transport means 77 as a medium transport means comprising a drum 22 and a pair of paper ejection rollers 63, and a paper supply means 78 as a medium supply means comprising paper feed rollers 52, 54, a separation feeding mechanism 53, 55, etc. connected and controlled.

Furthermore, the control means 20 includes a peeling claw actuating means 79 that brings the peeling claws 45 and 46 into contact with and separates from each other, and a peeling claw operating means 79 that brings the upper fixing roller (heat roller) 80 of the fixing unit 62 into contact with the lower fixing roller (pressure roller) 81. Fixing roller contact/separation means 8
2, and a thermal/transfer image forming process means 83 that controls the image forming process of the first recording means 23 of the thermal transfer recording method and the second recording means 25 of the xerographic method are connected, These are controlled.

The image mode designation means 7.4 also includes an operation panel 85 provided on the upper surface of the copying machine main body 1, as shown in FIG.
It consists of a color copy designation switch 86 and a monochrome copy designation switch 87, which are arranged at.

Further, the fixing roller contact/separation means 82 is shown in FIGS.
The configuration is as shown in Figure B. Upper fuser roller (
Both ends of the heat roller (heat roller) 80 are rotatably held on the free end sides of support arms 91 and 91 with a shaft 90 as a rotational fulcrum. The support arms 91 , 91 are biased by springs 92 in a direction away from the lower fixing roller (pressure roller) 81 , and are in pressure contact with the eccentric cam 93 . Further, the eccentric cam 93 is rotated once by the action of a half-rotation drive means 94 whose operation source is a solenoid, for example.
It is designed to rotate by 80@.

Then, when the monochrome copy designation switch 87 of the image mode designation means 74 is pressed, the arc portion of the eccentric cam 93 hits the support arm 9191, causing the support arm 91.91 to be biased by the biasing force of the spring 92, as shown in FIG. 7A. It is in a state where it is pushed down to a predetermined position against the resistance. At this time, the support lever 96 that supports the lower fixing roller 81 is pushed upward (in the direction of the arrow) by a spring member (not shown), and the upper fixing roller 80 is in pressure contact with the lower fixing roller 81.

Further, when the color copy designation switch 86 of the image mode designation means 74 is pressed, the eccentric cam 93 is rotated by 180' as shown in FIG.
．． As a result, the support arm 91.91 is rotationally displaced in the direction of arrow C by the biasing force of the spring 92, and the upper fixing roller 80 is lifted. Then, the upper fixing roller 80 is separated from the lower fixing roller 81.

Note that 97 shown in FIG. 1 is a paper ejection guide.

Next, the image forming operation of the apparatus formed in this manner will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 9 to 11.

First, the case of color copying will be explained.

First, the operator places a document on the document table 2 in advance, presses the color copy designation switch 86 (see FIG. 6) on the operation panel 85, and selects the number of copies and copy magnification from setting means (not shown). Enter other information such as

By pressing this color copy designation switch 86,
The operation shown on the left side in FIG. 11 is performed, that is, the drum sheet winding means 75 operates, and the non-thermal material sheet SA is wound around the circumferential surface of the drum 22 as shown in FIG. 8A. . Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the developer unit moving means 65 and the cleaner unit moving means 72 operate to move the developer unit 42 in the direction A and the cleaner unit 47 in the direction of the arrow B, separating them from the drum 22. At the same time, the fixing roller contact/separation means 8
2 operates, the upper fixing roller 80 is displaced in the direction of arrow C, and becomes separated from the lower fixing roller 81.

Then, a copy start key (not shown) is input.

Then, the exposure lamp 6 of the document scanning section 3 is turned on, and the first and second carriages 15 and 16 move. Thereby, the light from the exposure lamp 6 is irradiated onto the document via the document table 2.

The reflected light from the original is reflected by mirrors 7, 8, 10, lens 9,
It is led in turn via mirrors 11 , 12 to charging converter 13 . This photoelectric converter 13 separates the light into analog color signals of cyan (C), green (G), yellow (Y), or red (R), green (G), and blue (B), and controls the It is sent to the A/D converter of means 20. The A/D converter converts each analog color signal into a digital signal. Then, the information is stored as yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K) information by an integrated circuit (not shown).

On the other hand, in response to the input of the copy start key (not shown), image formation is performed by the first recording means 23 using a thermal transfer recording method.

That is, the upper cassette 50 or the lower cassette 51
The paper P inside is taken out by the paper feed roller 53 (55), and the taken out paper P is guided to the drum 22 via the paper carry-in path 57, and its leading end is fixed by the gripper 34.

The sheet P, whose leading end is fixed by the gripper 34, is wound around the drum 22 as the drum 22 rotates in the direction of arrow a (see FIGS. 2 and 9).

After the leading edge of the paper P wrapped around the drum 22 passes through the printing area, the thermal head 24 of the thermosensitive recording unit 23 is pressed against the drum 22, and an image signal is sent to the thermal head 24 to form an image ( printing) is performed.

- When the color image formation is completed, the drum 22 has made approximately one rotation. Here, the thermal head 24
is once released, the thermal ribbon R is wound up, and the next color is cued up. Then, the drum 22 starts rotating again in the direction of the arrow a in the figure, and the thermal head 24 starts forming an image, and the next color is superimposed.

In this way, in the case of full-color copying, color images are formed by four operations of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, or three operations of yellow, magenta, and cyan.

After this, the copied paper P is ejected. That is,
The drum 22 is rotated in the direction of arrow a (in the direction of the solid line arrow) until the rear end of the paper P passes the second peeling claw 46, and immediately after passing, the drum 22 is rotated in the opposite direction (in the direction of the broken line arrow). At this time, the tip of the second peeling claw 46 is brought close to the drum 22 by the peeling claw differential means 79, and the rear end of the paper P is separated from the drum 22 by the second peeling claw 46. Then, the paper P is guided to the paper ejection path 60 via the upper surface side of the paper ejection guide 97 as shown by the two-dot chain line.

Finally, the leading edge of the paper P is released from the gripper 34.

At this time, the fixing unit 62 disposed in the paper output path 60 is separated from the upper fixing roller and is in a non-fixing operation state, so that the image on the paper P is not damaged. Then, the copied paper P is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 61, and the color copying operation is completed.

Next, the case of monochrome (black and white) copying will be explained.

First, with the original placed on the original platen 2 in advance, the operator presses the monochrome copy designation switch 87 (see FIG. 6) on the operation panel 85, and selects the number of copies and copy magnification from setting means (not shown). Enter other information such as

On the other hand, due to the pressing operation of the monochrome copy designation switch 87,
The drum sheet winding means 75 operates, and the heat-sensitive material sheet SR is wound around the circumferential surface of the drum 22 as shown in FIG. 8B. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, a developing unit moving means 65 and a cleaner unit moving means 7 are provided.
2 operates, the developer unit 42 and the cleaner unit 47 are positioned close to the drum 22, and
The fixing roller approaching/separating means 82 operates and the upper fixing roller 80
is in pressure contact with the lower fixing roller 81.

The thermal recording unit moving means 73 operates to move the thermal recording unit,
The knit 23 moves in the direction of the arrow and is retracted from the drum 22.

Then, a copy start key (not shown) is input.

Then, the exposure lamp 6 of the document scanning section 3 is turned on, and the first and second carriages 15 and 16 move. Thereby, the light from the exposure lamp 6 is irradiated onto the document via the document table 2.

The reflected light from the original is reflected by mirrors 7, 8, 10, lens 9,
It is guided in turn to a photoelectric converter 13 via mirrors 11 and 12. This photoelectric converter 3 separates the light into analog color signals of cyan (C), green (G), yellow (Y), or red (R), green (G), and blue (B), The signal is sent to the A/D converter of the control means 20. The A/D converter converts each analog color signal into a digital signal. Then, the information is stored as yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K) information by an integrated circuit (not shown).

On the other hand, in response to the input of the copy start key (not shown), the second recording means 25 performs image formation using xerography.

That is, as the drum 22 rotates in the direction of arrow a, the photosensitive material sheet sB as an image support on the surface of the drum 22 is uniformly charged by the charging charger 40. Then, an electrostatic latent image is formed by the image information (K) output by the light emitting array 41. Thereafter, this electrostatic latent image is opposed to the developer unit 42, whereby a toner image (visible image) of black toner t is formed.

In synchronization with this image forming operation, the paper P in the upper cassette 5o or the lower cassette 51 is moved to the paper feed roller 53 (55).
The paper P is taken out and fed into the paper carry-in path 57, and after the leading edge of the paper P is aligned in advance by the aligning roller pair 56, the paper P is fed into the image transfer section between the drum 22 and the transfer charger 43 at a proper timing. .

Then, the toner image on the photosensitive material sheet sB wound around the drum 22 is electrostatically transferred to the paper P by the action of the transfer charger 43, and then this paper P is transferred by the peeling charger 44 and the first peeling claw 45. The paper is separated from the drum 22 and guided to the paper discharge path 6o through the lower side of the paper discharge guide rear.

Thereafter, the toner image on the paper P is heated and melted and fixed by a fixing device unit 62 disposed in the paper discharge path 6o, and then transferred to the paper discharge tray 61 via a pair of paper discharge rollers 63.
The rice is dumped on top.

Further, the photosensitive material sheet SB wound around the drum 22 after the image transfer is cleaned by the cleaner unit 47, and the copying operation is completed.

As explained above, in the color copying machine as an image forming apparatus of the present invention, when obtaining a color image,
Image formation using a thermal transfer recording method can be performed by the first recording means (thermal recording unit) 23, and an image with a very high level of color image quality can be obtained.

Further, when obtaining a frequently used black image, the second recording means 25 can perform xerographic image formation, and the image can be obtained at low cost and at high speed.

In addition, since it has a drum 22 as a rotating means that selectively has paper P as an image forming medium and a photosensitive material sheet sB as an image support on its outer periphery, it can be used when forming an image using a thermal transfer recording method or when forming an image using xerography. One drum 22 can be used in common during image formation, and the apparatus can be made more compact.

In addition, since there is a common paper ejection path 60 for ejecting the paper P on which an image has been formed by the first recording means 23 and the second recording means 25, the paper ejection route can be simplified. Furthermore, the fixing means 62 provided in the paper discharge path 6° operates only when the second recording means 25 performs a recording operation, and is inactive when the first recording means 23 forms an image.
The toner image formed on the paper P by the first recording means 23 is not damaged by the influence of the fixing means 62, and it is possible to obtain a stable image when the paper ejection path 60 is shared. Become.

Further, by replacing the developing unit 42 with another color, a monochromatic image other than black can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, the xerography type second recording means 25 uses black toner, but other colors may be used. Further, the number of developer units may be two or more so that images of multiple colors can be produced without replacing the developer units.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist.

[Effects of the Invention] With the configuration as detailed above, the following effects are achieved.

In the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, there is provided a first recording means for recording an image by transferring ink of a heat-sensitive material onto an image forming medium on an outer circumferential surface of the rotating means; and an image support on an outer circumferential surface of the rotating means. A second recording means for obtaining an image by once recording an image on the image support and transferring the image on the image support to an image-forming medium can be selectively used. As a result, when obtaining a color image, it is possible to form an image using a thermal transfer recording method that provides a high level of image quality, and when the image quality is not so important, such as a monochrome image, the cost per sheet is low, and
It can perform xerographic image formation that allows high-speed image formation.

Further, since it is possible to selectively wrap the image forming medium and the image support around the outer periphery of one rotating means, the rotating means can be shared and the apparatus can be made more compact.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, in addition to the effects of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, an image forming medium on which an image is formed by the first recording means and the second recording means is transported out. Since there is a common carry-out route for the transfer, the carry-out route can be simplified. Furthermore, since the fixing means provided in the output path operates only when the second recording means performs the recording operation, and is inactive when the first recording means forms an image, the image formed by the first recording means The image on the image forming medium is not damaged by the influence of the fixing means, and a stable image can be obtained in a state where the conveyance path is shared.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration of the entire device, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of the main parts of the drum, and FIG. A cross-sectional view of the drum sheet, FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the developing unit moving means, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the control system, FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the image mode specifying means, and FIG. 7A is a fixing FIG. 7B is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the fixing roller is in pressure contact with the roller contact/separation means.
8A is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the fixing roller is separated by the fixing roller contact/separation means, FIG. 8A is a sectional view showing a part of the state in which paper is wrapped around the drum via a non-photosensitive material sheet, and FIG. 8B is a sectional view of the drum. A sectional view showing a part of the state in which a photosensitive material sheet is wrapped around the top, FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the state during color copying,
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the state during monochrome copying, and FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the operating state. P...paper (image forming medium), S...drum sheet, SA...non-photosensitive material sheet, SB...photosensitive material sheet (image support), R...thermal ribbon (thermal material) ), 22
...Drum (rotating means), 23...First recording means, 25...Second recording means, 6o...Paper output path (
unloading path), 62...fusing unit (fixing means), 7
4... Image mode designation means. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure Figure Figure B Figure Figure B

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A rotating means that selectively has an image forming medium and an image support on its outer circumferential surface and rotates the image forming medium, and a heat-sensitive material ink is transferred to the image forming medium on the outer circumferential surface of the rotating means to form an image. a first recording means for recording; and after once recording an image on the image support on the outer peripheral surface of the rotation means, the image on the image support is transferred to the image forming medium to obtain an image; An image forming apparatus comprising: a second recording means including a powder developing means; and an image mode designation means for designating an image forming operation by the first recording means and the second recording means. (2) a rotating means that selectively has an image forming medium and an image support on its outer circumferential surface and rotates the image forming medium, and transfers heat-sensitive ink to the image forming medium on the outer circumferential surface of the rotating means to form an image; a first recording means for recording; and after once recording an image on the image support on the outer peripheral surface of the rotation means, the image on the image support is transferred to the image forming medium to obtain an image; a second recording means equipped with a powder developing means; a discharge path for transporting the image forming medium on which an image has been formed by the first recording means and the second recording means; The fixing device fixes the image formed on the image forming medium by the second recording device, and is in a non-fixing operation state when the first recording device forms the image. Image forming device.