JPH05229112A - Recording method and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a high-quality recording image irrespective of the surface properties of recording paper by providing a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image on a substrate, a means for forming an ink image in accordance with image signals, and a means for transferring the ink image in the image holding layer to a recording medium. CONSTITUTION:With the rotation of a drum 1, a holding layer forming roller 3a applies a holding layer forming material to a peripheral surface 2 of the drum 1 to form a holding layer 4a. When the peripheral surface 2 of the drum 1 with the holding layer 4a applied reaches a position opposed to a recording head 5, the recording head 5 is so controlled by image signals as to supply ink 6 onto the holding layer 4a as an ink image 6a. The leading end of recording paper 7 is so controlled as to enter onto a transfer roller 8a when the top end of the ink image 6a reaches a position of the transfer roller 8a by the further rotation of the drum 1. The ink image 6a on the drum 1 is transferred to an opposed recording surface of the recording paper 7 under heat and pressure as a recording image. The part of the drum 1 passing through the transfer roller 8a reaches a position of a cleaning roller 9a by the rotation of the drum 1. The recording paper 7 with the image transferred is discharged by a paper discharge roller 14a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording method and recording apparatus for recording image information such as characters and images on a recording material such as paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a recording device for obtaining an image on a recording paper such as plain paper, one using ink jet recording or thermal transfer recording is known. In general, since liquid ink is used in inkjet recording, there is an economical advantage that recording can be performed by ejecting ink only to a necessary image portion. However, this inkjet recording has a drawback that the ink bleeds on the recording paper. On the other hand, thermal transfer recording gives an image having a relatively sharp feeling. However, in thermal transfer recording, solid ink is heated at room temperature to form an image on paper, so when using so-called rough paper with a rough surface, ink adhesion is poor, and this causes image quality deterioration. was there. As described above, in order to obtain a high-definition image or a high-quality image, these recording devices require a special paper such as a paper on which ink does not spread or a paper with a smooth surface.

In ink jet recording, when the distance between the nozzles for ejecting ink and the recording paper changes, the shape, size, and recording position of the ink droplets also change, so that it can be applied to all of various recording papers having different thicknesses. It was difficult to obtain good image quality.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is not limited to special-purpose paper such as high-smoothness paper or coated paper, which is made in accordance with a recording apparatus, and A recording method and a recording apparatus capable of forming a high-quality recorded image and capable of high-speed recording on any recording material such as paper and a resin sheet typified by an OHP film which is generally treated like paper. The purpose is to provide.

[0005]

The present invention has the following five aspects.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a step of forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein on a support, supplying ink into the image holding layer according to an image signal, There is provided a recording method including a step of forming an ink image in the image holding layer and a step of transferring the ink image in the image holding layer onto a recording material.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein, on the support, Recording comprising means for supplying ink into the image holding layer in accordance with an image signal to form an ink image in the image holding layer, and means for transferring the ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material Provide the device.

A third aspect of the present invention is to provide a support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein, on the support, and a room temperature. And an ink carrying sheet on which a solid ink layer is formed, and a heating means for forming an ink image in the image holding layer by bringing the ink layer into contact with the support and heating according to an image signal, There is provided a recording apparatus having a unit for transferring the ink image in the image holding layer onto a recording material.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a step of preparing an image-holding sheet having a sheet-like support and an image-holding layer which is previously formed on the sheet-like support and can hold an ink image, A step of supplying ink to the image holding layer to form an ink image in the image holding layer, and bringing the image holding layer holding the ink image into contact with the recording material to transfer the ink image onto the recording material. And a recording method.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an image therein, and the image are provided. Means for supplying a plurality of colors of ink to the holding layer to form a color ink image in the image holding layer, and means for transferring the color ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material. A color image recording apparatus comprising:

The ink image is preferably formed by impregnating the image holding layer.

The support is preferably a recyclable member, more preferably a drum or belt.

[0013]

The essence of the present invention is that the ink is not directly attached to the recording paper, but a predetermined image holding layer is used as an intermediate layer, an ink image is formed on the image holding layer, and then the ink image is transferred to the recording paper. To do.

The image holding layer is capable of holding an ink image therein.

This situation will be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1
1A to 1D, an example of a state in which an image holding layer is formed, an ink image is formed in the image holding layer, an ink image is transferred to a recording material, an ink image is a recording material. Other examples of the state transferred to are shown below.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the image holding layer 4a
Is formed on the support 2 by the image holding layer forming means 300. As shown in FIG. 1B, the formed image holding layer 4
The ink image 6a is held in a. As shown in FIG. 1C, the held ink image 6a is transferred to the recording material and becomes an image 6b. In addition, as shown in FIG.
The held ink image 6a can be transferred onto a recording material together with at least the image holding layer around it.

According to the present invention, an ink image is formed in the image holding layer, and the ink image is transferred to the recording material, so that the ink bleeds or diffuses regardless of the surface condition or thickness of the recording material. It is possible to obtain a high-quality image with suppressed noise.

[0018]

The present invention will be specifically described below.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cylindrical drum (support), and power from a motor (not shown) is transmitted to a drum shaft at the center of the drum 1 via a gear (not shown), a timing belt, etc. Rotate clockwise about the axis.

Around the drum 1, along the peripheral surface thereof, a holding layer forming section 3 provided with a holding layer forming roller 3a for forming the holding layer 4a on the supporting layer 2 and a transfer roller 8a are provided. A transfer unit 8 and a cleaning unit 9 provided with a cleaning roller 9a are provided. These holding layer forming roller 3a, transfer roller 8a, cleaning roller 9a
Are arranged at positions where they can contact the peripheral surface of the drum 1. These rollers do not have independent drive sources, and when these rollers come into contact with the drum 1 at a predetermined pressure by a pressure urging means such as a spring (not shown), the drum 1 is driven by the rotational driving of the drum 1. Rotate in conjunction.

At a position between the holding layer forming roller 3a and the transfer roller 8a, a recording head 5 for forming an ink image 6a is formed.
Are arranged with a slight gap from the peripheral surface of the drum 1. Various conventional recording head technologies can be used for the recording head 5, and an inkjet recording head is used here. The ink jet recording head is not limited to the method, but, for example, a method that uses electromechanical conversion using a piezoelectric element, a method that uses a heater inside a nozzle to generate bubbles, or a nozzle and a drum is used. A method that belongs to the on-demand method, such as a method that uses an electrostatic force by applying an electric field between them, is desirable from the viewpoint of ink economy.

An ink tank 10 is connected to the recording head 5 via an ink injection pipe 11, and a necessary amount of ink is supplied at a proper time. Further, the drive circuit 12 is electrically connected to the recording head 5, and droplets can be ejected from each nozzle of the recording head 5 at appropriate timing according to a desired signal.

Here, as a recording method using the recording head 5, an example of an ink jet method is shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (f).

As shown in FIG. 3A, the recording head 5 contains liquid ink 6. A heater 301 is provided inside the nozzle that constitutes the ink head. When the heater 301 is heated according to the image signal, bubbles 302 are generated as shown in FIG.
The generated bubbles 302 cause the ink 6 to be extruded as shown in FIG. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3D, the ink droplet 6 is ejected toward the image holding layer 4a.

3D shows an example in which the ink droplet 6 is ejected, the ink 6 is raised by the bubble 302 as shown in FIG. Ink droplets 6 may adhere to the image holding layer 4a as shown in FIG. Although not shown, the attached ink image then penetrates into the image holding layer 4a to form an ink image.

The ink image formed by the recording head 5 as described above is then subjected to transfer as shown in FIG.

The transfer roller 8a is a heat roller in this embodiment, and the surface of the heat roller is set to an appropriate temperature by a temperature control circuit (not shown). To the left and right of the transfer roller 8a, a paper feed roller 13a and a driven roller 13b, a paper discharge roller 14a and a driven roller 14b, respectively.
Are provided, and the paper feed roller 13a and the paper discharge roller 14a rotate in synchronization with the power of a motor (not shown). By the rotation of these rollers, the recording paper 7 such as plain paper is guided from the paper feed roller 13a side to the paper discharge roller 14a side by the guide plate 15 and conveyed.

However, when the recording paper 7 is at the position of the transfer roller 8a and the drum 1 and the transfer roller 8a are pressed against each other, the power transmission to the paper feed roller 13a and the paper discharge roller 14a is suppressed, and the drum is Rotating force of 1 gives priority to recording paper 7
Are controlled to be transported. Further, the above-described operation is detected by various sensors (not shown), the timing is taken into consideration, and is performed based on a command from a CPU (not shown).

Next, these operations will be described. First, the recording operation starts when the rotation of the drum 1 is started. When the drum 1 starts to rotate, the holding layer forming material stored in a container (not shown) built in the holding layer forming section 3 is applied to the surface of the drum 1 which is in contact with the holding layer forming roller 3a. It is applied uniformly to form the holding layer 4a. As a coating method applied to the holding layer forming portion 3, various conventional coating methods can be used. It is selected according to the type of holding layer forming material used and the coating speed. For example, a roll coater, a gravure coater, a blade coater, an air knife coater, a bar coater, and a spray device can be applied.

When it is necessary to sufficiently increase the layer thickness of the holding layer 4a, it is effective to perform multiple coatings two or more times. In this case, a plurality of sets of coating rollers are arranged on the drum surface. Just set it up. Further, the holding layer 4 formed on the drum 1
In order to improve the uniformity of the thickness of a, the blade 3b made of rubber or the like may be disposed so as to contact the drum surface with a predetermined slight pressure.

The holding layer forming material stored in the holding layer forming portion 3 is used here by liquefying polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), but the holding layer forming material is not limited to this, and any of gas, liquid and solid at room temperature can be used. But it doesn't matter. Any material can be used as the holding layer forming material as long as it can be supplied to the surface of the drum when the holding layer is formed and the holding layer can be formed. Therefore, when the holding layer 4a is formed by the coating method as in the present embodiment, when the holding layer 4a is usually solid at room temperature, it is softened or liquefied by preheating the heater, or when it is gas at room temperature. Is liquefied and used.

Here, the holding layer 4a is selected from those having a function of holding the ink 6 supplied from the recording head 5 as described below. For example, when a water-soluble ink is used as the ink 6. , Gelatin or agar that exhibits gel state, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid amide, cellulose derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose, casein, gum arabic, various starches including oxidized starch, etc., alone or in combination. In many cases, those having swelling property, wettability and viscosity are more excellent in ink retention and transfer to recording paper.

Further, an appropriate amount of pigment may be added in order to adjust the ink absorption and prevent the ink from bleeding on the holding layer 4a and the recording paper 7. Examples of effective pigments include silica such as amorphous silica, talc, kaolin, clay, light and hard calcium carbonate, titanium oxide, zinc oxide, zinc sulfide, barium sulfate, calcium sulfate, aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide. , Acid clay, diatomaceous earth, urea formalin resin, etc.
In particular, when amorphous silica is contained, ink bleeding is small and the effect is large.

On the other hand, when an oil-based ink is used as the ink 6 to be used, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl formal, polyamide resin, polyacrylonitrile, phenol resin, polyurethane resin or the like is applied as the material of the holding layer 4a. It is possible.

When the peripheral surface 2 of the drum 1 on which the holding layer 4a is formed reaches a position facing the recording head 5, the recording head 5 is driven through the drive circuit 12 based on a desired image signal.
Is controlled, and the ink 6 is supplied onto the holding layer 4a. A water-based ink is used here, but the invention is not limited to this. Generally, most of the supplied ink 6 penetrates into the holding layer 4a and is contained in the holding layer 4a. A part thereof may stay on the surface of the holding layer 4a. In this way, the ink image 6a is formed.

Specifically, depending on the materials of the ink 6 and the holding layer 4a, the ink 6 and the holding layer 4a may be mixed,
There are cases where ink droplets are separated and held inside the holding layer 4a, and cases where the ink 6 and the holding layer 4a form a chemical bond such as polymerization to form an ink image.

When polyvinyl alcohol is used as the holding layer 4a, it is excellent in the absorbability of the water-soluble ink.
The ink 6 and the holding layer 4a are mixed to form an ink image 6a, and a high-resolution, high-quality image is obtained.

Examples of the water-soluble ink include the following compositions.

Ink Example 1 Black Ink Direct Black 19 2 parts by weight Diethylene glycol 20 parts by weight Water 80 parts by weight Yellow ink Acid Yellow 23 2 parts by weight Diethylene glycol 20 parts by weight Water 80 parts by weight Magenta ink Acid Red 35 2 parts by weight Diethylene glycol 20 parts by weight Water 80 parts by weight Cyan ink Direct Blue 86 2 parts by weight Diethylene glycol 20 parts by weight Water 80 parts by weight The operation of forming an ink image is to form an ink image on the recording paper using the same head as the recording head 5 in the conventional line printer. It is almost the same as the method. In this embodiment, the recording target is not the recording paper but the intermediate body, that is, the holding layer 4a on the drum 1, and the ink image to be formed is a reversed image. Since various conditions such as the composition of the holding layer 4a and the thickness to be formed can be defined in advance, it is easy to set an appropriate composition of the ink 6 supplied from the recording head 5. Further, the holding layer 4a
Since the distance between the surface and the recording head 5 can be adjusted to be constant, an optimum distance can be provided to obtain good image quality.

According to the present invention, by using a predetermined image holding layer as an intermediate, a high quality image can be obtained as compared with the case of directly recording on a recording paper such as plain paper. Further, after applying the holding layer forming material, it may take a predetermined time until the holding layer 4a has the optimum state necessary for holding the ink 6. In this case, the time from the formation of the holding layer to the ink supply by the recording head 5 may be controlled, or depending on the composition of the holding layer 4a, the holding layer may be formed and then blown or cooled by a fan or a heater (not shown). Treatments such as heating and heating may be applied. Next, when the rotation of the drum 1 progresses and the leading edge of the ink image 6a obtained by the recording head 5 reaches the position of the transfer roller 8a, the leading edge of the recording sheet 7 enters the transfer roller 8a side. Is controlled. If the transfer roller 8a is a rubber roller made of silicone rubber or the like, the contact between the holding layer side and the recording paper side is good and the transfer roller 8a can be used sufficiently, but the ink image 6a in the holding layer 4a is easily transferred to the recording paper 7. Therefore, a heat roller is used in this embodiment. The surface of the transfer roller 8a is controlled by a temperature control circuit (not shown) so as to maintain a predetermined temperature. This temperature depends on the rotation speed and pressure of the transfer roller 8a, the composition of the holding layer 4a and the ink 6 used, and the like, but is usually in the range of about 60 ° C to 300 ° C.

The drum 1 and the transfer roller 8a are in contact with each other at a predetermined pressure, and the ink image 6a on the drum 1 is transferred onto the recording surface of the recording paper 7 which is opposed thereto by the action of heat and pressure. Even if a heat roller is not used as the transfer roller 8a, transfer can be performed only by the action of pressure. When the drum 1 and the recording paper 7 come into close contact with each other in the transfer portion, the recording paper 7 may not be separated even after passing through the transfer roller 8a.
In that case, the recording paper 7 that has passed through the transfer roller 8a is guided by the peeling member 16 arranged at a predetermined position immediately after the transfer roller 8a, the contact with the drum 1 is released, and then the paper discharge roller. 14a side.

Focusing on the minute area in the transfer state,
The ink image 6a and the holding layer 4a holding the ink image 6a are integrated and contact the recording surface of the recording paper 7. Here, the ink image 6
Since a is held by the holding layer 4a, the ink image 6a in the holding layer 4a cannot move in the lateral direction of the holding layer 4a.
For this reason, the ink image 6a is transferred in the thickness direction of the recording paper 7 at a position facing each other on the recording surface. In this way, drum 1
The ink image 6a formed above is transferred to the surface of the recording paper 7 while maintaining its area and shape.

FIG. 4 is an example schematically showing the transfer state of the transfer portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. The ink image 6a ejected from the recording head 5 is impregnated in the holding layer 4a as shown in FIG. When this ink image 6a is sent while being held up to the position of the transfer roller 8a, the holding layer 4a contacts the surface of the recording paper 7, and the ink image 6a in the holding layer 4a is transferred to the recording paper 7. The ink image 6a is transferred to the recording paper 7 side to become an ink image 6b, and a recording image is formed on the recording paper 7. In general, a small amount of ink remains at the original position of the ink image 6a. The residual ink is removed together with the holding layer 4a in the cleaning section 9 as a post process.

In this way, the ink image 6a is formed in the holding layer 4a.
Is formed in advance and then transferred to the recording paper 7, ink bleeding and diffusion on the recording paper 7 can be suppressed to a minimum, without deteriorating the resolution of the ink image obtained by the recording means.
High-definition and high-quality images can be obtained. Here, by using a heat roller, the temperature of the recording paper 7 can be raised and the holding layer 4a can be softened or melted. At this time, for example, since the viscosity can be increased, the ink in the holding layer 4a is easily transferred, and the unnecessary holding layer 4a can be dissolved or evaporated depending on the combination of the holding layer 4a and the recording paper 7. ..

Further, depending on the transfer conditions such as transfer speed and transfer pressure and the composition of the holding layer, the holding layer 4a may be transferred to the recording paper 7 side together with the ink image 6a. In such a case, the surface of the recording paper 7 may be colored by the color of the holding layer 4a due to the adhesion of the holding layer 4a. Therefore, it is desirable that the holding layer 4a be as colorless and transparent as possible.

The holding layer 4a applied and formed by the holding layer forming roller 3a does not always evaporate and disappear due to the heat of the heat roller depending on its composition. Further, not all of the image is transferred to the recording paper 7 side, but it may remain on the drum 1. In this case, when the position of the drum 1 after passing the transfer roller 8a further rotates to the position of the cleaning roller 9a, the holding layer 4a remaining on the drum surface after the transfer operation is removed by the cleaning roller 9a. It The cleaned drum surface enables the next holding layer formation. This cleaning roller 9a
The surface is made of, for example, sponge made of resin, ceramic, metal or the like, rubber, felt or the like, but a blade or knife edge shape may be applied instead of the roller shape shown in the figure. Further, depending on the composition of the holding layer and the ink, the cleaning operation may be performed while or after applying heat from a heater (not shown).

Further, it is desirable that the peripheral surface 2 of the drum 1 has appropriate adhesion and releasability of the holding layer 4a, and various resins such as polyester, polyvinyl chloride, cellulose acetate, polyethylene terephthalate, fluororesin and polyimide. It is used by surface-treating it with various kinds of rubber such as silicone rubber, or by laminating the above-mentioned resin or rubber formed into a film on the peripheral surface of the drum 1. Usually, it is desirable to form these so as to have smooth smoothness in order to improve the image quality, but in order to improve the adhesiveness of the holding layer 4a, minute irregularities can be provided on the surface.

On the other hand, the recording paper 7 on which the ink image 6b is transferred
Is discharged from the apparatus by the discharge roller 14a. If the holding layer 4a remains on the recording paper surface as described above, a heater or the like for further heating and drying the recording paper 7 before discharging it from the apparatus is used. The holding layer 4a may be provided and the remaining holding layer 4a may be removed. A heat roller, a flash heater, a warm air heater, a press heater, or the like can be applied to the heating / drying means used here. By thus providing the heating means for the recording paper 7 separately from the transfer section 8, there is an advantage that the drying conditions of the holding layer 4a different from the transfer conditions can be individually set.

Further, the holding layer component transferred onto the recording paper 7 can be positively used as a protective film without being removed.
That is, the holding layer that covers the ink image prevents damage to the ink image due to friction, or prevents the atmosphere from discoloring or diffusing due to moisture, air, or ultraviolet light. Further, it is possible to obtain effects such as tampering prevention.

A more detailed example of image formation using the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be described below.

On a support (PET having a thickness of 100 μm),
A 5 μm-thick holding layer was formed using PVA dissolved in water at a ratio of 5% by weight, and a commercially available black ink (manufactured by Canon, trade name BC-01) was used to form an ink image on the holding layer. Formed. The ink image is formed by the recording element 64.
An inkjet recording head having nozzles and having a resolution of 360 dots / inch was used.

After that, the transfer operation was carried out on each of the three commercially available papers (paper for exclusive use of ink jet, PPC paper, and Lancaster bond paper), and good image quality was obtained on each paper.

When these images were compared with the results of ordinary ink jet recording using the same ink (recording directly from the recording head onto paper), the images produced by the apparatus according to the present invention had less ink bleeding and sharper images. Met.

At this time, the transfer speed is about 15 mm.
/ Sec, and the transfer temperature at this time was about 150 ° C.

When the transfer speed was about 30 mm / sec, particularly good image quality was obtained at a transfer temperature of about 210 ° C.

The specifications of the used paper are as follows.

Inkjet dedicated paper Weighing approximately 80 g / m ² , paper thickness approximately 90 μm PPC paper, weighing approximately 64 g / m ² , paper thickness approximately 85 μm Lancaster bond paper --- paper thickness approximately 117 μm In the above device, a holding layer is formed on the drum surface. However, the present invention does not depend on the shape of the support forming the holding layer. The support can be configured, for example, in a belt shape or a sheet shape. FIG. 5 shows a recording apparatus using a belt as a support. Further, FIG. 6 shows a recording apparatus using a sheet-shaped support. The examples of FIGS. 5 and 6 will be briefly described below.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram showing an application of the first aspect of the present invention. The drum 1 in FIG.
Is replaced with. As the material of the surface of the belt 32, all the materials used for the drum surface 2 can be used, but it is necessary to have some flexibility. In this apparatus, the holding layer forming unit 33 is the thermal head 33a.
And a continuous holding layer forming sheet 33b. Of course, instead of the holding layer forming sheet 33, as shown in FIG.
The coating device as shown in the holding layer forming section 3 can also be applied. As the thermal head 33a, a commercially available one, for example, one used in a facsimile machine or the like can be applied. The holding layer forming sheet 33b is a sheet made of a resin such as polyethylene terephthalate or polycarbonate as a support, and the holding layer forming material is applied and formed on one surface of the sheet as a support. The supply reel 33c and the take-up reel 33d. It is placed in between. The holding layer forming operation in the holding layer forming unit 33 is performed as follows.

First, the holding layer forming sheet 33b is wound around the take-up reel 33d in synchronization with the rotation of the belt 32. At this time, the thermal head 33a is pressed against the roller 31a by the action of a spring or the like (not shown), drives the heating element of the thermal head, heats the holding layer forming sheet from the holding layer forming support sheet, and removes the holding layer forming material. The holding layer forming material is transferred to the surface of the pressed belt 32 by being melted or softened, and in some cases vaporized to form a holding layer.

Subsequently, the holding layer forming surface on the belt 32 reaches a position facing the recording head 5, ink is supplied from the recording head 5 according to an image signal, and an ink image is formed on the holding layer surface. The following operation is performed in the same manner as in the above embodiment, and a good recorded image is obtained on the recording paper. By using such a belt-shaped support 32, it is possible to realize a device shape that is difficult with a drum shape.

FIG. 6 is a schematic constitutional view showing another application of the first aspect of the present invention, which is an example using a plurality of discontinuous support sheets 42 as means for forming a holding layer. .. The same material as that used for the drum surface 2 and the holding layer forming sheet 33b is applied to the supporting sheet 42, and particularly polyethylene terephthalate having a thickness of about 50 to 150 μm is easy to handle. If the outer shape of the support sheet 42 is substantially the same as that of the recording paper 7 or slightly larger than that of the recording paper 7, alignment with the recording paper and peeling after recording may be facilitated.

Sheets 4 stored in the supply cassette 42a
The sheets 2 are taken in one by one, and are moved along the guide plate by the operation of the rollers provided at various places to pass through the holding layer forming section 3, the recording head 5 and the transfer section 8 and are conveyed to the storage section 42b. 2 can be referred to for the operation in each unit given the same reference numeral as that in FIG. In the transfer section 8, the support sheet 42 and the recording paper 7 are placed so that the support sheet 42 and the recording paper 7 are superposed on each other.
Is controlled. Support sheet 4 that has passed through transfer section 8
2 is separated from the recording paper 7 by the separating member 48 and stored in the stocker 42b, while the recording paper 7 on which the recorded image is obtained is sent to the tray 47b.

As described above, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, by using a plurality of non-continuous support sheets 42, the holding layer is formed on another support each time, so that the drum or belt is used. As described above, there is an advantage that it is not necessary to provide the cleaning layer 9 for removing an unnecessary holding layer or residual ink.

As a modification of this embodiment, a holding layer may be formed in advance on the support sheet 42 and used in a timely and necessary manner. For example, FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of a recording apparatus using a plurality of holding layer carrying sheets on which a holding layer is formed in advance. As shown in the figure, this device has a configuration in which the holding layer forming portion 3 is separated from the device shown in FIG. 6 can be referred to for the operation in each unit given the same reference numeral as that in FIG.

As still another modification, a step of forming an ink image on the support sheet having a holding layer by providing a stocker for temporarily retracting the support sheet 42 between the recording section 5 and the transfer section 8 is described. After doing multiple sheets,
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which transfer is performed on the recording paper at an appropriate time. As a result, the recording operation of the recording unit 5 and the transfer operation of the transfer unit 8 can be performed asynchronously.

Next, as still another application example of the present invention,
A configuration in which the holding layer is selectively formed based on the image signal will be described.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram showing a recording apparatus for selectively forming a holding layer based on an image signal according to the present invention. Instead of the holding layer forming section 3 of FIG.
Is used. The liquid ejector 53 can be used as long as it can eject a liquid according to an image signal, and a so-called inkjet recording head or a spray device can be used. When an inkjet recording head is used as the liquid ejector 53, the same structure as the recording head 5 can be used in terms of structure. However, here, the material to be ejected is not the ink liquid but the above-mentioned holding layer forming material is used. Further, since a material having a high viscosity may be used as the holding layer forming material, in the case of using an inkjet recording head as the liquid ejector,
Desirably, after using a solid holding layer forming material at room temperature,
The method of liquefying and flying is effective.

As an example of such a head, Japanese Patent Publication No.
Reference can be made to those disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 56665, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-56666, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-56666, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-56667, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-56668.

The numbers of the respective parts in the drawing are the same for the parts equivalent to those in FIG.
For the sake of simplicity, the drive circuit and the ink tank are omitted for simplicity and are shown integrally with the recording head.

The holding layer 4a is formed by using the liquid ejector 53 as follows. First, the liquid ejector 53 is supplied with a signal obtained by converting the image signal to be supplied to the recording head 5 by the holding layer formation signal generation circuit 70. Based on this signal, the liquid ejector 53 determines whether or not to eject the holding layer forming material, and the recording head 5 causes the ink image 6 to be ejected.
At a position on the drum 1 corresponding to the pixel to form a,
The holding layer forming material is jetted to form the holding layer 4a.

The drum surface after the formation of the holding layer is schematically shown in FIGS. 9 (a) and 9 (c). Figure 9 (a)
When one pixel is formed, 2 × 4 = 8 in the vertical and horizontal directions in FIG.
This corresponds to the case where pixels are formed, and one pixel has a substantially circular shape, but adjacent pixels are controlled so as to partially overlap each other.

Next, the same signal as the image signal sent to the holding layer formation signal generation circuit 70 is delayed by a time corresponding to the rotation time of the drum from the drum position of the liquid ejector 53 to the drum position of the recording head 5. It is sent to the recording head 5 with a delay by the circuit 69, and ink is ejected from the recording head 5 based on this signal. The delay circuit 69 can be configured using a shift register, a line memory, or the like. If there is a memory or a transmission line (not shown) from which the image signal can be repeatedly read, the delay circuit 69 becomes unnecessary, and the image signal is sent to the recording head 5 by giving a predetermined delay time from this memory or the transmission line. You can do it like this.

In order to match the arrival position of the ink supplied from the recording head with the pixel position where the holding layer is formed, if a stepper motor is used as the motor for rotating the drum, control can be easily performed.

The ejection timing of the ink is controlled so that the holding layer forming region formed on the drum 1 and the position where the ink image is to be formed by the recording head 5 coincide with each other.
With respect to the holding layer forming region shown in (a) and FIG. 9 (c),
An ink image 6a is formed on the holding layer forming region as shown in FIGS. 9B and 9D, respectively. At this time,
If the ink supply position from the recording head 5 onto the drum 1 is shifted and the ink is supplied to a position where the holding layer 4a is not formed, the effect of the present invention cannot be partially obtained. Therefore, by setting the holding layer forming region to be slightly wider than the ink image forming region, it is possible to suppress device precision such as drum rotation control and reduce the manufacturing cost of the device. For this purpose, as shown in FIGS. 9 (b) and 9 (d),
The size of one pixel of the holding layer forming material formed by the liquid ejector 53 may be set larger than the size of one pixel of the ink image 6a formed by the recording head 5.

In another method, the pixel area including the pixels forming the ink image 6a may be detected using a low pass filter or the like, and the holding layer 4a may be formed based on the signal.

FIG. 10 shows a line in which the means for selecting the image holding layer forming region is realized by the filter processing.

In FIG. 10, processing is performed on a 3 × 3 matrix pixel range.

In the operation of this block diagram, an image signal is first input to a line memory composed of a shift register or the like in synchronization with a predetermined clock. This line memory is made to match the number of pixels corresponding to the lateral width forming an image, that is, pixel data for one line is sequentially stored. Further, this line memory is cascade-connected to the line memory A, the line memory B, and the line memory C, respectively, so that data can be sequentially transferred. On the other hand, the output at the end of each line memory A, B, C is
The data is sent to a temporary data buffer including a latch circuit, and for example, the output of the line memory A is sequentially transferred in the order of the latch 10, the latch 11, and the latch 12 with a clock synchronized with the recording period for one pixel. It Similarly, the outputs of the line memories B and C are latch 2
0, latch 21, latch 22, or latch 30, latch 31, latch 32 are sequentially transferred.

Now, paying attention to the data temporarily stored in the latch 21, and to judge whether or not the holding layer forming material is formed at the position corresponding to this data, in order to determine whether or not the holding layer forming material is formed, The output may be input to a logical sum (OR) circuit and determined by the output. That is, out of 9 latches
When there is data in at least one latch, the retention layer may be formed.

If the data input to the line memory A is 1 bit, that is, if the data is whether to form an image or not, the binarization circuit immediately before the line memory A is unnecessary. .. However, when the ink image is formed in multi-value, the transmitted image signal has, for example, 8 bits (256 levels), so that it is necessary to determine whether or not to form the holding layer. It is desirable to go through a digitization circuit. Thus, the binarization is performed so that the holding layer should be formed except when the ink image is not formed (that is, the data is “0”) (that is, when the data has a value of 1 to 255). The output data of the circuit may be set to "1". Therefore, this binarization circuit can be configured by a comparator or the like.

Further, in the above example, although the filter configuration is 3 × 3, a desired n × m filter can be configured by changing the number of line memories and the number of latches.

The image signal for forming the ink image 6a is passed through a low-pass filter of n × m (n and m are positive numbers),
When the filter includes pixels for forming the ink image 6a, the holding layer 4a may be formed in all n × m regions. Here, by increasing the numerical values of n and m, the area where the holding layer 4a is formed can be increased, but from the viewpoint of saving the holding layer forming material and saving the filter hardware amount, n and m are 2 respectively. About 4 is suitable. 9 (e) and 9 (f) are examples schematically showing the case where a 2 × 2 filter is used.
Shows the formation state of the holding layer 4a, and FIG.
It shows a state in which the ink image 6a is formed on a. With such a configuration, the ink image 6a can be formed in the holding layer formation region by one pixel each in the front, rear, left, and right directions. It should be noted that such a processing filter is realized by a conventional image processing technique.

As described above, by selectively forming the holding layer 4a according to the image signal, the holding layer forming material to be consumed can be saved. Further, when the character information is used as the image signal, the printing rate is smaller than when the halftone image or the like is used, so that a particularly large saving effect can be obtained. Therefore, the target of the image signal is selected, and the holding layer is selectively formed in the case of a character image, and when the printing rate such as a halftone image is high, the holding layer 4a of the drum 1 is formed regardless of the image signal. It may be formed uniformly on the entire surface.

Further, since it is desirable that the holding layer 4a be formed wider than the ink image 6a, a holding layer forming head having a lower resolution than that of the ink image forming head can be used.

Further, the holding layer 4 with respect to the amount of the ink image 6a.
By controlling the amount of a, the maximum depth of the ink image 6a with respect to the thickness of the holding layer 4a can be controlled. At this time, the amount of the holding layer 4a per pixel is equal to that of the ink image 6a.
Is controlled to be substantially smaller than the thickness of the holding layer 4a. In the case of color image formation and gradation recording, the amount of ink supplied in multiple layers can be taken into consideration.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a state in which the ink is contained and held in the holding layer formed on the support made of PET. In FIG. 11, the ink image 320, the ink image 321, and the ink image 322 are respectively the case where the ink amount is small, the case where the ink amount is medium, and the case where the ink amount is large. When the ink amount is relatively small with respect to the thickness of the holding layer as in the ink image 320 and the ink image 321, the ink is appropriately held and a good ink image is obtained. However, when the ink amount is large and the ink penetrates more than the thickness of the holding layer as in the ink image 322,
At the boundary surface between the holding layer and the support, the ink bleeds in the lateral direction, and the image spot due to the ink causes an unexpected spread.
When such a state occurs, the image quality is likely to deteriorate.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing the relationship between the depth of the ink penetrating into the holding layer and the lateral spread amount of the ink. The ink supplied from the surface of the holding layer is
As it penetrates in the depth direction of the holding layer, it spreads slightly in the lateral direction as well, but this amount is much smaller than the commonly used fibrous paper, etc. Can be almost ignored.

However, when the permeation of the ink progresses and the permeation of the ink progresses to the boundary surface with the support, the ink cannot permeate the support side and spreads along the boundary surface between the support and the holding layer. This spread amount is extremely large and progresses randomly, and in this state the image quality is likely to deteriorate.
It tends to be difficult to estimate this spread amount.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a method of controlling the supply amount of the holding layer and the ink amount. In this figure, the image signal is first input to the "holding layer amount and ink amount determination unit". Here, the amount of the holding layer and the amount of ink that can obtain the optimum image quality, or the economical amount of the holding layer material is determined.

Then, first, an appropriate holding layer amount signal is sent to the holding layer forming portion, and based on this value, an appropriate amount of holding layer is formed on the support (not shown). The formation of the appropriate amount of the holding layer is achieved by modulating the concentration or the thickness of the holding layer, but it is recommended to modulate the thickness of the holding layer as a particularly simple structure.

On the other hand, an appropriate ink amount signal is sent to the ink supply unit, and based on this value, the optimum amount of ink is supplied to the previously formed optimum amount of the holding layer, and the ink is supplied to the holding layer. An image is formed. As a result, good image quality without ink bleeding can be obtained.

Further, "holding layer amount and ink amount determining unit"
Is composed of a ROM and a RAM. The data input to the ROM or the like is set as follows.

FIG. 14 is a graph showing the relationship between the input image signal level and the ink amount for obtaining the optimum density. As shown in FIG. 14, the ink amount increases as the image signal level increases. On the other hand, FIG. 15 is a graph showing the relationship between the penetration depth of the ink corresponding to the amount of ink supplied to the holding layer in the depth direction of the holding layer.
The curve shown by the solid line in the figure shows the substantial penetration depth of the ink amount, and the curve showing the optimum thickness of the holding layer for a given ink amount is shown by the broken line in the figure. The thickness of the holding layer always has a certain margin with respect to the penetration depth of the ink amount. Here, this margin is set empirically,
Generally, in consideration of the error range, it is set to about 3 to 20% of the ink penetration depth.

That is, data to be applied to the "holding layer amount and ink amount determination unit" of FIG. 13 is created from the graphs of FIG. 14 and FIG.

For example, when the value A is input as the image signal level, referring to FIG. 14, the optimum ink amount B is selected in a one-to-one relationship. As a result, the optimum amount of ink to be sent to the ink supply unit is determined. Furthermore, FIG.
With reference to, the optimum holding layer amount C is selected from the ink amount B. As a result, the optimum holding layer amount signal supplied to the holding layer forming unit is determined.

The graphs of FIGS. 14 and 15 can be measured in advance in consideration of various conditions of the apparatus such as the ink to be used, the composition of the holding layer, the recording speed, etc. in accordance with the manufacture of the apparatus. It is what is done. Therefore, there is a great advantage to use a ROM or RAM that can easily input and change data in order to deal with changes and modifications of the specifications of the device.

FIGS. 16 (a) and 16 (b) are model diagrams showing a state in which a predetermined amount of ink is supplied to a holding layer formed on a support with a constant thickness. In the figure, the left diagram is a diagram immediately after the ink is supplied, and the right diagram shows a state in which the ink is contained in the holding layer. 16 (a) and 16 (b) show examples in which the amount of ink supplied is changed. As is clear from this figure, when the thickness of the holding layer is uniform, the thickness of the holding layer is set so as to match the maximum amount of ink supplied. However, in FIG.
As shown in (a), when the amount of ink supplied is small, a considerable portion of the holding layer in the depth direction is wasted,
It is uneconomical.

Controlling the supply amount of the holding layer reduces this waste, and changes the thickness of the holding layer formed per pixel in accordance with the supplied ink amount.

17 (a) and 17 (b) are model diagrams showing a state in which the supply amount of the holding layer is controlled according to the ink amount. FIG. 17A corresponds to the case where the amount of ink supplied is small, and the thickness of the holding layer is reduced,
Moreover, a good ink image is surely formed in the holding layer. On the other hand, FIG. 17B corresponds to the case where the ink amount supplied is relatively large, and the holding layer is formed relatively thick according to the ink amount.

As described above, by changing the thickness of the holding layer according to the ink supplied in different amounts for each pixel, the holding layer material can be economically used.

By the way, since the holding layer forming material to be formed is not limited to the liquid, for example, a structure in which a solid or semi-solid material is brought into contact with the drum surface and selectively adhered or smeared in accordance with the image signal. Of course, in this case, for example, a head structure of an impact printer using a public ink ribbon or a head structure of a thermal transfer printer using a thermal head and an ink ribbon shown in FIG. 5 can be used. At this time, the substance forming the holding layer may be used by making it correspond to the ink carried on the ink ribbon.

An example in which the apparatus of the present invention is applied to gradation recording will be described below.

18 (a), 18 (b), and 18
FIG. 6C is a schematic view showing a conventional inkjet recording and showing a state of supplying a plurality of ink droplets onto a recording paper. These drawings respectively show a state where the ink droplets are supplied for the first time, a state where the droplets are supplied for the second time, and a state where the droplets for the nth time are further supplied. As shown in the figure, in conventional inkjet recording,
When a plurality of ink droplets are supplied in a short time, the ink adhesion area increases from the area D1 of the first droplet to the area Dn of the nth droplet supply (D1 <Dn), and the image area becomes constant. Difficult to keep.

19 (a), 19 (b), and 19
(C) is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an image holding layer used in the present invention is applied instead of the recording paper and a plurality of ink droplets are supplied to the holding layer in a cross-sectional view. Since this holding layer has high ink absorbency, most of the ink droplets supplied to the surface of the holding layer instantly penetrate into the inside of the holding layer as shown in FIG. 19B. After that, when ink droplets are further supplied, the ink droplets instantly permeate into the inside of the holding layer, and as shown in FIG. 19C, do not spread greatly compared to FIG. 19B. Therefore, deterioration of image quality is suppressed as much as possible. The ink image thus obtained is transferred to the recording paper by the transfer means in the subsequent stage, and a gradation image is obtained on the recording paper.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a recording section and a gradation control section in gradation recording.

The image signal is an 8-bit signal (256 levels from 0 to 255) for one pixel. This image signal is input to the gradation control circuit. The gradation control circuit is a block for generating predetermined gradation control data suitable for the ink droplet ejection method of the recording head.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a main part configuration of a gradation control circuit applied when a binary recording head driven by whether or not ink is ejected, which is the most general recording head, is used. Is.

An 8-bit image signal for one pixel is latched by a latch circuit with a latch signal generated at a predetermined timing for each recording of one pixel, and data is supplied to the input A of the comparator. On the other hand, the output of the counter capable of counting up from 1 to 256 is connected to the input B of the comparator. FIG. 22 shows a timing chart for driving the recording head. When a clock synchronized with a drive signal for ejecting ink from the recording head is input to the counter, the counter sequentially counts up from 1 to 256 and supplies it to the input B of the comparator. At this time, the output X of the comparator compares the input A and the input B, and outputs the recording permission signal to the drive circuit only when A ≧ B. The drive circuit turns on the ink ejection of the recording head based on this recording permission signal.
/ OFF control.

For example, when the data of the 8-bit image signal is "48", the output X of the comparator is the recording permission signal while the output of the counter (that is, the input B of the comparator) is from 1 to 48. Is output, and a total of 48 times of ink droplets are ejected from the recording head.

Similarly, when the input image signal data is "255", ink droplets can be ejected from the recording head 255 times to record a gradation image of 256 levels from 0 to 255. become.

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the holding layer having good ink absorbability, it is possible to properly take in the droplets that are sequentially supplied into the holding layer. For this reason, it is possible to prevent unnecessary spread of the image points even if the number of times of supplying the liquid droplets is modulated or the amount of the liquid droplets supplied once is modulated. Therefore, by modulating the amount of ink droplets, it is possible to appropriately modulate the image spot density without changing the image spot area. In addition, it has a great effect on improving the recording speed. Moreover, since the ink image taken in the holding layer is transferred to paper after that, an appropriate gradation image can be obtained on any paper.

Further, as a modified example of the apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to add a holding layer forming portion to the rear stage of the recording head 5. In this case, since the holding layer forming material can be further supplied from above the ink supplied onto the holding layer 4a to cover the ink image 6a with the holding layer 4a, the holding layer 4a can hold the ink. It is possible to ensure the transfer of the ink image 6a onto the recording paper 7 at the transfer portion in a good manner.
FIG. 23 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a recording apparatus having means for covering the ink image with a holding layer. Referring to the configuration of the embodiment of FIG. 8 described above, the ink supply position 5 and the image receiving position arranged around the drum are shown. The order of the layer forming positions 53 is changed.

As shown in FIG. 23, in this apparatus, first, the recording head 5 including an ink jet recording head or the like selectively supplies ink corresponding to an image signal to the surface of the drum 1 to obtain an ink image 6a. Where the drum 1
It is necessary for ink to be able to adhere to the surface of, but if the adhesion is relatively weak, the transfer process can be performed well.
Next, the holding layer forming material is supplied by the liquid ejector 53 so as to have an area larger than the ink adhering area so that the ink adhering to the drum surface is contained, and the drum 1
The holding layer 4a is formed on the top of the ink 6a. The holding layer 4a is the ink 6a deposited on the drum 1.
To retain the area shape of the ink.

While the ink 6a and the holding layer 4a in this state are held on the drum 1, they reach the position of the transfer roller 8a by the rotation of the drum 1 and face the recording paper 7. As the transfer roller 8a, a rubber roller or a heat roller is used as described above. Here, the holding layer 4a is formed of the ink 6
It is transferred to the recording paper 7 while containing a, and an ink image is obtained on the recording paper 7. At this time, the ink is transferred onto the surface of the recording paper irrespective of the surface property of the recording paper 7, so that the ink image 6a formed on the drum 1 by the recording head 5 remains on the recording paper 7 almost as it is. Reproduced.

If the holding layer 4a that evaporates by heating is used, the holding layer 4a is removed and only the ink component is transferred onto the recording paper 7. However, if the holding layer 4a is not removed, the ink is transferred to the recording paper side together with the holding layer 4a if it is a substance that permeates or is absorbed in the depth direction of the recording paper 7 to a good extent. An image is obtained.

Further, this apparatus can be implemented in substantially the same manner even if the order of the ink supply position and the image receiving layer forming position is changed in the application example of FIG.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. The recording head used in the examples is
A nozzle having one or a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink or an element corresponding thereto can be used, and can be used in a serial head configuration or a line head configuration.
Also, since the image obtained by transferring the ink image formed on the drum by the recording head onto the recording paper is the mirror image of the image on the drum, it can be seen correctly on the recording paper. It is necessary to preliminarily perform mirror image inversion processing on the image signal applied to the recording head. Furthermore, the same applies to the case where the holding layer is selectively formed according to the image signal,
A signal obtained by subjecting an image signal to a mirror image inversion process may be applied to the holding layer forming section and the recording head.

Further, although the example of the ink jet recording head has been described as the recording means, it is not limited to the ink jet system. That is, a conventional thermal transfer printer using a thermal head and an ink ribbon may be used.
Other than this, regardless of contact recording or non-contact recording, it can be applied by appropriately selecting the holding layer and ink.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view showing an ink image forming section of a recording apparatus using a thermal head as an ink image forming means.

As shown in FIG. 24, in this apparatus, a belt-shaped ink layer support 312 back-coated with the heat resistant active layer 311, and a sublimable solid ink layer 313 formed on the ink layer support 312. Is used as an ink ribbon. In this ink ribbon, the thermal head 310 is pressed onto the heat-resistant active layer 311, and the image holding layer provided on the image holding layer support is pressed onto the solid ink layer 313. This solid ink is sublimated by heat from the thermal head and transferred to the image holding layer support.

In the above description, the case where the holding layer 4a is selectively formed for each pixel has been described. However, the ink image 6a is formed.
The holding layer 4a may be selectively formed for each line including a pixel to be formed, or may be selectively formed for each predetermined block, for example, a unit block of a character represented by a dot matrix. When a dither method or the like is also used as a means for expressing a halftone, the matrix size of the dither to be used may be a block unit.

By the way, in the recording here, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9F, normally, the holding layer 4a is formed by ink droplets supplied from each one nozzle of a recording head having a plurality of nozzles. One pixel is formed above, and the ink image 6a is formed as a set of image points.
In order to achieve the effect of increasing the amount of ink and increasing the ink density, it is advisable to supply a plurality of droplets to one pixel position to form the ink image 6a. This method can also be used when a halftone is obtained by modulating the density of one pixel.

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the recording means for supplying ink from the recording head to form an ink image, and the recording head supplies a transparent ink material as it is to the holding layer and holds it. A visible image may be formed by reacting with a layer such as a compound. As such a material, for example, a cobalt complex that changes from blue to pale red by supplying water drops can be used. In this case, only water containing no dye or pigment is supplied to the holding layer by the recording head and reacted with the complex contained in the holding layer to form a light red image only in the area to which water is supplied. do it. If the recording head supplies only water as described above, there is an advantage that clogging of the recording head can be eliminated. That is, the ink supplied by the recording head described in the description of the present invention may be colored or colorless before being supplied to the image holding layer as long as it exhibits a color when transferred to a recording material. ..

As described above, according to the present invention, an ink image is formed on the image holding layer, and the ink image is transferred to the recording paper, so that the recording paper is not affected by the surface property and the thickness of the recording paper.
It is possible to obtain a high-quality recorded image in which ink bleeding and diffusion are suppressed.

The apparatus of the present invention can be applied as a color image forming means.

FIG. 25 is a schematic block diagram of a recording apparatus for recording a color image according to the present invention, and FIG.
The recording apparatus shown in is modified for recording a color image.

The three recording heads 5Y, 5M and 5C arranged around the drum 1 are yellow, magenta and
The recording head ejects ink containing a cyan color material. These recording heads do not necessarily need to have a separate structure for each color, and may be integrated. In addition to these three colors, a recording head for four colors provided with a recording head for black may be used in some cases, or recording heads for more colors may be prepared. It can be carried out according to the description of.

The driving operation of each recording head and the whole operation are performed in accordance with the driving of one (monochromatic) recording head, but the following points are different particularly for a color image.

That is, the image signals y, m, and c corresponding to the colors to be recorded are separated and sent to the recording heads 5Y, 5M, and 5C by a not-shown color separating means or the like. As for these image signals y, m, and c, signal components forming the same pixel are sent at the same time.

First, the image signals y, m, and c corresponding to these one pixel are input to the adder, and the liquid ejecting apparatus 53 is driven by the output of the adder. That is, when at least one of the recording heads 5Y, 5M, and 5C is driven, the holding layer 4a is formed on the surface of the drum 1 by the operation of the liquid ejecting device 53.

Next, when the area of the drum 1 on which the holding layer is formed reaches the position facing the recording head due to the rotation of the drum 1, the image signals y, m, and
The same signal as that of c is sent to each of the recording heads 5Y, 5M, and 5C via the delay circuit 69 to drive these recording heads. Here, the delay time of the delay circuit 69 is controlled so that the ink droplets ejected from the respective recording heads can reach the holding layer previously formed.

FIGS. 26 (a) to 26 (e) and FIG. 26 are views for explaining a configuration example of these recording heads and an operation thereof. FIG. 26A shows an example of the configuration of the recording heads. As shown in FIG.
The droplets ejected from M and 5C are arranged so that the flight directions thereof are toward the same point on the holding layer. Therefore, the delay time of the delay circuit 69 is set for each of the image signals y, m, and c. Substantially the same values are selected, and the recording heads 5Y, 5M,
5C is driven almost at the same time, and the respective color materials of yellow, magenta, and cyan are supplied from the respective recording heads to the holding layer.

The state of ink droplets on this holding layer will be described with reference to the schematic diagrams shown in FIGS. 26 (b) to 26 (e). FIG. 26B shows the case where only one of the three recording heads is driven, and the ink droplets are quickly absorbed inside the holding layer due to the absorbability of the holding layer 4a. At this time, by using polyvinyl coal or the like having extremely good absorbability as a component forming the holding layer, the droplets are absorbed inside without spreading.
(C)). On the other hand, FIG. 26D shows a case where three recording heads are driven to supply droplets to the holding layer. Compared with FIG. 26B, the amount of droplets supplied at the same time is about 3. Has doubled. Therefore, the absorption time into the inside of the holding layer is delayed, but under the condition that the absorption capacity of the holding layer is satisfied, the droplets are absorbed inside without spreading in the lateral direction (Fig. 26 (e)). ). In such a case, for example, when ink droplets are directly ejected from an inkjet head onto a recording paper as seen in conventional inkjet recording, the lateral spread of the droplets along the fibers of the recording paper is remarkable. Occurs in. Furthermore, when the ink droplets are ejected from the three inkjet heads at the same point, the droplets spread so much that the hue cannot be reproduced with certainty. Was not very practical. However, according to the configuration of this embodiment, the spread of the liquid droplets is suppressed, the effect of improving the image quality is obtained, and the area occupied by the pixels in each color does not change,
It is possible to obtain a good color image in a relatively short time by suppressing the variation in hue. In addition, in this apparatus, since inks of a plurality of colors are simultaneously supplied to the same pixel position of the holding layer to form a color ink image on the holding layer, unnecessary bleeding can be suppressed, and Good mixing is easy and recording time is short.

FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining another configuration example and operation of the recording heads 5Y, 5M, 5C. Recording head 5
Y, 5M, and 5C are arranged so that droplets can be ejected to different regions of the holding layer forming surface, and the relative movement between the recording head and the support such as the drum 1 forming the holding layer is used. Then, the liquid droplets are sequentially ejected by the three recording heads to a predetermined same holding layer region.

First, when the holding layer region formed by the liquid ejector 53 reaches the position facing the recording head 5Y by the rotation of the drum 1, the recording head 5Y is driven according to the image signal y, and the holding layer is moved. To supply the yellow droplet 61Y. The supplied liquid 62Y on the holding layer is soon absorbed in the holding layer (63Y), and then the recording head 5
When the holding layer region reaches the position facing M, the yellow droplets are almost absorbed in the holding layer (64Y). At this time, the absorption in the holding layer is suppressed in the lateral direction due to the effect of the holding layer, and is absorbed in the depth direction.

Then, the recording head 5M is driven according to the image signal m, and the magenta droplet 61M is ejected onto the holding layer which has absorbed yellow. In this way, the recording head 5
The distance L1 between Y and the recording head 5M is set so that the first droplet is sufficiently absorbed before the next droplet is supplied, so that the yellow droplet directly affects the magenta droplet. Can be prevented.

Further, the magenta droplet 61M will soon be absorbed mainly in the depth direction of the holding layer (62M, 63M, 6).
4M), and reaches a position facing the recording head 5C. An interval L2 between the recording head 5M and the recording head 5C is set to an interval such that the first color yellow droplet and the second color magenta droplet are sufficiently absorbed.

Thereafter, similarly to the operations of the first and second colors, the cyan cyan droplet 61C of the third color is ejected from the recording head 5C and is soon absorbed in the holding layer (62C, 63).
C).

In this way, the image point 64C composed of three color materials is formed in the holding layer. Image signal y, m, c
Since the recording heads to be driven are selected in accordance with the above, it is possible to reproduce the three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan, and the mixed colors of these colors, red, blue, green, and black.
Of course, by controlling the amount of each single color, intermediate colors such as light red and dark red can be reproduced.

Further, it generally takes time to absorb the droplets of two colors rather than only the droplets of one color. Therefore, the liquid supplied first may affect the liquid supplied later. In order to strongly reduce such an influence, the time required for the interval L2 may be set larger than the time required for the interval L1. This time can be set also by appropriately setting the arrangement interval of the recording heads as described above. For example, the interval L1 and the interval L can be set.
It is also possible to appropriately select the speed of relative movement between the holding layer (or support) and the recording heads in 2.

Such a treatment is very useful when supplying ink of three or more colors. From the first color to 2
By making the delay time required for the second color to the third color longer than the delay time required for the color, the effect of the ink supplied to the holding layer first does not affect the ink supplied later. It is possible to suppress the degree and further suppress unnecessary bleeding of ink in the holding layer.

Further, when this apparatus is used, since ink is sequentially supplied to the same pixel position of the holding layer with a time delay, it is possible to reliably hold each ink in the holding layer, which is high. It is possible to obtain image quality.

Further, in the example of FIG. 27, the recording heads 5Y, 5
Although the arrangements of M and 5C are recorded in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan, the arrangement is not limited to this order and can be determined in consideration of the selection of the color material and the reaction with the holding layer. However, when the color image held in the holding layer is transferred to the recording material in the next step, the stacking order of the color components is reversed on the recording material. In consideration of this, in the case where the liquid absorbed earlier in the holding layer has a higher ratio of being absorbed inside than the liquid absorbed thereafter, in order to improve the reproduction of black or gray, FIG. It is preferable to arrange the recording head so that the recording is performed on the holding layer in the order of cyan, magenta, and yellow in the reverse order of the above. Further, for the same reason, when preparing a black color material as the fourth color, it is desirable to arrange the black recording head first.

In the above description, for the sake of simplicity, the description has been given of the case where the recording heads corresponding to the respective colors eject one droplet, respectively. Line up the discharge ports and
The same can be applied to a so-called line head configuration capable of recording lines at one time. For example, to describe the arrangement of line heads in the example of FIG. 27, a plurality of ejection ports of each recording head 5Y, 5M, 5C may be arranged in the depth direction of the drawing.

Further, in the above description, an example in which droplets are ejected from the recording head has been described, but what is supplied to the holding layer does not have to be a liquid, and may be powder or capsules, for example. I do not care.

FIG. 28 shows another application example of the color image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 28, this recording apparatus is a combination of a plurality of recording apparatuses similar to the apparatus shown in FIG. Recording head 5Y,
Color materials of yellow, magenta, and cyan are stored in 5M and 5C, respectively. The operation of each unit is similar to that of the device shown in FIG. By passing the transfer paper 7 through this device, recording of yellow, magenta, and cyan is sequentially performed according to the image signal. Examples of the ink dye material that can be used in the present invention include ACID BLACK 1 and ACID B
LACK 2, ACID BLACK 24, ACID BLACK 26, ACID BLACK
31, DIRECT BLACK 17, DIRECT BLACK 19, DIRECT B
LACK 22, DIRECT BLACK 32, DIRECT BLACK 38, DIRE
CT BLACK 51, DIRECT BLACK 154, BASIC BLACK 2, AC
ID YELLOW 1, ACID YELLOW 7, ACID YELLOW 17, ACID
YELLOW 23, ACID YELLOW 42, ACID YELLOW 99, DIRECT
YELLOW 8, DIRECT YELLOW 26, DIRECT YELLOW 33, DI
RECT YELLOW 50, BASIC YELLOW 1, BASIC YELLOW 2, BA
SIC YELLOW 11, ACID RED6, ACID RED 8, ACID RED 26
, ACID RED 35, ACID RED 52, ACID RED 87, ACID
RED 92, ACID RED 94, DIRECT RED 2, DIRECT RED
4, DIRECT RED 23, DIRECT RED 75, BASIC RED 1, B
ASIC RED 12, BASIC RED 13, ACID BLUE 7, ACID BLUE
9, ACID BLUE 23, ACID BLUE 59, ACID BLUE 83, ACI
D BLUE 161, DIRECT BLUE 1, DIRECT BLUE 15, DIREC
T BLUE 86, BASIC BLUE 1, BASIC BLUE3, BASIC BLUE
7, BASIC BLUE 26, ACID GREEN 16, DIRECT GREEN 59
, BASIC GREEN 4, BASIC VIOLET 1, BASIC VIOLET
3, BASIC VIOLET 7, BASIC VIOLET10, BASIC VIOLET 1
4 is given.

As ink dyes that can be used in the apparatus shown in FIG. 24, for example, DISPERSE YELLOW 7, DISPERSE O
RENGE 3, DISPERSE RED 4, DISPERSE BLUE 14, DISPER
SE VIOLET 1 is given.

The features of the present invention are as follows.

Step of forming an image holding layer capable of holding an image therein on a support, ink is supplied to the image holding layer according to an image signal, and an ink image is formed in the image holding layer. And a step of transferring the ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material.

A recording method in which the ink image is formed by impregnating the image holding layer.

The ink is a water-based ink, and the image-holding layer comprises gelatin, agar, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid amide, carboxymethyl cellulose, casein, gum arabic, and starch as main components. A recording method comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of:

The ink is an oil-based ink, and the image-holding layer contains as its main components polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl formal, polyamide resin,
A recording method comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of polyacrylonitrile, phenol resin, and polyurethane resin.

The recording method wherein the image holding layer is light transmissive.

A recording method, wherein the step of forming the image-holding layer includes a step of controlling the maximum thickness of the ink image in the image-holding layer to be less than 100% when the thickness is 100%.

The step of forming the image holding layer is a recording method using a roll coater.

In the step of forming the image-holding layer, an image signal having an area equal to or larger than the image area of the ink image and processed so as to form a pattern capable of including the image area, A recording method comprising a step of selectively forming an image holding layer on a support.

In the step of forming the image-holding layer, a softened, liquefied or vaporized solid image-holding layer forming material at room temperature is selectively ejected onto a support according to the processed image signal. A recording method including a step of performing.

The step of forming the image-holding layer comprises the step of melting or softening an image-holding layer forming material which is solid at room temperature and selectively transferring it onto a support according to the processed signal. Method.

In the step of forming the image-holding layer, the holding-layer-forming support sheet and the image-holding layer-forming sheet having the image-holding layer-forming material coated on the holding-layer-forming support sheet, and the image-holding layer are provided. An image-holding layer is selectively formed on the support by bringing the forming material into contact with the support through the support-layer-forming support sheet and heating the formation material in response to a processed image signal. How to record.

A recording method in which the processed image signal controls the amount of the image holding layer according to the ink amount per pixel of the ink image.

The step of forming the ink image is a recording method using a recording head which is provided on the holding layer at intervals and ejects ink to the image holding layer according to an image signal.

The step of forming the ink image includes a step of forming a gradation image by controlling the number of times the ink is supplied to the same pixel according to the density level of the image signal.

A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an image therein, on the support, and an ink for the image holding layer according to an image signal. And a means for transferring the ink image in the image holding layer onto a recording material.

The recording apparatus has a shape such that the support is circulated and usable, such as rollers and endless belts.

A recording apparatus in which the support has a shape of a plurality of sheets.

The ink is a water-based ink, and the image-holding layer comprises gelatin, agar, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyacrylamide, polyacrylic acid amide, carboxymethylcellulose, casein, gum arabic, and starch as main components. A recording apparatus comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of:

The ink is an oil-based ink, and the image-holding layer contains, as main components, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl formal, polyamide resin,
A recording apparatus comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of polyacrylonitrile, phenol resin, and polyurethane resin.

The recording apparatus in which the image holding layer is light transmissive.

When the thickness of the image-holding layer is 100%, the maximum thickness of the ink image in the image-holding layer is 10%.
A recording device controlled to be less than 0%.

A recording apparatus provided with a roll coater as a means for forming the image holding layer.

The means for forming the image-holding layer has an area equal to or larger than the image area of the ink image, and is responsive to an image signal processed so as to form a pattern capable of including the image area. A recording apparatus comprising means for selectively forming an image holding layer on a support.

The means for forming the image-holding layer is a means for selectively ejecting a liquid or vaporized solid image-holding layer forming material at room temperature onto a support according to the processed image signal. A recording device provided.

The means for forming the image-holding layer comprises means for melting or softening the image-holding layer-forming material which is solid at room temperature and selectively transferring it onto the support according to the image signal processed as described above. Recording device.

The means for forming the image-holding layer comprises a holding-layer-forming support sheet, an image-holding layer-forming sheet having the image-holding layer-forming material coated on the holding-layer-forming support sheet, and the image-holding layer. An image-holding layer is selectively formed on the support by bringing the forming material into contact with the support through the support-layer-forming support sheet and heating the formation material in response to a processed image signal. A recording apparatus having a heating means for controlling.

A recording device for controlling the amount of the image holding layer in accordance with the amount of ink per pixel of the ink image for the processed image signal.

A recording apparatus comprising a recording head, which is provided with a gap in the holding layer, for ejecting ink to the image holding layer according to an image signal.

The recording device including the means for forming the ink image includes means for forming a gradation image for modulating the ink amount by controlling the number of times of supplying ink to the same pixel according to the density level of the image signal. ..

A support, a means for driving this support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein, and a solid ink layer at room temperature were formed on the support. An ink carrying sheet, heating means for bringing the ink layer into contact with the support and heating according to an image signal to form an ink image in the image carrying layer, and an ink image in the image carrying layer. A recording apparatus comprising: a unit for transferring the recording material.

Image carrier having a sheet-shaped support and an image-holding layer preformed on the sheet-shaped support
A step of preparing a sheet, a step of supplying ink to the image holding layer to form an ink image in the image holding layer, and a step of bringing the image holding layer holding the ink image into contact with a recording material to perform recording And a step of transferring an ink image onto a material.

A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image-holding layer capable of holding an image therein on the support, and a plurality of means for the image-holding layer according to an image signal. A color image recording apparatus comprising means for supplying color ink to form a color ink image in the image holding layer, and means for transferring the color ink image in the image holding layer onto a recording material.

The plural color inks are ACID BLACK 1 and AC.
ID BLACK 2, ACID BLACK 24, ACIDBLACK 26, ACID BL
ACK 31, DIRECT BLACK 17, DIRECT BLACK 19, DIREC
T BLACK 22, DIRECT BLACK 32, DIRECT BLACK 38, D
IRECT BLACK 51, DIRECT BLACK 154, BASIC BLACK 2
, ACID YELLOW 1, ACID YELLOW 7, ACID YELLOW 1
7, ACID YELLOW 23, ACID YELLOW 42, ACID YELLOW 9
9, DIRECT YELLOW 8, DIRECT YELLOW 26, DIRECT YELL
OW 33, DIRECT YELLOW 50, BASIC YELLOW 1, BASICYELL
OW 2, BASIC YELLOW 11, DISPERSE YELLOW 7, DISPER
SE ORENGE 3, ACID RED 6, ACID RED 8, ACID RED 26
, ACID RED 35, ACID RED 52, ACID RED 87, ACID
RED 92, ACID RED 94, DIRECT RED 2, DIRECT RED
4, DIRECT RED 23, DIRECT RED 75, BASIC RED 1, B
ASIC RED 12, BASIC RED 13, DISPERSE RED 4, ACID BL
UE 7, ACID BLUE 9, ACID BLUE 23, ACID BLUE 59, A
CID BLUE83, ACID BLUE 161, DIRECT BLUE 1, DIRECT
BLUE 15, DIRECT BLUE 86, BASIC BLUE 1, BASIC BLUE
3, BASIC BLUE 7, BASIC BLUE 26, DISPERSE BLUE 1
4, ACID GREEN 16, DIRECT GREEN 59, BASIC GREEN 4
, BASIC VIOLET 1, BASICVIOLET 3, BASIC VIOLET 7,
BASIC VIOLET 10, BASIC VIOLET 14, and DISPERSE V
A recording device which is at least two dye materials selected from the group consisting of IOLET 1.

The means for forming the color ink image is a means for supplying a plurality of color inks onto the image holding layer at almost the same time according to image signals and mixing them to form a color ink image in the image holding layer. Recording device having.

The means for forming the color ink image supplies inks of a plurality of colors to the image holding layer in sequence according to the image signals, and mixes the supplied inks in the image holding layer. A recording device having means for forming a color ink image in the image holding layer.

A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an image therein, on the support, and an ink for the image holding layer according to an image signal. And a plurality of image forming-transfer units each having a means for forming an ink image in the image-holding layer and a means for transferring the ink image in the image-holding layer onto a recording material. Is a color image recording apparatus that accommodates inks of different colors, sequentially passes the recording material through each unit, and sequentially records images of colors corresponding to image signals.

In the color image recording apparatus, the support has a drum shape and a plurality of image forming-transfer units are linearly arranged.

[0186]

According to the present invention, the ink image is formed on the holding layer and held, and then transferred onto the recording paper, instead of directly adhering the ink onto the recording paper, so that the ink image is formed on the recording paper. Image quality deterioration such as blurring and diffusion can be suppressed. That is, it becomes possible to eliminate the need for selecting the recording paper or to relax the range of selection of the recording paper, and to obtain a high-quality recorded image regardless of the surface property of the recording paper.

Further, since the distance between the recording head and the ink image forming surface can be defined in advance, it is possible to set the recording head under the condition that the optimum image quality is obtained. Further, the holding layer and the image forming substance can be economically used by selectively forming the holding layer and supplying the image forming substance such as ink according to the image signal.

Further, by using the holding layer excellent in ink absorption, it is possible to obtain a color image with a plurality of colors of ink with high quality and at high speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a model diagram showing the basic concept of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an inkjet method used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a model diagram showing a transfer process in the recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a model diagram showing an ink image formed on an image holding layer.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of means for selecting an image holding layer forming region.

FIG. 11 is a model diagram showing how ink images are formed on the image holding layer with various amounts of ink.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the relationship between the depth of ink and the lateral spread of ink.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a method of controlling the supply amount of a holding layer and the ink amount.

FIG. 14 is a graph showing the relationship between the image signal level and the optimum ink amount.

FIG. 15 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of ink supplied to the holding layer and the penetration depth of ink in the holding layer.

FIG. 16 is a model diagram showing a state in which a predetermined amount of ink is supplied to the holding layer.

FIG. 17 is a model diagram showing how a predetermined amount of ink is supplied to a controlled amount of a holding layer.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a plurality of ink droplets are supplied onto the recording paper.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a plurality of ink droplets are supplied onto the holding layer.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a recording unit and a gradation control unit.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a main configuration of a gradation control circuit.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a timing chart in gradation recording.

FIG. 23 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a recording apparatus having a unit for covering an ink image with a holding layer.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram showing an ink image forming unit of a recording apparatus using a thermal head.

FIG. 25 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a color image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a diagram schematically showing an example of the operation of the recording head of the color image recording apparatus.

FIG. 27 is a diagram schematically showing another example of the operation of the recording head of the color image recording apparatus.

FIG. 28 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of the color image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Drum, 2 ... Support, 3 ... Image holding layer forming part, 4a ...
Image holding layer, 5 ... Recording head, 6 ... Ink droplets, 7 ... Recording material, 8 ... Transfer portion, 9 ... Cleaning unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location H04N 1/23 101 Z 9186-5C 8305-2H B41M 5/26 A

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A step of forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein on a support, supplying ink to the image holding layer according to an image signal, and supplying ink to the image holding layer. A recording method comprising: a step of forming an image; and a step of transferring the ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material. 2. A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein, on the support, and an image signal to the image holding layer. A recording apparatus comprising means for supplying ink in response to the ink to form an ink image in the image holding layer, and means for transferring the ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material. 3. A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer capable of holding an ink image therein, on the support, and an ink layer which is solid at room temperature. And a heating means for forming an ink image in the image holding layer by bringing the ink carrying sheet into contact with the support and heating the ink layer according to an image signal, and the ink in the image holding layer. A recording apparatus comprising a unit for transferring an image to a recording material. 4. A step of preparing an image-holding sheet having a sheet-shaped support and an image-holding layer which is previously formed on the sheet-shaped support and can hold an ink image; And a step of forming an ink image in the image holding layer, and a step of bringing the image holding layer holding the ink image into contact with the recording material and transferring the ink image onto the recording material. .. 5. A support, a means for driving the support, a means for forming an image holding layer on the support capable of holding an ink image therein, and an image signal to the image holding layer. A color image recording apparatus including means for supplying a plurality of colors of ink in response to each other to form a color ink image in the image holding layer, and means for transferring the color ink image in the image holding layer to a recording material. .