JPH05318946A - Thermal transfer color ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the use efficiency of a color ribbon by easily discriminating the use state of the color ribbon and using a part incapable of being used heretofore. CONSTITUTION:In a thermal transfer color ribbon wherein color ink layers 4 formed by alternately repeating at least the three primary colors and black markers 5 for discriminating a color are provided on the surface of a strip like film support 1, a thermal layer 2a changed in light transmissivity by heat is applied to the surface or rear of the strip like film support 1. By this constitution, the use state of the color ribbon is easily discriminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to thermal transfer color ribbons.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a commonly used thermal transfer color ribbon, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view thereof. In these figures, the thermal transfer color ribbon is formed by arranging a yellow-colored 4Y, magenta-colored 4M, and cyan-colored heat-transferable color ink layer 4 (hereinafter abbreviated as color ink layer) on a transparent polyester film 1 in a regular order. It has a structure in which a blank portion is provided between the coatings. Further, black markers 5Y, 5M, and 5C having different shapes for each color are applied to the blank portions as color identification portions. A4 as the transfer paper
If the color ribbon is a thermal transfer color ribbon compatible with printers that can print up to the horizontal dimension of, the length to apply color ink is A4.
It is slightly longer than the horizontal dimension.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a printing portion of a thermal transfer color printer. Black marker 5 is transmissive detector 9
Color discrimination is performed by detecting a change in photocurrent that occurs when the light passes through (hereinafter abbreviated as a detector). Detector 9
Is composed of a light emitting element 10 made of a gallium arsenide infrared light emitting diode and a light receiving element 11 made of a silicon phototransistor. The emission wavelength of the infrared light emitting diode of the light emitting element 10 is 950 nm, and since the black marker 5 can hardly be transmitted with the light of this wavelength (transmittance 1.2%), if the zebra shape is used as shown in FIG. The change is large and can be detected accurately. On the other hand, since the light having the above wavelength almost passes through the color ink layer 4, the light having the transmittance of 8
0%), the change in photocurrent due to passing through the color ink layer 4 is small. If the sensitivity of the detector 9 is too high, it is affected by external illumination, sunlight, or changes in transmitted light depending on the presence or absence of the color ink layer 4, and the reliability is lowered.
It is made low so as to respond only to a large current change that can detect the presence or absence of the black marker 5. However, in this state, for example, when yellow 4Y is used and then cyan 4C is used, magenta 4M is skipped, and the unused portion of the ribbon is wasted. So ribbon cartridge 1
Although it is desired to invert 2 to use the unused part of the ribbon, the unused part of the color ink layer 4 cannot be identified because the sensitivity of the detector is low. If it is forcibly used, the color ink layer 4 that has already been printed is also used, and printing blanks and unevenness occur. In order to solve this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-257674 proposes a technique in which after the use of the thermal transfer color ribbon, the used portion is punched to clarify that it has been used (punching method). ). Further, in JP-A-1-291977, a technique (dedicated detector system) in which a high-sensitivity detector is provided for each color is disclosed. In JP-A-2-3364, a recording track dedicated for identification is provided separately from an ink track for printing. There is proposed a technique for providing the (recording system for identification only).

[0004]

However, the punching method has a complicated mechanism, is noisy, has a slow speed, the dedicated detector method is expensive, and the identification is unstable because it is easily affected by the external environment. The track method is not practical because it has problems such as a large width of the thermal transfer ribbon, a recording head, and high cost. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to identify a used portion and a non-used portion of a thermal transfer color ribbon by a simple means.

[0005]

In order to solve such a problem, in the thermal transfer color ribbon of the present invention, a structure having an ink layer and a color identification portion in which at least three primary colors are regularly repeated on the surface of a belt-shaped film support. And a heat-sensitive layer whose light transmittance is changed by heat on the front surface or the back surface of the film support.

[0006]

1 is a sectional view of a first embodiment of a thermal transfer color ribbon of the present invention. In this figure, a heat-sensitive layer 2 is formed on the surface of polyester, which is a belt-shaped film support 1, on which a release layer 3, a color ink layer 4,
Black markers 5 are formed. This heat sensitive layer 2 is a feature of the present invention. Further, a back surface coating layer is formed on the back surface. As the belt-shaped film support 1, a thin, heat-resistant, inexpensive and transparent polyester film (thickness: 3.5 μm) is used. The heat-sensitive material used for the heat-sensitive layer 2a is mainly a leuco dye which has the same sensitivity as the color ink layer 4 and is easy to apply, and a developer,
A binder and a sensitizer are mixed and dispersed for use. Leuco dyes include triphenylmethane-based, fluorane-based, rhodamine lactam-based, and the like, and developers include phenol compounds, aromatic carboxylic acid derivatives and their metal salts, hydroxybenzoic acid esters, activated clays, etc. as binders. Examples include polyvinyl alcohol and cellulose derivatives, and examples of the sensitizer include waxes such as higher fatty acid amide. If the thickness of the heat sensitive layer 2a is too thick, heat from the thermal head is less likely to be transferred to the color ink layer 4 and the sensitivity is lowered, resulting in poor print quality. Therefore, the thickness is preferably about 1 to 5 μm. In order to improve the releasability when the color ink layer 4 is heat-melted and applied on the heat-sensitive layer 2, the release layer 3
Is applied to 1 to 3 μm. For the release layer 3, polyethylene wax, paraffin wax, carnauba wax or the like is used alone or in a mixed form. The color ink layer is composed of a heat-fusible vehicle or the like using a well-known pigment or dye as a coloring agent, and regularly has a blank portion in the order of yellow 4Y, magenta 4M, and cyan 4C, and has a regular thickness of 3 to 10 μm.
Is applied in the thickness of. A black marker 5 for color identification is applied to the blank portion in a shape corresponding to the color. The black marker 5 is the same heat-melting type transfer ink as the color ink layer 4, and has the same thickness. Further, in order to improve the slipperiness of the thermal head, a mixture of fluorine resin and nitrocellulose as a main component mixed and dispersed is used as a coat layer 6 on the back surface of the polyester film 1.
~ 1 μm is applied to complete the thermal transfer color ribbon.

Next, how to distinguish a used portion and an unused portion when printing the thermal transfer color ribbon of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 6. FIG. 2 is a view showing a used state of the thermal transfer color ribbon of the present invention. When the portion to be printed is heated by the thermal head 8, heat is transferred in the order of the back coat layer 6, the polyester film 1 and the heat sensitive layer 2b, and the leuco dye causes a coloring reaction by the action of the color developer to change from colorless to black. To do. Almost at the same time, the color ink layer 4 separates from the heat sensitive layer 2b and is transferred onto the transfer paper 13. Then, the heat-sensitive layer 2b turned black remains in the portion where the color ink layer 4 has disappeared. Since the heat-sensitive layer 2b transmits almost no light (transmittance of 1.6%), the transmittance is largely different from that of the unused color ink layer 4 (the transmittance of the colorless heat-sensitive layer 2a is 79%). Occurs, which makes it possible to identify the usage status of the color ribbon. When the ribbon cartridge 12 is inverted and the unused portion is used, the detector 9 uses the black markers 5Y, 5M,
Color identification is performed by 5C, and the used ink layer 4 is skipped by detecting the ribbon usage status by the heat sensitive layers 2a and 2b, and an unused color ink layer 4 of the same color is searched for and printed. Although the method of completely using the unused portion has been described above, even if the unused portion is slightly used, it can be used in the same manner as long as the length of the unused portion is previously measured by the detector 9 and is longer than the printing length. Therefore, it is possible to further improve the use efficiency of the color ribbon 7.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the second embodiment. First
The difference from the embodiment is that the heat sensitive layer 2a is applied between the polyester film 1 and the back coat layer 6.
First, a color ink layer (4Y, 4M, 4C) and a black marker (5Y, 5M, 5) on the surface of the polyester film 1.
C) is applied, then the heat sensitive layer 2a is applied to the back surface of the polyester film 1, and the back surface coating layer 6 is applied thereon. In this embodiment, when the printed portion is heated by the thermal head 8, heat is transferred in the order of the back coat layer 6, the heat sensitive layer 2a, and the polyester film 1, and the leuco dye causes a color reaction due to the action of the color developer to cause a heat sensitive layer. Since 2a changes from colorless to black and the light transmittance changes, it is possible to identify the usage status of the thermal transfer color ribbon 7. Since the heat-sensitive layer 2a is close to a thermal head, sufficient heat energy is transmitted to the photosensitive layer 2 and a low-sensitivity heat-sensitive material can be used. Further, since it is not in contact with the color ink layer 4, the release layer 3 is not required and the cost can be reduced. On the other hand, the entire thickness of the thermal transfer color ribbon can be reduced, which is long in the conventional ribbon cartridge 12. You can also store the ribbon.

[0009]

According to the color ribbon of the present invention, it is possible to easily identify the usage status of the ribbon.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a thermal transfer color ribbon according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a used state of the thermal transfer color ribbon according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a thermal transfer color ribbon of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a conventional thermal transfer color ribbon.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a conventional thermal transfer color ribbon.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a printing portion of the thermal transfer color printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Polyester film 2a. Uncolored thermosensitive layer 2b. Colored heat-sensitive layer 3. Release layer 4. Heat-melt transfer color ink layer 5. Black marker 6. Release coating layer 7. Thermal transfer color ribbon 8. Thermal head 9. Transmission type detector 10. Light emitting element 11. Light receiving element 12. Ribbon cartridge 13. Transferred paper 14. Guide roller 15. Take-up core 16. Supply core

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A strip-shaped film support has a structure having an ink layer and a color identification portion, which regularly repeats at least three primary colors, on the surface thereof, and the front or back surface of the film support has a light transmittance by heat. A thermal transfer color ribbon having a heat-sensitive layer in which the color changes.