JPH05338349A - Formation of hard copy - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the fitting of a color or character in a screen easy in the title method recording a color image by the combined use of optical recording and thermal recording, by applying optical recording to an optically fixable thermal color forming layer through an optical mask using an electromagnetic wave with a specific wavelength and subsequently applying thermal recording thereto. CONSTITUTION:An optical mask 20 having a mask pattern 25 is superposed on a color thermal recording material 10 having cyan, magenta and yellow thermal color forming layers 12-14 and a protective layer 15 and optical recording is applied to the color thermal recording material by the irradiation with an electromagnetic wave having a specific wavelength. The optical mask 20 having the mask pattern 25 consists of an opaque part 22 composed of black ink blocking ultraviolet rays and a transparent part 23 and the mask pattern 25 is bonded to the transparent part 23. The mask pattern 25 is formed by drawing a character image 26 using ultraviolet blocking ink. After optical recording is performed, the thermal color forming layers 12-14 are subjected to thermal recording.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hard copy producing method for recording a color image by using both optical recording and thermal recording.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Thermal recording devices include a thermal recording device and a thermal transfer recording device. However, the thermal recording device tends to be widely used because it does not generate waste and has a low running cost. For example, most facsimiles incorporate a monochrome thermal recording device. Recently, for example, as described in JP-A-61-213169, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer, a cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, and a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer are sequentially formed on a support to form a full-color image. A color thermal recording material has been proposed which enables direct thermal recording.

When a color image is recorded on this color thermosensitive recording material, a yellow image is thermally recorded on the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer by a thermal head, and after the thermal recording, light in a wavelength range for fixing only the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer ( Electromagnetic radiation) is applied to photofix the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer. Next, a cyan image is thermally recorded on the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, and then the light from the light source is irradiated through the cyan filter to optically fix the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer. Finally, the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer is thermally recorded, and then magenta light is irradiated to optically fix the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer. There is also known a color thermosensitive recording material which does not perform optical fixing on the last thermosensitive coloring layer (JP-A-3-2).
88688, 4-28585).

[0004]

In such a color thermosensitive recording method, when a halftone image is fitted with a character image, a graphic image or the like to be synthesized, the images are synthesized by an image synthesizing device and the synthesized image signal is generated. Need to be input to the thermal head. Therefore, it is not possible to easily perform image composition because an image composition device is provided and labor for image composition processing is required.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and does not use an image synthesizing device or the like, and does not perform complicated control on the printer side, and a picture or character of a desired color or shape can be displayed on the screen. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hard copy creating method capable of inserting images such as.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention described in claim 1, at least one of the thermosensitive coloring layers having photo-fixing property has a wavelength range peculiar to the thermosensitive coloring layer. Optical recording is performed using an electromagnetic ray through an optical mask having a pattern, and then each thermosensitive coloring layer is thermally recorded.

According to the second aspect of the invention, an optical mask in which opaque characters are recorded in a transparent frame is used, and the transparent frame portion and the character portion are heat-recorded according to the color of the transparent frame which is the background of the character. It was done like this.

[0008]

EXAMPLE In FIG. 2, the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is
A cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 13, a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14, and a protective layer 15 are sequentially laminated on the support 11. As the support 11, opaque coated paper or plastic film is used.
The intermediate layer located between the thermosensitive coloring layers is omitted.

The cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 contains an electron-donating dye precursor and an electron-accepting compound as main components, and develops cyan when heated. Magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 1
No. 3 contains a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 365 nm and a coupler which thermally reacts with this compound to develop magenta color. When the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 13 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 365 nm, the diazonium salt compound is photolyzed in accordance with the exposure amount of the ultraviolet rays and the coloring ability is lost. The yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 contains a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 420 nm, and a coupler that thermally reacts with this compound to develop yellow. The yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 has approximately 4
Irradiation with near-ultraviolet light (blue-violet light) in the vicinity of 20 nm results in loss of coloring ability. The specific constitution of each of the thermosensitive coloring layers 12 to 14 is described in the above-mentioned JP-A-3-288688 and 4-28585.

FIG. 3 shows the coloring characteristics of the thermosensitive coloring layers 12-14. The thermal energy on the horizontal axis represents the thermal energy generated by the heating element of the thermal head, and the coloring thermal energy of the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 is the lowest and therefore the thermal recording sensitivity is the highest. On the other hand, the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 has the highest coloring heat energy and therefore the lowest thermal recording sensitivity. The main cause of this difference in the coloring heat energy is that the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 must be heated via the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 and the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 13. In a normal storage state, since the coloring heat energy of the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 is not exceeded, the light fixing property is not given to this. If necessary, a diazonium salt compound and a coupler may be used to impart photofixability.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an optical mask. A transparent plastic film is used as the optical mask 20, and includes a transparent edging portion 21, a UV opaque portion 22 such as black ink that blocks ultraviolet rays, and a transparent portion 23. A mask pattern 25 is attached to the transparent portion 23. As shown in FIG. 2, the mask pattern 25 has a character image 26 such as "Summer greeting" drawn on a transparent base with ink that blocks ultraviolet rays.
The base forms the background frame (ground) of the characters.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a color thermosensitive recording apparatus embodying the present invention. The platen drum 30 is
The color thermosensitive recording material 10 is held on the outer periphery of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 and is rotated in the arrow direction by the pulse motor 32 during thermal recording. A clamp member 33 is attached to the platen drum 30 to fix at least one location of the color thermosensitive recording material 10, for example, the tip portion 10a to the platen drum 30.
The clamp member 33 is U-shaped, and elongated holes 33a and 33b provided at both ends are fitted to the platen drum shaft 35 and the guide pin 36, respectively. This clamp member 3
3 is normally a platen drum 3 by a spring 37.
When the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is attached or detached, it is moved in a direction away from the platen drum 30 by the solenoid 38.

Around the outer periphery of the platen drum 30, a thermal head 40 having a large number of heating elements arranged in a line.
And first and second optical fixing devices 41 and 42 are provided. The first optical fixing device 41 includes a rod-shaped ultraviolet lamp 41a having an emission peak at about 420 nm.
The second optical fixing device 42 includes a rod-shaped ultraviolet lamp 42a having an emission peak at about 365 nm.

A pair of conveying rollers 45 are arranged in the paper feeding / discharging passage 44, and the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is passed through the pair of conveying rollers 45.
Is transported. Further, on the platen drum side of the paper feeding / discharging passage 44, a separating claw 46 for guiding the rear end of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 to the paper feeding / discharging passage 44 at the time of paper discharging is provided. In this embodiment, one passage is used as both the paper feed passage and the paper discharge passage, but they may be provided separately.

Next, the hard copy creating method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, in advance, the optical mask 2
Create 0. This may be created using a normal lith film, or may be created by cutting out black paper for easy creation.

The optical mask 20 thus prepared is overlaid on the color thermosensitive recording material 10 and temporarily fixed with a transparent tape or the like so as not to be displaced. Then, the recording material 10 with a mask is inserted from the paper feed / discharge passage 44. At the time of feeding the platen drum, the platen drum 30 is stopped with the clamp member 33 being vertical in FIG. When the solenoid 38 is energized, the clamp member 33 is set to the clamp release position. The conveyance roller pair 45 nips and conveys the color thermosensitive recording material 10 with the mask 20 toward the platen drum 30. The conveying roller pair 45 is used for the recording material 1
When the leading edge of 0 enters between the platen drum 30 and the clamp member 33, it stops once. After that, when the solenoid 38 is turned off, the clamp member 33 is returned by the spring 37 to clamp the front end of the color thermosensitive recording material 10. After this clamping, the platen drum 30 and the conveying roller pair 45 rotate, so that the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is wound around the platen drum 30.

When the platen drum 30 is rotated by the motor 32, the yellow optical fixing device 41 emits light. As a result, near-ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 420 nm are irradiated from the ultraviolet lamp 41a onto the color thermosensitive recording material 10 through the mask pattern 25 of the optical mask 20. In the portion of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 irradiated with the near-ultraviolet rays, the diazonium salt compound of the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 33 is photodecomposed and the coloring ability disappears. As a result, the mask pattern 25 is optically recorded on the color thermosensitive recording material 10.

After the platen drum 30 is rotated once to complete the optical recording, the platen drum 30 is rotated in the reverse direction. By the reverse rotation of the platen drum 30, the trailing end of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is guided by the separating claw 46 to the paper feeding / discharging path 44 and is nipped by the conveying roller pair 45. After that, when the platen drum 30 reaches the sheet feeding position, the solenoid 38 is energized and the rotation of the platen drum 30 is stopped. The energization of the solenoid 38 moves the clamp member 33 against the spring 37, so that the clamping of the tip of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is released.
As a result, the optically recorded color thermosensitive recording material 10 is discharged to the tray via the paper supply / discharge path 44.

Thereafter, the optical mask 20 is removed, the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is set again in the paper feeding / discharging path 44, and the pair of conveying rollers 45 are rotated to optically plate the color thermosensitive recording material 10 on the platen drum 30. Set to.
At this time, as described above, the clamp member 33 presses the tip portion of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 against the peripheral surface of the platen drum 30 to fix it.

The motor 32 causes the platen drum 30 to intermittently rotate by a constant step, and the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is
When the tip of the recording area of reaches the thermal head 40,
Thermal recording of the yellow image is started. At the time of thermal recording of the yellow image, the image data of the yellow image is read from an image data generator (not shown), and the thermal head 40 is driven based on this. At this time, each heating element of the thermal head 40 is supplied with the bias heat energy and the gradation expression heat energy according to the image data, whereby the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 has a desired density. Colored. A background halftone color image is input to the image data generator from a camera, a scanner or the like.

During the thermal recording of the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14, the optical recording portion by the above-mentioned optical mask 20 is also heated so as to have the maximum coloring density. Therefore, when inputting the data of the halftone image as the background, the position where the mask pattern 25 is located is designated according to the shape and size of the mask pattern.

When the portion on which the yellow image is thermally recorded reaches the optical fixing device 41, the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 is optically fixed by the yellow optical fixing device 41. As a result, the diazonium salt compound remaining in the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14 is photodecomposed and the coloring ability disappears.

When the platen drum 30 makes one rotation and the recording area again reaches the position of the thermal head 40, a magenta image is thermally recorded line by line. Then, the bias thermal energy and the gradation expression thermal energy corresponding to the image data are applied to the color thermosensitive recording material 10. The coloring heat energy of this magenta image is larger than that of the yellow image, but since the yellow heat-sensitive coloring layer 14 has already been photo-fixed, this yellow heat-sensitive coloring layer 14
Does not develop color. Even in this magenta recording,
The area where the mask pattern 25 is located is colored to the maximum density. Color heat-sensitive recording material 1 on which magenta image is heat-recorded
0 is optically fixed by the fixing device 42. In this case, the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 13 is photo-fixed by the ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 365 nm emitted from the ultraviolet lamp 42a.

When the platen drum 30 makes one further rotation and the recording area again reaches the position of the thermal head 40, thermal recording of the cyan image is started. The thermal head 40 is
Bias heat energy and gradation expression heat energy according to image data are applied to the color thermosensitive recording material 10 to thermally record a cyan image line by line on the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12. Even in this magenta recording, the mask pattern 25
The area where is located develops the highest density. The cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 has a value such that the coloring heat energy does not develop color in a normal storage state, so that the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12 is not provided with optical fixing property. Therefore, in the thermal recording of the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 12, optical fixing is not performed.

After the thermal recording of the yellow image, the magenta image and the cyan image is completed, the platen drum 30 and the conveying roller pair 45 are reversed. Due to the reverse rotation of the platen drum 30, the rear end of the color thermosensitive recording material 10 is separated by the separating claw 46.
The sheet is guided to the paper feed / discharge path 44, nipped by the pair of transport rollers 45, and discharged to the tray through the paper feed / discharge path 44.

By the above procedure, the hard copy shown in FIG. 6 is created. In this hard copy 50, a halftone color image is used as a background 51, and a striped character image 52 of "Summer greetings" is combined with this. This character image 5
2 is drawn with blue letters in a black background frame.

Table 1 shows the colors of characters which are colored by the combination of ultraviolet rays and thermal recording. here,
W represents white, M represents magenta, C represents cyan, B represents blue, and BL represents black. The parentheses represent the color of the background frame optically recorded by the transparent portion 27. As shown in Table 1, for example, when a 420 nm ultraviolet ray is radiated through the mask pattern 25 and then thermal recording is performed on the character image portion so that each color of yellow, magenta, and cyan has the highest density,
The background frame is a little bluish gray, and the characters are black. During the thermal recording of yellow, only the character image portion may be heated to a high temperature so that the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer is also thermally recorded. By doing so, it is not necessary to heat the portion of the character image in a stamp shape during the thermal recording of magenta and cyan.

If only yellow thermal recording is performed after optical recording with 420 nm ultraviolet light, the characters are yellow and the background frame is white. If only magenta heat recording is performed on the character image portion, both the character image and the background frame become magenta, and the character cannot be expressed. When only the yellow thermal recording is performed after weakening the intensity of ultraviolet rays to lose about half the coloring ability of the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 14, the background frame is light yellow and the characters are yellow. In addition, the optical mask 20 using ultraviolet light of 365 nm
When the mask pattern 25 is optically recorded, the background frame becomes cyan and the characters become black after thermal recording of each color. 3
When the amount of 65 nm ultraviolet light is halved and three-color thermal recording is performed, the background frame becomes slightly cyan-gray and the characters become black. Therefore, from this Table 1, it is necessary to select the type of ultraviolet rays and the thermal recording so that the color difference between the character and the background frame becomes large.

[0029]

[Table 1]

In the above embodiment, one mask was used for optical recording to synthesize a character and a halftone image. However, two masks with different characters were used, and different ultraviolet rays were used for each mask. It may be irradiated. This allows you to record characters of different colors. It is also possible to use a mask that allows ultraviolet rays to pass through only the characters to optically record the characters, then record the background halftone image, and thermally record the halftone image to develop the characters. In this case, since it is not necessary to heat-record the character part in stamp form, thermal recording is easy, but if the background image and the character part happen to be the same color, the character will be partially covered. Occurs. In order to avoid this, the position of the character may be determined so that the character is fitted in the empty portion or the like.

The optical mask 20 may be formed of a lith film or a film having a halftone density. Further, in the above embodiment, the heat energy is applied to the optical recording portion so that the maximum density is obtained at the time of heat development, but in addition to this, the heat energy may be controlled so as to have an intermediate density. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the optical recording is performed by using the optical fixing lamp incorporated in the color thermal printer, but this is the optical recording by using other light source such as sunlight or fluorescent lamp for illumination. You may. Furthermore, in the present invention, an illustration or the like may be inserted in the character and combined. Also,
It is also possible to use two masks and expose the first mask with light of 420 nm and the second mask with light of 365 nm.

[0032]

As described above, in the present invention, a pattern such as characters and figures is optically recorded on at least one thermosensitive coloring layer by using a mask, and then an image is thermally recorded on each thermosensitive coloring layer. By doing so, it is possible to easily combine two types of images, for example, halftone images and characters, illustrations and the like. Moreover, since the optical mask is used, the fitting synthesis can be performed without using an image synthesizing device or the like. Therefore, it is convenient for making a plurality of hard copies having the same content such as a greeting card and a New Year's card.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a hard copy creating method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a mask pattern is superimposed on a color thermosensitive recording material.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing color forming characteristics of a color thermosensitive recording material.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an optical mask.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a color thermal recording apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a hard copy created by the method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Color Thermal Recording Material 20 Optical Mask 23 Transparent Part 25 Mask Pattern 40 Thermal Head 41 Yellow Optical Fixing Device 42 Magenta Optical Fixing Device 50 Hard Copy 51 Background 52 Character Image

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] June 19, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0003

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

When a color image is recorded on this color thermosensitive recording material, a yellow image is thermally recorded on the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer by a thermal head, and after the thermal recording, light in a wavelength range for fixing only the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer ( Electromagnetic radiation) is applied to photofix the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer. Next, after the cyan image is thermally recorded on the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, the cyan thermosensitive coloring is performed.
The cyan thermosensitive coloring layer is photo-fixed by irradiating light for fixing the layer. Finally, the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer is thermally recorded, and then light for fixing the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer is irradiated to optically fix the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer. There are also known color thermosensitive recording materials in which the final thermosensitive color developing layer is not subjected to optical fixing (JP-A-3-288688, JP-A-4-28585).

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G06F 3/12 L 8305-2H B41M 5/26 A

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermosensitive color-developing layer comprising at least three first to third thermosensitive color-developing layers different in color to be developed, which are sequentially layered on a support, and at least the uppermost third and second thermosensitive color-developing layers. In the method for preparing a hard copy, in which a color thermosensitive recording material having a photofixing property due to electromagnetic radiation of a specific wavelength region and having a lower thermal recording sensitivity at a deeper layer is used, and a color image is heat-recorded, Characterized in that at least one of the thermosensitive coloring layers provided with is subjected to optical recording through an optical mask having a pattern using an electromagnetic ray having a wavelength range peculiar to the thermosensitive coloring layers, and thereafter each thermosensitive coloring layer is thermally recorded. How to make a hard copy. 2. The optical mask has opaque characters recorded in a transparent frame, and the transparent frame part and the character part are thermally recorded according to the color of the transparent frame which is the background of the character. The method of creating a hard copy according to claim 1.