JPH0542693A - Transfer color recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To dispense with the empty feed of a color ink sheet and to enable high speed recording by supplying the color ink sheet according to the output of a boundary detection sensor while successively changing over the recording data of the colors corresponding to the color regions of the color ink sheet opposed at the point of time when the output of said sensor is issued. CONSTITUTION:A color boundary detection sensor 11 detecting the boundaries of the colors of the inks differently applied to a color ink sheet is provided on the upstream side of a thermal transfer part A and the signal of said sensor is outputted to a color boundary detection circuit 12. The color ink sheet 1 is supplying while the recording data corresponding to four colors applied from a memory 14 are successively changed over to the head driving circuits 15 of the line thermal heads 4 constituting thermal transfer parts A-D at each time when the output signal of the color boundary detection circuit 12 is applied from an output rotation circuit 13. By this constitution, the necessity for performing initialization by performing the empty feed of the color ink sheet at each time when the recording of one line is completed as is conventional is eliminated and high speed continuous recording is enabled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer color recording apparatus, and more specifically, inks of a plurality of colors are repeatedly applied separately in the lengthwise direction in a length required for recording one page. The present invention relates to speeding up recording in a transfer color recording apparatus using a color ink sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view of a thermal transfer color recording apparatus showing an example of a conventional transfer color recording apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a color ink sheet, and as shown in FIG. 8, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y),
Four color thermal transfer color inks having a black (B) heat melting property are repeatedly applied separately with a length L ₁ required for recording one page. This color ink sheet 1 is fed from a roll 2 on the feeding side, and a buffer loop composed of a plurality of thermal transfer portions A to D in which a line thermal head 4 and a transfer roller 5 are arranged to face each other as a line transfer recording means and a roller 6. It is wound around the winding roll 7 by alternately passing through E to G. Reference numeral 8 denotes a recording paper to which the ink of the color ink sheet 1 is selectively transferred, which is fed from a feeding-side roller 9 and cut into a length of one page by an auto cutter 10 to apply the ink of the color ink sheet 1. The sheets are sequentially passed through the thermal transfer portions A to D in a state of being superposed on the surface and discharged to the outside. Note that the recording paper 8 is not limited to the roll paper as in the embodiment, but may be a cut paper that is cut in advance to a predetermined length.

FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view of a transport system for the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8. Assuming that the length of the recording paper 8 in the feed direction is L ₁ and the thermal transfer portions A to D are arranged at equal intervals L ₂ along the feed direction of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8, upstream of the feed direction. The length L of the path of the color ink sheet 1 from the thermal transfer portion a on the side to the thermal transfer portion e on the downstream side through the inlet b, the peak c, and the outlet d of the buffer loop is L = L ₁ + L _2. Is set to.

In such a structure, the thermal transfer section A transfers and records yellow, the thermal transfer section B transfers and records magenta, the thermal transfer section C transfers and records cyan, and the thermal transfer section D transfers and records black. , Are fixedly assigned according to the order of the colors of the color ink sheet 1. When the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer part A, the yellow area of the color ink sheet 1 reaches the thermal transfer part A, and when the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer part B, the color ink sheet When the magenta area of No. 1 reaches the thermal transfer section B and the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer section C, the cyan area of the color ink sheet 1 also reaches the thermal transfer section C and the recording start position of the recording paper 8 is reached. The black area of the color ink sheet 1 reaches the thermal transfer section D when the thermal transfer section D reaches the thermal transfer section D. Then, these thermal transfer portions A to D synchronize with the arrival of the respective ink areas of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording start position of the recording paper 8,
That is, based on the thermal transfer portion A, the thermal transfer portion B has a distance L.
Only ₂ of the moving time is delayed, the thermal transfer unit C is delayed by the travel time of the distance L ₂ × 2, the thermal transfer unit D based on the recording data of each color at a distance L ₂ × movement time only delayed by the time relationship of 3 Driven selectively.

[0005]

However, according to such a conventional configuration, the color ink sheet 1 is moved by a predetermined amount each time thermal transfer recording of four colors on one page of the recording paper 8 is completed, and the next recording is performed. Color ink sheet 1 for performing
It is necessary to adjust the positional relationship between each color area and the thermal transfer portions A to D. That is, in the case of FIG. 9, while the start end of the recording area of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer portion A and the end end passes through the thermal transfer portion D, the color ink sheet 1 is 3 ×.
To move to the next recording start state, the color ink sheet 1 has to be further extended by about 2 × L ₁ and wound up by merely moving the length of L ₂ + L ₁ .

Therefore, there is a problem that continuous recording cannot be performed at high speed. The present invention solves such conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a transfer color recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording at a relatively low cost.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of line-shaped transfer recording means arranged in parallel at substantially equal intervals and a plurality of color inks corresponding to the line-shaped transfer recording means along the longitudinal direction. A color ink sheet that can be transferred and recorded a plurality of times by repeatedly applying colors separately for the length required to record one page, and a boundary detection sensor that detects the boundaries between the colors of the ink that are applied to the color ink sheets. , A recording data switching circuit for sequentially switching the recording data to be applied to each row-shaped transfer recording means according to the output of the boundary detection sensor.

[0008]

According to the output of the boundary detection sensor, the recording data of the color corresponding to the color area of the color ink sheet facing each other is sequentially switched and supplied to each of the row-shaped transfer recording means. This eliminates the need for idling of the color ink sheet as in the prior art, and enables high speed recording.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
The same parts as those in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a color boundary detection sensor for detecting the boundary of the color of the ink applied to the color ink sheet 1,
It is provided on the upstream side of the thermal transfer portion A. The output signal of the color boundary detection sensor 11 is applied to the color boundary detection circuit 12. In the present invention, as the color ink sheet 1, one capable of thermal transfer recording a plurality of times is used.
The output signal of the color boundary detection circuit 12 is applied to the output rotation circuit 13. Output rotation circuit 13
Each time the output signal of the color boundary detection circuit 12 is added, the print data corresponding to each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black added from the memory 14 is stored in the line thermal head 4 constituting the thermal transfer parts A to D. The voltage is supplied to the drive circuit 15 while being sequentially switched. In detecting the color boundary of the color ink sheet 1, a combination of a magnetic sensor and a thin film magnetic tape attached as a boundary marking, and a sensor for measuring the transmittance or reflectance of the color ink sheet 1 are used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the output rotation circuit 13. Output rotation circuit 1
Reference numeral 3 includes a rotation shift register 16 and four AND gates 17 provided for each system A to D of the head drive circuit 15 and one OR gate 18 provided for each system. That is, the output data of the memory Y is added to one input terminal of the first AND gate Y of the A system, and A of the rotate shift register 16 is input to the other input terminal.
The output is added, the output data of the memory M is added to one input terminal of the second AND gate M, and the B output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal of the third AND gate C. The output data of the memory C is added to one input terminal, the C output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal, and the output of the memory B is input to one input terminal of the fourth AND gate B. Data is added and the D output of the rotate shift register 16 is applied to the other input terminal, and the output signals of these AND gates are applied to the head drive circuit A via the OR gate A.

The output data of the memory Y is applied to one input terminal of the first AND gate Y of the B system, and the D output of the rotate shift register 16 is applied to the other input terminal of the second AND gate Y. The output data of the memory M is added to one input terminal of M, and the A output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal,
The output data of the memory C is added to one input terminal of the AND gate C of the AND gate, the B output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal of the AND gate C, and one input terminal of the fourth AND gate B of The output data of the memory B is added to the other input terminal of the rotate shift register 1
The C output of 6 is applied, and the output signals of these AND gates are applied to the head drive circuit B via the OR gate B.

The output data of the memory Y is applied to one input terminal of the first AND gate Y of the C system, and the C output of the rotate shift register 16 is applied to the other input terminal of the second AND gate. The output data of the memory M is added to one input terminal of M, and the D output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal,
The output data of the memory C is added to one input terminal of the AND gate C, the A output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal, and the one input terminal of the fourth AND gate B is connected to the other input terminal. The output data of the memory B is added to the other input terminal of the rotate shift register 1
The B output of 6 is applied, and the output signals of these AND gates are applied to the head drive circuit C via the OR gate C.

The output data of the memory Y is applied to one input terminal of the first AND gate Y of the D system, and the output B of the rotate shift register 16 is applied to the other input terminal of the second AND gate Y. The output data of the memory M is added to one input terminal of M, and the C output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal,
The output data of the memory C is added to one input terminal of the AND gate C of the AND gate, the D output of the rotate shift register 16 is added to the other input terminal thereof, and the one input terminal of the fourth AND gate B is connected to the other input terminal. The output data of the memory B is added to the other input terminal of the rotate shift register 1
The A output of 6 is applied, and the output signals of these AND gates are applied to the head drive circuit D via the OR gate D.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of each head A to D in FIG. In FIG. 1, the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are fed at the same speed. The color recording data added to each head A to D is shown in FIG.
As shown in, each time a detection signal is output from the color boundary detection sensor 11, the color order of the ink applied to the color ink sheet 1 (yellow → black → cyan →
It shifts sequentially according to magenta → yellow → ...). It is to be noted that the color recording data added to the heads B to D is predetermined so as to perform recording at a point delayed according to the distances L ₂ , 2 × L ₂ and 3 × L _{2 from} the head A, as in the conventional case. The delay time is given, but not shown.

With this arrangement, print data corresponding to the color of the facing color ink sheet 1 is added to the thermal transfer portions A to D each time the color boundary detection sensor 11 detects a color boundary. As in the prior art, it is not necessary to idle the color ink sheet each time the recording of one page is completed and perform the initial setting, and high-speed recording by continuous recording can be performed.

Since the color ink sheet can be used a plurality of times, the running cost can be reduced. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a line thermal head and a plurality of thermal transfer portions in which the transfer roller is opposed to each other is used as the line-shaped transfer recording means has been described, but impact recording means for transferring and recording ink with a hammer or the like, discharge breakdown It may be discharge breakdown recording means for transferring and recording ink, or laser recording means for transferring and recording ink by irradiation of a laser beam. As the color ink sheet, a carbon sheet, a discharge sheet, a heat-meltable sheet, a heat-sublimable dye sheet, or the like may be used depending on the configuration of the row recording unit.

Although the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are fed at the same speed in the above embodiment, the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are fed at arbitrary speeds. By making the feeding speed of the ink sheet 1 slower than that of the recording paper 8, the buffer loops E to G of the color ink sheet 1 as shown in FIG. 1 are unnecessary, and the amount of the ink sheet 1 used can be reduced.

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view showing such an embodiment, and the portions common to FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. Each line thermal head 4 is driven by a circuit configuration similar to that of FIG. 1, and they are not shown.
In FIG. 4, the moving stroke of the color ink sheet 1 between the adjacent line thermal heads is L _f (mm), the moving stroke of the recording paper 8 between the adjacent line thermal heads is L _p (mm), and The moving speed is V _f (mm / sec), and the moving speed of the recording paper 8 is V _p (m
m / sec), the length of one page of the recording paper 8 is P (m
m), the length L _c of each color area of the color ink sheet 1
(Mm). Then, in order to reduce the usage amount of the color ink sheet 1, V _f <V _p is set. The color ink sheet 1 was surface-treated so that the ink transfer recording would not occur only by the speed difference between the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 and the mechanical pressing by the line thermal head 4 and the transfer roller 5. It is desirable to use one.

Here, in order that the recording results by the respective line thermal heads 4 coincide with the same line on the recording paper 8,
The head B is given a delay time of L _f / V _{p with} respect to the head A, and the head C is 2 (L _f / V _p ) with respect to the head A.
And a delay time of 3 (L _f / V _p ) is given to the head A for the head D. The relationship between the length of one page of the recording paper 8 and the length of a certain color of the color ink sheet 1 is P = 4nL _c , but especially n = 1.
FIG. 5 shows a timing chart for switching the colors assigned to the heads A to D when L _f = L _p . (A)
(D) shows the switching states of the recording colors by the heads A to D, respectively, and (e) shows the cutting timing of the recording paper by the cutter 10.

In FIG. 5, t ₁ is the time difference of the recording start between the adjacent heads and is represented by t ₁ = L _f / V _p .
t ₂ is a color switching period, and t ₂ = P / V _p = L _c /
It is represented by V _f . Δt ₁ is an arbitrary time provided to escape the color boundary of the color ink sheet 1, and is ideally 0. t ₂ 'is the color recording time, and is represented by t ₂ ' = P '/ V _p, where P'is the effective recording length of one page. Δt ₂ is the time from the end of full-color recording until the recording paper is cut, and is represented by Δt ₂ = L _pc / V _p , where the distance from the head D to the cutter 10 is L _pc .

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another specific example of the recording data switching circuit. In FIG. 6, a binary counter BC that counts the output pulses of the color boundary detection sensor, and a 4-bit data selector DS that selectively outputs the recording data of each color to each head A to D based on the output of this counter BC.
A to DSD. Since these can be configured by a general-purpose logic IC, they are inexpensive.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the recording color by each head is switched has been described. However, even when the recording color by each head is fixed, the feeding speed of the color ink sheet is higher than the feeding speed of the recording paper. Obviously, by slowing down the consumption of color ink sheets can be saved. The device configuration in this case may be the same as that of FIG. 4, and the recording data switching circuit is not necessary.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A transfer color recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording at a relatively low cost can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the output rotation circuit of FIG.

3 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of each of heads A to D in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a timing chart illustrating the operation of each of heads A to D in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing another specific example of the recording data switching circuit.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view of a thermal transfer color recording apparatus showing an example of a conventional transfer color recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a color ink sheet used in FIG.

9 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a transport system for the color ink sheet and the recording paper in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Color Ink Sheet 4 Line Thermal Head 5 Transfer Roller 11 Color Boundary Detection Sensor 12 Color Boundary Detection Circuit 13 Output Rotation Circuit 14 Memory 15 Head Drive Circuit 16 Rotate Shift Register 17 AND Gate 18 OR Gate

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 35/16 B 7318-2C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of columnar transfer recording means arranged in parallel at substantially equal intervals, and a plurality of color inks corresponding to the columnar transfer recording means along the longitudinal direction are required for recording one page. Color ink sheets that can be transferred and recorded multiple times by repeatedly applying different lengths, a boundary detection sensor that detects the boundaries of the colors of the inks that are applied to the color ink sheets, and a line transfer recording unit. A recording data switching circuit that sequentially switches the recording data to be added according to the output of the boundary detection sensor,
A transfer color recording device comprising: