JPH06255146A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate an area that is not required for thermal transfer recording from a thermal transfer ink film by a method wherein the ink film is rewound back to an ink film supply means at an amount roughly equal to that required for guiding. CONSTITUTION:After printing of the second color, a thermal head 1 is separated from a platen 2 and a recording paper 9 is taken back to a position that the printing of the second color is started by rotating the platen 2 in the reverse direction, then the top position setting of the third color of a film 8 is executed. The thermal head s pressed to the platen 2 again and the platen 2 and an ink film winding roll 3a are driven to transfer the third color. After printing of the third color, thermal head 1 is separated from the platen 2 and the platen 2 is rotated so that the recording paper 9 is discharged. At that time, or after the discharge of the recording paper 9, the ink film 8 is transported in the reverse direction by driving an ink film supply roll 3b and when a rewriting position mark is detected by a mark sensor 7, the driving is stopped to wait the next transferring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus for thermally transferring a color material on an ink film onto recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An outline of a conventional thermal transfer recording ink film is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an example of an ink film for three-color printing. In addition to the first color material 15b, the second color material 16, and the third color material 17 on the ink film 20,
An area 15a that was not used for actual transfer was present in the portion in front of the first color material 15b. This is used to wind the recording paper around the platen. That is, by rotating the platen with the thermal head pressed against the platen, the recording paper and the ink film are sent together,
Thereby, the recording paper is wound around the platen. Therefore, it is necessary to make the ink film longer than the length used for actual transfer recording by the area 15a.

There are also those in which the area 15a is not a color material but is simply blank or has a cue mark for detecting the first color. These blank portions and mark portions are present for each screen in the case of an ink film for single-color transfer, or in the first portion constituting one screen for an ink film for multi-color transfer.

FIG. 3 shows an example of an ink film for three-color printing. In FIG. 3, 12 is a cue mark for detecting the first color, 13 is a cue mark for detecting the second color, Reference numeral 14 is a cue mark for detecting the third color.

[0005]

However, the area 15a in FIG. 3 is an area not necessary for actual thermal transfer recording, and the ink film becomes longer by that much. When the ink film becomes long, the ink film supply roll and the ink film take-up roll also become large, the thermal transfer recording apparatus as a whole becomes large, and the cost of the ink film increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and eliminates a wasteful area unnecessary for thermal transfer recording from the thermal transfer ink film, and even when such a thermal transfer ink film is used, The purpose is to ensure that the recording paper can be wrapped around the platen.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention comprises a recording paper and an ink film formed by applying an ink layer of one or more colors between a thermal head and a platen. In a thermal transfer recording apparatus for sandwiching and thermally transferring to a recording paper, an ink film supplying means formed by winding an ink film, an ink film winding means for winding the ink film, and an ink film conveying means for conveying the ink film from the ink film supplying means to the ink film winding means. The ink film transporting means guides the leading end of the recording paper to the position of the thermal head by feeding the ink film together with the recording paper at the end of the thermal transfer recording or at the start of the thermal transfer recording, and the ink film required for the guiding. An amount almost equal to the amount, It is configured to rewind the ink film to the ink film supply means.

[0008]

In the thermal transfer recording apparatus having the above structure, the transferred ink film is rewound onto the ink film supply means at the end of thermal transfer recording or at the start of thermal transfer recording, so that the area for winding the recording paper on the platen (thermal transfer recording It is possible to reliably wind the recording paper around the platen even with an ink film having no unnecessary area).

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a thermal head and 11
Is a drive means for moving the thermal head 1 to and from the platen 2, and 6 is a platen drive means for rotating the platen 2 in forward and reverse directions. 3a is an ink film take-up roll, 4a is a take-up roll driving means for driving the ink film take-up roll 3a, 3b is an ink film supply roll, and 4b is an ink film supply roll 3
It is a supply roll driving means for rewinding b.

Reference numerals 5a and 5b are pressing rollers for pressing the recording paper 9 against the platen 2, and 7 is a sensor for detecting a transfer position mark of the ink film 8. Recording paper 9
When the sheet is wound around the platen 2, the sensor of the sheet of recording paper 9 for detecting the position just before the tip of the sheet of recording paper 9 is wrapped around the platen 2 is 10b. The sensor 10a for detecting the leading edge of the recording paper 9 set to is.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an ink film for three-color printing used in the thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 12 is a mark indicating the position of the first color transfer material, 13 is a mark indicating the position of the second color transfer material, and 14 is a mark indicating the position of the third color transfer material. is there. Further, 15 indicates a region of the first color transfer material, 16 indicates a region of the second color transfer material, and 17a indicates a region of the third color transfer material. Reference numeral 17b denotes an area of the transfer material of the third color which has been transferred, and 18a and 18b are marks showing the rewinding position of the ink film.

The operation of the thermal transfer recording apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

Before the transfer to the recording paper 9, the rewind position mark 18b of the ink film 8 is at the mark sensor 7 position. At this time, the area 17b is used as the area of the third color of the previous transfer recording and has already been used, and the area 15 is the area of the first color of the next transfer recording. When a transfer recording start command is received at the start of transfer recording, one sheet of recording paper 9 is fed out by a paper feeding means (not shown), and when the leading end of the recording paper 9 reaches the recording paper sensor 10b, the driving means is driven. 11 presses the thermal head 1 against the platen 2.

Further, the platen drive means 6 drives the platen 2 and the take-up roll drive means drives the ink film take-up roll 3a, so that the recording paper 9 is wound around the platen 2 and positioned at the position of the recording paper sensor 10a. When the leading edge of the recording paper 9 is reached, the winding of the recording paper 9 around the platen 2 is completed.

Here, the thermal head 1 is separated from the platen 2, and the ink film 8 is conveyed until the first color of the ink film 8 is located, that is, the first color transfer position mark 12 is detected by the mark sensor 7. Then, the thermal head 1 is pressed against the platen 2 again to drive the platen 2 and the ink film take-up roll 3a to start the transfer of the first color.

When the transfer of the first color is completed, the thermal head 1 is separated from the platen 2, and the recording paper 9 is returned to the first color transfer start position (not shown) by rotating the platen 2 in the reverse direction, and the ink film 8 is changed to the second color. Cueing is performed (the second color transfer position mark 13 is detected by the mark sensor 7), the thermal head 1 is pressed against the platen 2 again, and the platen 2 and the ink film take-up roll 3a.
Is driven to transfer the second color.

Similarly, when the transfer of the second color is completed, the thermal head 1 is separated from the platen 2, and the recording paper 9 is returned to the transfer position of the second color (not shown) by rotating the platen 2 in the reverse direction. The third color is cued (the third color transfer position mark 14 is detected by the mark sensor 7), the thermal head 1 is pressed against the platen 2 again, and the platen 2 and the ink film take-up roll 3a are driven. Transfer the color.

After the transfer of the third color is completed, the thermal head 1 is separated from the platen 2 and the platen 2 is rotated to eject the recording paper 9. At the same time, or after the recording paper 9 is discharged, the ink film 8 is driven by the driving means to drive the ink film supply roll 3b and sent in the opposite direction to that until the rewinding position mark 18a is detected by the mark sensor 7, and the driving is stopped. Wait for the next transcription. In this way, a series of transfer operations is completed.

As described above, by rewinding the used ink film on the ink film supply roll after the thermal transfer recording is completed, the ink film portion is not wasted by the operation of winding the recording paper on the platen at the time of the next transfer. You're done. Further, the same effect can be obtained even if the ink film is rewound onto the ink film supply roller not at the end of the transfer recording, but even if the ink film is rewound on the ink film supply roller before the start of the transfer recording.

Further, the rewind position marks 18a and 1
Even if 8b is not provided, the rewind position may be detected, for example, by providing a plurality of mark sensors, and the length of the ink film required for the operation of winding the recording paper around the platen by another method (two recording positions). Paper sensor (10a
And a length of approximately 10b)),
The same effect can be obtained by rewinding the ink film. Especially when the ink film is a cassette type, when the ink film cassette is taken out of the main body during use, the exposed part of the ink film is the already transferred ink film part, so the unused part of the ink film is contaminated from dust and the like. Can be prevented,
Easy to handle.

Furthermore, even when a recording paper, which is apt to be jammed (the ink film is wound around the platen), is wound around the platen, the ink film is used even when the jam is caused by using the used portion of the ink film. The unused parts of the are likely to be unaffected.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments.
Various modifications are possible according to the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the ink film is rewound by an amount substantially equal to the amount of the ink film required for guiding the recording paper after the thermal transfer recording is finished. However, when the thermal transfer recording is started, the first color of the ink film 8 is cued. By including the rewinding operation of the amount of the ink film required for guiding the recording paper at this time, the rewinding can be performed at the start of the thermal transfer recording.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiments, the ink film for three-color printing has been described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to not only three-color transfer but also one-color transfer and four-color transfer. You can

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the apparatus for performing thermal transfer recording while feeding the recording paper in one direction as in the embodiment, but may be applied to the apparatus for performing thermal transfer recording while feeding the recording paper in both directions. You can

[0028]

As described above, according to the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, at the end of thermal transfer recording or at the start of thermal transfer recording,
Since the transferred ink film is rewound onto the ink film supply means, it is possible to eliminate a useless area unnecessary for thermal transfer recording from the thermal transfer ink film.

Further, even when a thermal transfer ink film in which a useless area unnecessary for such thermal transfer recording is eliminated is used, the recording paper can be reliably wound around the platen.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an ink film used in the thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing a conventional ink film.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Head 2 Platen 3a Ink Film Winding Roll 3b Ink Film Supply Roll 4a Winding Roll Driving Means 4b Supply Roll Driving Means 5a Holding Roller 5b Holding Roller 6 Platen Driving Means 7 Mark Sensor 8 Ink Film 9 Recording Paper 10a Sensor 10b Sensor 11 Thermal Head Driving means 12 1st color transfer position mark 13 2nd color transfer position mark 14 3rd color transfer position mark 15 1st color transfer material area 15a Area not used for transfer 15b 1st color transfer material area 16 2nd color transfer material area 17a 3rd transfer material Area 17b Third color transfer material area 18a Ink film rewind position mark 18b Ink film rewind position mark

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer recording apparatus for performing thermal transfer onto a recording paper by sandwiching a recording paper and an ink film formed by applying an ink layer of one or more colors between a thermal head and a platen, and comprising winding the ink film. An ink film supply means, an ink film winding means for winding the ink film, and an ink film transport means for transporting the ink film from the ink film supply means to the ink film winding means, the ink film transport means at the end of thermal transfer recording Alternatively, at the start of thermal transfer recording, the tip of the recording paper is guided to the position of the thermal head by advancing the ink film together with the recording paper, and the amount of the ink film required for the guiding is substantially equal to the amount of the ink film. Ink film A thermal transfer recording apparatus, wherein the thermal transfer recording apparatus is rewound onto the ink film supply means. 2. A rewinding position mark formed on the ink film, and a detecting means for detecting the rewinding position mark, and the ink film transporting means when the rewinding position mark is detected by the detecting means. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink film is rewound onto the ink film supply means.