JPH06328743A - Light heat converting heat mode recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize reproduction of fine lines by controlling exposure energy from a light source to each picture element in at least three stages and auxiliary exposing a picture element adjacent to an image part among picture elements at non-image parts by an exposure energy smaller than that of picture element at the image parts. CONSTITUTION:From a raster image processor 83, a specific synchronous signal (a) is inputted to a shift register 86 of an image signal processing circuit 84 and a frequency multiplying circuit 87, and other image signal (b) is inputted to the shift register 86. At the shift register 86, the image signal (b) is delayed for a specific time and outputted to a combination circuit 89. Further, at the frequency multiplying circuit 87, a pulse having multiple frequency is made from the synchronous signal (a), which is outputted to an n-counter 88. At the combination circuit 89, a specific image signal (c) is outputted to a laser light source modulating circuit 85 so as to control the laser light source. The number of pulses to be outputted from the n-ary-counter 88 is controlled in three stages by a pulse count control signal.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus which forms an image by utilizing light.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a thermal transfer recording technique, a thermal transfer recording material having a heat-meltable coloring material layer or a coloring material layer containing a heat sublimable dye provided on a substrate and an image receiving material are opposed to each other, and a thermal head is used. There is a method in which a heat source controlled by an electric signal such as an energizing head is pressure-bonded from the recording material side to transfer and record an image. This thermal transfer recording has features such as noiseless, maintenance-free, low cost, easy colorization, and digital recording, and is used in various fields such as various printers, recorders, facsimiles, computer terminals, etc. .

On the other hand, in recent years, in the fields of medical care, printing, etc., there is a demand for recording which has a high resolution, is capable of high speed recording, and is capable of image processing, that is, digital recording. However, in the conventional thermal transfer recording using a thermal head or a current-carrying head as a heat source, it is difficult to increase the density of the heating elements due to the life of the head heating elements, and it is difficult to obtain a high-resolution image.

[0004]

In order to solve this, thermal transfer recording using a laser as a heat source is disclosed in JP-A-49-15437.
No. 49-17743, No. 57-87399, No. 59-143659 and the like. In thermal transfer recording using a laser as a heat source, the resolution can be increased by narrowing the laser spot. However, when recording with a laser,
Recording is generally performed by scanning a minute spot, and unless the spot is scanned on the recording medium at high speed, the recording time cannot be shortened, and it is generally necessary to improve the recording speed. It is more disadvantageous than the case of using batch exposure or a line thermal head. Further, generally, the amount of heat given by light is smaller than the amount of heat given by a heating element such as a thermal head. Therefore, also in this respect, the photothermal conversion type heat mode recording using light such as laser improves the recording speed. The above is in a disadvantageous situation.

As a laser scanning method, a polygon mirror or a galvanometer mirror and an fθ lens are combined to perform main scanning of laser light, and sub-scanning is performed by moving a recording medium, or a so-called plane scanning method while rotating a drum. There is a cylinder scan in which laser exposure is performed and the rotation of the drum is the main scan and the movement of the laser light is the sub-scan, but the cylinder scan is more suitable for high-density recording because the accuracy of the optical system is easily increased. In the case of cylindrical scanning, it is easy to increase the scanning speed by increasing the rotation speed of the drum, but it is difficult to obtain the adhesion between the heat mode recording material and the heat mode image receiving material necessary for transfer.

In thermal transfer recording using a thermal head, it is possible to obtain close contact between the thermal transfer recording material and the image receiving material by the pressure between the platen and the heating element of the thermal head, but such a method cannot be used in cylindrical scanning. . Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-112665 discloses that laser exposure is performed while applying pressure with a transparent pressing member or the like. However, when the drum is rotated at high speed for high-speed recording, uniform pressing becomes difficult and close contact is achieved. Fogging easily occurs due to unevenness and pressure transfer.

As described above, it is necessary to irradiate the recording material and the image receiving material with a sufficient amount of light in order to obtain good transferability in the state where the adhesion is insufficient. In this way, even when good transferability is obtained in the maximum density part of the image, that is, in the so-called solid part, fine dots, thin lines,
The image becomes faint at the part where the end of a small character is recorded. In order to avoid this, the light of larger and larger amount of exposure is emitted, which causes a problem that the recording speed is lowered or the light source is expensive.

[0008] Further, a method of irradiating light from a different type of light source to preheat the recording material has been conventionally proposed. The light source used for this is required to have a low cost and a large output as compared with a laser light source for image-wise recording, so that it is a sacrifice and the light-collecting property is poor, or it is difficult to modulate. . Therefore, the preheating light source in this technique is driven in a form having no direct relationship with the image data. However, since the focal points of the preheating light and the image-form recording light have to match, there is a drawback that the cost of assembling the apparatus increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to stably reproduce small dots, fine lines, etc. with a simple circuit structure and with an exposure amount required for transferring a solid portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide a light-heat conversion type heat mode recording device capable of performing the above.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 provides an image receiving layer of a photothermal conversion type heat mode image receiving material and a photothermal conversion type heat mode recording material on a substrate. Of the color material layer of the recording material is transferred to the image receiving layer of the image receiving material by scanning and exposing imagewise with an image recording light source. The heat mode recording apparatus has a control means for controlling the exposure energy to each pixel by the image recording light source in at least three stages including zero, and by the control of this control means, the image part among the pixels of the non-image part The pixels adjacent to or adjacent to are supplementarily exposed with exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, under the control of the control means, the auxiliary exposure energy for the pixel adjacent to or adjacent to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion is the exposure energy for the pixel of the image portion. Is 10% or more and 80% or less.

According to a third aspect of the invention, the control means comprises:
It is characterized by including a mechanism for changing the number of fixed length exposure pulses.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the control means comprises:
It is characterized by including a mechanism for changing the width of the exposure pulse.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the control means comprises:
It is characterized by including a mechanism for changing the intensity of exposure.

[0015]

In the invention according to claim 1, the control of the control means
Pixels adjacent to or close to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion are supplementarily exposed with exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion, whereby the exposure amount is an amount necessary to transfer the solid portion, It is possible to stably reproduce small dots and fine lines.

According to the second aspect of the invention, under the control of the control means, the auxiliary exposure energy for the pixel which is adjacent to or close to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion is 10 times the exposure energy for the pixel of the image portion. % Or more and 80%
This is because the dot amount and the thin line can be stably reproduced with the exposure amount required for transferring the solid portion.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the control means changes the number of fixed-length exposure pulses to perform auxiliary exposure with exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the width of the exposure pulse is changed by the control means, and auxiliary exposure is performed with exposure energy smaller than the pixel of the image portion.

In a fifth aspect of the invention, the control means changes the intensity of the exposure so that the exposure is carried out supplementarily with the exposure energy smaller than the pixel of the image portion.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The photothermal conversion type heat mode recording apparatus of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a holder, and FIG.
Is a cross-sectional view of the holding body, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the holding body, FIG. 5 is a layer structure diagram of a recording material, and FIG. 6 is a layer structure diagram of an image receiving material.

This photothermal conversion type laser recording apparatus 1 is provided with a material supplying / conveying means 5 for supplying and conveying a photothermal conversion type heat mode recording material 3 and a photothermal conversion type heat mode image receiving material 4 into an apparatus body 2. Recording material 3 and image receiving material 4
Material holding means 7 for holding the recording material 3 on the holding body 6, exposure means 8 for exposing the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 held on the holding body 6 to the modulated laser beam, and the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 after the exposure. Peeling means 9 for peeling off the holder 6
And a material peeling / conveying means 10 for conveying the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 which have been peeled off.

The material supplying / conveying means 5 is adapted to supply and convey the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4. The recording material 3 is back-coated on one side of the support 30 as shown in FIG. 5, for example. The layer 31 is laminated, and the cushion layer 32, the photothermal conversion layer 33, and the ink layer 34 are laminated on the other side. The ink layer 34 of the recording material 3 can be a yellow ink layer, a magenta ink layer, a cyan ink layer, and a black ink layer. By forming a yellow ink layer, a yellow recording material 35 and a magenta ink layer can be obtained. A magenta recording material 36 and a cyan ink layer form a cyan recording material 37 and a black ink layer forms a black recording material 38. Further, the image receiving material 4 is formed, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, by laminating the back coat layer 41 on one side of the support 40 and laminating the cushion layer 42 and the image receiving layer 43 on the other side.

In this embodiment, the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 are configured as described above, and this aspect will be described. However, regarding points other than the description, Japanese Patent Application No. 4-2287.
The techniques described in Japanese Patent Nos. 78 and 4-228779 can be used. It is preferred that the recording material used in the present invention basically has an ink layer on a support and has a function of converting light irradiated imagewise into heat.

The support of the recording material may be any one as long as it has good dimensional stability and withstands heat during image formation. Specifically, JP-A-63-193886, page 2, lower left column, 12-18. The films or sheets described in the rows can be used. Further, when the laser beam is irradiated from the recording material side to form an image, the support of the recording material is preferably transparent. The support of the recording material need not be transparent as long as the image is formed by irradiating the laser beam from the image receiving material side. The thickness of the support of the recording material is preferably 6 to 200 μm, more preferably 25 to 100 μm.

In order to absorb the energy of the light source for heat mode recording in the ink layer without waste, the transmittance for the wavelength of the light source between the support of the recording material and the ink layer is preferably 70% or more, more preferably 80%. The above is good. For this purpose, it is preferable to use a support having good transparency and to reduce reflection at the back coat surface of the support and the interface between the support and each layer of the recording material.

As the light-heat converting agent, any conventionally known one can be used. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, since heat is generated by irradiation with a semiconductor laser light, a near-infrared light absorber which exhibits maximum absorption in the wavelength band of 700 to 3000 nm and has little or no absorption in the visible region when a color image is formed. preferable. When forming a monochrome image, carbon black or the like having absorption in the visible to near infrared region is preferable.

As the near-infrared light absorber, cyanine-based, polymethine-based, azurenium-based, squalium-based, thiopyrylium-based, naphthoquinone-based, anthraquinone-based organic compounds such as dyes, phthalocyanine-based, azo-based, thioamide-based organometallic complexes And the like, and specifically, JP-A-63-139191, JP-A-64-33547, JP-A-1-160683, 1-280750 and 1
-293342, 2-2074, and 3-2659.
No. 3, No. 3-30991, No. 3-34891, No. 3
-36093, 3-36094, 3-3609
No. 5, No. 3-42281, No. 3-97589, No. 3
Examples thereof include compounds described in JP-A-103476.
These can be used alone or in combination of two or more.

Next, the image receiving material will be described. The image receiving material receives the ink layer peeled imagewise from the recording material to form an image. Usually, the image receiving material has a support and an image receiving layer, and may be formed of only the support. Since the ink layer melted by heat is transferred to the image receiving material, it is desirable that the image receiving material has appropriate heat resistance and excellent dimensional stability so that an image is properly formed.

The image-receiving layer formed on the surface of the support is composed of a binder and various additives and mat materials which are added as needed. In some cases, the binder is formed only. The thickness of the image receiving layer is usually 1 to 100 μm.

As the support for the image receiving material, the same support as described for the recording material can be used, but the thickness is 25 to
300 μm is preferable, and more preferably 50 to 200 μm.
m. In addition, an image receiving layer, an undercoat layer, a back coat layer, an antistatic layer and the like can be provided if necessary.

The material supply / transport means 5 includes a magazine 50,
51, 52 and conveying rollers 53, 54, 55, 56, 5
7 etc. are provided. In this magazine 50, a yellow recording material 35 and a magenta recording material 36, which are wound in a roll shape, are set. The yellow recording material 35 is conveyed from the magazine 50 to the holder 6 by the conveying roller 53, and the magenta recording material 36 is conveyed from the magazine 50 to the holder 6 by the conveying roller 54. The cyan recording material 37 and the black recording material 38, which are wound in a roll shape, are set in the magazine 51, and the cyan recording material 37 is conveyed from the magazine 51 toward the holding body 6 by the conveying roller 55.
The black recording material 38 is conveyed from the magazine 51 toward the holder 6 by the conveying rollers 56. Magazine 52
The image receiving material 4 wound in a roll shape is set in, and the image receiving material 4 is conveyed from the magazine 52 toward the holding body 6 by the conveying roller 57.

The material holding means 7 holds the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 on the holding body 6. The holding body 6 is composed of a drum 60, and a pressure roll 70 is arranged facing the drum 60.

The drum 60 is constructed, for example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and an intake hole 61 is provided on the entire circumference of the drum 60.
Are formed at predetermined intervals, and the decompression chamber 62 is further provided inside.
Are formed. The width L1 of the drum 60 is wider than the widths L2 and L3 of the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4, and the width L2 of the recording material 3 is wider than the width L3 of the image receiving material 4. The air intake hole 61 of the drum 60 is the recording material 3
And the width L2, L3 of the image receiving material 4, and the intake holes 61 at both ends thereof are opened and closed by the valve body 63. The valve body 63 is driven by the valve opening / closing means 64.

The decompression chamber 62 is connected to a decompression pump 66 via a pipe 65, and the decompression chamber 62 is depressurized by driving the decompression pump 66. By decompressing the decompression chamber 62, the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 are adsorbed to the drum 60 by the intake holes 61.

The decompression pump 66 is controlled by the controller 67. When the image receiving material 4 is wound around the drum 60, the controller 67 controls the valve opening / closing means 64 to close the valve body 63. As a result, the air intake holes 61 at both ends of the drum 60 are closed, so that the image receiving material 4 is transferred to the drum
Is adsorbed at a predetermined position. When the recording material 3 is superposed on the image receiving material 4 and wound around the drum 60, the control device 67 controls the valve opening / closing means 64 to open the valve body 63. As a result, the intake holes 61 at both ends of the drum 60 are opened, so that both ends of the recording material 3 are adsorbed to the predetermined positions of the drum 60.

The holder 6 is not limited to such a drum 60, but can be constituted by a box 68 shown in FIG. 4, for example. In FIG. 4, the air intake hole 61 is formed in the plane portion of the box 68, and the decompression chamber 62 is formed inside.
Since it has the same structure as the drum 60 shown in FIG.

As described above, as the close contact in the heat mode recording, the image receiving layer surface of the image receiving material 4 on the holding body 6 having the minute air intake holes 61 and the ink surface (color) of the recording material 3 having a vertical and horizontal dimension larger than that of the image receiving material 4. The image receiving material 4 and the recording material 3 are brought into close contact with each other by depressurizing the portions of the recording material 3 protruding from the periphery of the image receiving material 4 through the minute air intake holes 61. On the contrary, superimpose the ink surface of the recording material and the image receiving surface of the image receiving material whose vertical and horizontal dimensions are larger than that of the recording material, and decompress through the minute air intake hole from the image receiving material portion protruding from the periphery of this recording material. It is also possible to bring the image receiving material and the recording material into close contact with each other.

According to this contact, it is easy to automatically convey and wind the recording material and the image receiving material, and heat mode recording can be performed by irradiating light after completion of contact.

The holder 6 may be either the drum 60 or the box 68, but when high-precision recording is required, the holder 6 of the drum 60 is moved by plane scanning with the holder 6 of the box 68 and a polygon mirror or a galvano mirror. The cylindrical scanning used can be expected to improve the accuracy of the optical system.

The peeling means 9 is composed of a peeling roller 90, and peels the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 from the holder 6 after exposure by the peeling roller 90. Material peeling and conveying means 10
Is composed of a conveyance roller 100, conveys the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 separated by the conveyance roller 100, and discharges the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4.
Discharge to 1.

Next, the exposing means will be described in detail.
The exposure device 8 exposes the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4 held by the holding body 6 with the modulated laser beam. The light source for heat mode recording of the exposing means 8 is preferably capable of emitting light having a wavelength that is easily condensed by an optical system, has a large output energy, and is easily converted into heat. Examples of such a light source include semiconductor lasers and LEs.
D, helium neon laser, YAG laser, carbon dioxide gas laser and the like can be mentioned. Among these, semiconductor lasers, LEDs and the like are examples of light sources that can be easily used as an array composed of a plurality of light emitting elements.

The light emitting element is preferably one capable of emitting light having a wavelength capable of efficiently converting exposure energy into heat energy, and a preferable emission wavelength is, for example, 60.
It is 0 to 2000 nm.

When a semiconductor laser is used as the drive system of the heat mode recording light source, automatic output control (AP
C) method or automatic current control (ACC) method can be adopted. In any case, it is preferable to provide a protection circuit for preventing the semiconductor laser from being destroyed by a temporary excessive current.

As for the number of channels of the heat mode recording light source, a plurality of light sources may be arranged in parallel as necessary. In this case, the exposure system is preferably arranged such that a plurality of light sources scan different scanning lines, and the number of channels of the light sources is preferably 1 or more and 100 or less.

7 to 9 show an embodiment of the arrangement of the light emitting elements as the heat mode recording light source. In FIG. 7, the light emitting element array 80 uses a total of 16 light emitting elements 81. 16 light emitting elements 81 are arranged in parallel, and a semiconductor laser with a large output, for example, a rated output of 150 mW is used at the end and the rest is used. As the light emitting element 81, a semiconductor laser having a small output, for example, a rated output of 100 mW is used.
In FIG. 8, the light emitting element array 80 similarly uses a total of 16 light emitting elements 81. The light emitting elements 81 are 6, 6,
It is made up of four groups, each of which is arranged at a predetermined angle θ,
The light emitting element 81 uses, for example, a semiconductor laser having the same rated output of 100 mW. In FIG. 9, the light emitting element array 80 uses a total of 18 light emitting elements 81, and the light emitting element 81 uses, for example, a semiconductor laser having the same rated output of 100 mW,
The portion exposed by the light emitting element 81 at the end is set so as to overlap with the portion that is exposed last time or next time in the scanning exposure by one dot, and the light emission pattern of the light emitting element 81 at the end is the light emission immediately inside thereof. The light emission pattern of the element 81 is the same.

The exposure spot diameter of each light emitting element 81 of the light emitting element array 80 is basically determined by the required image resolution. For example, the spot diameter of 1 / e ² is in the range of 3 to 40 μm. Is. The light emitting element 81 has a size of, for example, 1 mm or more, but the spot diameter is, for example, 3 to 40 μm in the exposed portion. Must-have. However, if the exposure direction is bent too much, the spot shape will be distorted, which is not preferable. In order to reduce as much as possible the restriction of the arrangement of the light emitting elements 81 as an array, it is preferable that the arrangement of the light emitting elements 81 in the array be as shown in FIG.

In such heat mode recording,
By shortening the exposure time, energy loss due to heat conduction from the ink layer of the recording material 3 to the support side is reduced. In heat mode recording, thermal energy is directly applied to the ink layer or the photothermal conversion layer in the vicinity of the ink layer, as compared with normal thermal transfer recording in which a thermal head is used to heat the ink layer by heat conduction from the support side.

Therefore, it is preferable that the exposure is performed with high illuminance and in a short time as much as possible. The preferable exposure speed is a linear velocity of 0.5 m / sec or more, more preferably 3 m / sec or more. Also, the preferable exposure power density is 50 W / m.
m ² or more, more preferably 300 W / mm ² or more.

The time required for the applied heat to cool after heating depends on the applied heat amount, the heat capacities of the recording material 3 and the image receiving material 4, and the like. The time difference from the exposure to the exposure of the next adjacent line is preferably as short as possible, and when performing the exposure while rotating the drum, it is preferable that the drum diameter is small.

As a scanning method of the semiconductor laser, a polygon mirror or a galvano mirror and an fθ lens are combined to perform main scanning of laser light, and sub-scanning is performed by moving the recording medium, or a so-called plane scanning method or rotating a drum. However, there is a cylindrical scan in which laser exposure is performed and the rotation of the drum is the main scan and the movement of the laser light is the sub-scan, but the cylindrical scan is easier to improve the accuracy of the optical system and is suitable for high-density recording. .

In order to make full use of the characteristics of the heat mode recording, it is preferable that the dot pitch is finer than that of a general thermal head, that is, 2.5 μm or more and 25.4 μm or less,
It is more preferably 3 μm or more and 12.7 μm or less. Further, it is preferable that the dot pitches in the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction are the same.

Next, the control means of the exposure means is shown in FIG.
It will be described with reference to FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the control means, FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the image signal processing circuit, and FIG. 12 is a timing chart of the image signal.

The exposure means 8 has a control means 82 as shown in FIG. The control means 82 has a raster image processor 83, an image signal processing circuit 84, and a laser light source modulation circuit 85. This image signal processing circuit 8
4 and the laser light source modulation circuit 85, the light emitting element array 8
For example, 16 light emitting elements 81 of 0 are provided. The raster image processor 83 is provided with output ports corresponding to, for example, 16 image signal processing circuits 84. The image signal processing circuits 84 to which signals from the output ports correspond and the image signal processing circuits on both sides adjacent to each other. 84 is input.

When controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction, the signal from the output port is input only to the corresponding image signal processing circuit 84. When controlling the exposure energy in both the main scanning and sub-scanning directions, the signal from the output port is input to the corresponding image signal processing circuit 84 and the adjacent image signal processing circuit 84 on one or both sides.

The image signal processing circuit 84 is constructed as shown in FIG. 11, and the image signal processing circuit 84 controls the light source including auxiliary exposure. Here, the light emitting element 81 of the exposure light source is one laser diode, and the image signal is turned on / off for each pixel by the raster image processor 83.
It shall be given as a signal of F. In addition to that, a synchronization signal for each pixel is given.

The image signal processing circuit 84 is composed of a shift register 86, a frequency multiplication circuit 87, an n-ary counter 88 and a combination circuit 89. From the raster image processor 83, the synchronizing signal a as shown in FIG. 12 is input to the shift register 86 and the frequency multiplication circuit 87, and the image signal b is further input to the shift register 86. The shift register 86 delays the image signal b by a predetermined time and sends it to the combination circuit 89.

The frequency multiplication circuit 87 obtains a pulse having a multiple frequency from the synchronization signal a and sends it to the n-ary counter 88.
In the n-ary counter 88, the raster image processor 83
To the combination circuit 89, the number of pulses set after a predetermined time T1 from the turning on of the image signal b from, and the number of pulses set a predetermined time T2 after the turning off of the image signal b.

In the case of controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction, in the combination circuit 89, the shift register 8
An image signal c shown in FIG. 12 is obtained from the image signal from 6 and the image signal from the n-ary counter 88, this image signal c is sent to the laser light source modulation circuit 85, and is modulated by this laser light source modulation circuit 85. Control the laser light source.

A pulse number control signal is input from the raster image processor 83 to the n-ary counter 88, and the number of pulses output from the n-ary counter 88 is controlled in three stages of 0, 1 and 2 by this pulse number control signal. To do. As a result, the image signal c from the combination circuit 89 is output as shown in FIG. 12, the image signal c is sent to the laser light source modulation circuit 85, and the laser light source modulation circuit 8 is sent.
The modulation at 5 controls the laser light source. As described above, the control unit 82 has a mechanism for changing the number of fixed-length exposure pulses.

When controlling the exposure energy in the sub-scanning direction, the number of pulses is controlled in three steps of 0, 1, and 2, and the image signal d from the combination circuit 89 is output as shown in FIG. Control the light source.

13 and 14 show another embodiment of the control means, FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the image signal processing circuit, and FIG.
4 is a timing chart of the image signal when controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction.

In this embodiment, the pulse width variable circuit 200 is
In the pulse width variable circuit 200, a pulse having a width set a predetermined time T1 after the image signal b from the raster image processor 83 is turned on is set, and a pulse is set a predetermined time T2 after the image signal b is turned off. The pulse having the specified width is sent to the combination circuit 89.

In the combination circuit 89, the image signal b from the shift register 86 and the pulse width variable circuit 20.
The image signal c shown in FIG. 14 is obtained from the image signal from 0, this image signal c is sent to the laser light source modulation circuit 85, and the laser light source is controlled by the modulation in this laser light source modulation circuit 85.

A pulse width control circuit 200 receives a pulse width control signal from the raster image processor 83, and the pulse width control circuit 2 receives the pulse width control signal.
The pulse width output from 00 is controlled in three stages of 0, 1, 2. As a result, the image signal c from the combination circuit 89 is output as shown in FIG. 14, the image signal c is sent to the laser light source modulation circuit 85, and the laser light source is controlled by the modulation by the laser light source modulation circuit 85. In this way, the control means 82 has a mechanism for changing the exposure pulse width.

When controlling the exposure energy in the sub-scanning direction, the pulse width is controlled in three steps of 0, 1, and 2,
This can be performed with the same timing chart as the image signal d in FIG.

FIGS. 15 and 16 show another embodiment of the control means, FIG. 15 is a block diagram of the image signal processing circuit, and FIG.
6 is a timing chart of image signals when controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction.

In this embodiment, the exposure intensity variable circuit 201 is used.
The exposure intensity variable circuit 201 has an exposure intensity set a predetermined time T1 after the image signal b from the raster image processor 83 is turned on and a predetermined time T2 after the image signal b is turned off. The exposure intensity is changed. When controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction, this change in the exposure intensity is controlled as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, there are three levels of 0, 1, 2. Thus, the control means 82 has a mechanism for changing the intensity of exposure.

Further, when controlling the exposure energy in the sub-scanning direction, the exposure intensity is controlled in three stages of 0, 1 and 2,
This can be performed with the same timing chart as the image signal d in FIG.

In this way, the exposure means 8 has the control means 82 for controlling the exposure energy to each pixel by the image recording light source in at least three stages including zero, and the control of the control means 82. Then, among the pixels of the non-image portion, the pixels adjacent to or close to the image portion are supplementarily exposed with the exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion.

Under the control of the control means 82, the auxiliary exposure energy for the pixels adjacent to or close to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion is 10% or more and 80% or less of the exposure energy for the pixels of the image portion. Can be set to.

Of the pixels of the non-image portion, the range of auxiliary exposure as pixels close to the image portion is within 100 μm, preferably within 50 μm from the boundary line between the image portion and the non-image portion. Within this range, the auxiliary exposure intensity may be changed according to the distance from the boundary line.

Further, as a concrete example, in the photothermal conversion type heat mode recording apparatus of FIG. 1, a block diagram of the control means of FIG. 10, a block diagram of the image signal processing circuit of FIG. 11,
Image recording was performed using the following recording material and image receiving material according to the timing chart of the image signal of FIG. (Preparation of heat mode recording material) 100 μm thick PET
On the (polyethylene terephthalate) support, the following cushion layer, photothermal conversion layer, and ink layer were sequentially coated to prepare a recording material. All material amounts in each layer are parts by weight. <Cushion layer> A coating liquid having the following composition was prepared, and was coated and dried using a blade coater. The film thickness was about 10 μm.

Byron 200 (manufactured by Toyobo) 30 parts DOP (dioctyl phthalate) 3 parts MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) 32 parts Toluene 35 parts <Photothermal conversion layer> A coating solution having the following composition was prepared and a wire bar was used on the cushion layer. Applied and dried. The film thickness was 0.3 μm, and the absorbance at 830 nm was 0.9.

Water-soluble photothermal conversion material (λmax = 800 nm) 3.50 parts Gelatin 3.43 parts FT248 (water-based surfactant: manufactured by BASF) 0.07 parts Water 93 parts <Ink layer> Disperse the liquid of the following composition To prepare the coating solution,
It applied and dried on the said light-heat conversion layer using a wire bar. The film thickness was 0.4 μm and the green density was adjusted to 0.65 using a Sakura densitometer.

DS-90 (Robin resin manufactured by Harima Kasei) 4.7 parts HNP-11 (paraffin wax manufactured by Nippon Seiro Co., Ltd.) 0.5 part EV-40Y (ethylene vinyl acetate resin manufactured by Mitsui DuPont) 0.5 parts DOP ( Dioctyl phthalate) 0.3 parts Lionol Red 6BFG (magenta pigment: manufactured by Toyo Ink) 4.0 parts MEK 90.0 parts (preparation of heat mode image receiving material) PE same as recording material
A coating liquid having the following composition was applied onto a T support with a wire bar and dried. Film thickness 1.0 μm. Coating liquid for image receiving layer AD37P295J (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer manufactured by Toyo Morton) 10 parts Water 90 parts Recording material thickness 75 μm or 100 μm, circumferential length 715 mm, widthwise length 565 mm, image receiving material Then, the recording material was wound around the drum substrate in this order. At the time of winding, each material was pressed and squeezed by the pressure roll shown in FIG. 1 to prevent the generation of extra air pockets.

Depressurization from the inside of the drum substrate was started before winding each material, and 30 seconds after the winding of both materials was completed, the pressure inside the drum substrate was measured by a pressure gauge. After the pressure inside the drum base becomes constant, the above-mentioned FIG.
The exposure system like this was turned on to perform the exposure.

At this time, the pixels adjacent to the image portion in the main scanning direction were exposed for a time corresponding to 40% of the exposure time for the pixels in the image portion. However, the dot pitch is 1
The recording linear velocity was 0 μm, the recording linear velocity was 10 m / s, the light output on the exposed surface was 90 mW, and the output wavelength was 830 nm.

As a comparative example, instead of the circuit of FIG. 11 in Example 1, the image signal output from the raster image processor was directly input to the laser light source modulation circuit to perform image recording. However, the dot pitch is 10 μm,
The recording linear velocity was set to 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 m / s.

In the second embodiment, 16 laser diodes are used as the light emitting elements as the exposure light source, and 16 channels of image signals are given in parallel by the raster image processor. The circuit of FIG. 11 generated a signal that modulates the light source. The signal that modulates the light source has a 100% optical output in the image portion, and the distance from the image portion is 3
The light output was set to 60% when it was within the pixel.

Image recording was performed using the recording material, the image receiving material, and the light-heat conversion type heat mode recording apparatus described above. However, the dot pitch was 6 μm and the recording linear velocity was 8.
The light output per channel on the exposed surface was 0 to 12.5 m / s, 60 mW, and the output wavelength was 830 nm.

As Comparative Example 2, FIG.
Instead of the circuit of No. 1, the light source was directly modulated by using the image signal output from the raster image processor, and the image was recorded. However, the dot pitch was 6 μm and the recording linear velocity was 2.4 to 12 m / s.

Maximum Recording Linear Velocity on which Image without Blurring is Formed Example 1 10 [m / s] Comparative Example 1 6 Example 2 Exposure Time in Pixels on which Image without Blurring is Formed in Proximity to Image Part Ratio of maximum recording linear velocity 5% 8.0 [m / s] 10% 9.5 [m / s] 20% 10.5 [m / s] 40% 11.0 [m / s] 60% 12 0.0 [m / s] 80% 12.5 [m / s] 90% − (Transfer of pixels close to the image portion occurred) Comparative Example 2 (0%) 7.2 [m / s]

[0083]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the control means is controlled so that the pixel adjacent to or adjacent to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion is smaller in exposure energy than the pixel of the image portion. The auxiliary exposure allows you to stably reproduce small dots, thin lines, etc. with the exposure amount required to transfer a solid portion, and to the edge of the image without lowering the recording speed. It is possible to record a high-definition image without blurring in the heat mode.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, under the control of the control means, the auxiliary exposure energy for pixels adjacent to or close to the image portion among the pixels of the non-image portion is 10 times the exposure energy for the pixels of the image portion. % Or more and 80%
Since it is as follows, it is possible to more stably reproduce small dots, thin lines, etc. with an exposure amount required for transferring a solid portion.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the control means changes the number of fixed-length exposure pulses, it is possible to reliably perform supplementary exposure with exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion with a simple circuit configuration. it can.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the width of the exposure pulse is changed by the control means, it is possible to reliably perform auxiliary exposure with exposure energy smaller than the pixels of the image portion with a simple circuit configuration.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the control means changes the intensity of the exposure, the exposure can be supplementarily performed with the exposure energy smaller than the pixel of the image portion with a simpler circuit structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a holding body.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a holder.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the holding body.

FIG. 5 is a layer configuration diagram of a recording material.

FIG. 6 is a layer configuration diagram of an image receiving material.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of arrangement of light emitting elements as a light source for heat mode recording.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an arrangement of light emitting elements as a heat mode recording light source.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement of light emitting elements as a light source for heat mode recording.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of control means.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an image signal processing circuit.

FIG. 12 is a timing chart of an image signal.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an image signal processing circuit according to another embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a timing chart of an image signal in the case of controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction according to another embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an image signal processing circuit according to another embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a timing chart of an image signal when controlling the exposure energy in the main scanning direction according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus 3 Recording material 4 Image receiving material 82 Control means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical indication location H04N 1/23 103 A 9186-5C 8305-2H B41M 5/26 V (72) Inventor Ai Katsuta Tokyo Sakurano, Hino-shi 1 Konica Stock Company (72) Inventor Atsushi Nakajima 1 Sakura-cho, Tokyo Hino City Konica Stock Company (72) Inventor Sota Kawakami 1-Hino Sakura City, Tokyo Konica Stock Company

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image receiving layer of a photothermal conversion type heat mode image receiving material and a color material layer of a photothermal conversion type heat mode recording material are superposed so as to face each other on a substrate, and are imaged by an image recording light source. In the photothermal conversion type heat mode recording apparatus for transferring the color material layer or the color material of the recording material to the image receiving layer of the image receiving material by scanning exposure, the exposure energy to each pixel by the image recording light source is zero. And a control means for controlling in at least three stages including, the pixel adjacent to or close to the image part among the pixels of the non-image part is supplementarily controlled by the control means by the exposure energy smaller than the pixel of the image part. A photothermal conversion type heat mode recording device characterized by being exposed. 2. Under the control of the control means, the auxiliary exposure energy for the pixels of the pixels of the non-image portion that are adjacent to or close to the image portion is 10% or more of the exposure energy for the pixels of the image portion and 80. % Or less, The photothermal conversion type heat mode recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 3. The control means includes a mechanism for changing the number of fixed length exposure pulses.
Alternatively, the light-heat conversion type heat mode recording device according to claim 2. 4. The photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit includes a mechanism for changing the width of the exposure pulse. 5. The photothermal conversion heat mode recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit includes a mechanism for changing the intensity of exposure.