JPH0679893A - Thermal printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the margin of a print while enabling the preparation of the long-sized print without scaling up a printer device and to shorten a printing time when a large number of the prints are prepared continuously. CONSTITUTION:When a thermal recording material 10 is drawn out from a roll 11 and the rear end of a recording region reaches the position of recording, the roll 11 and a platen roller 13 are rotated reversely. A yellow image is thermally recorded by a thermal head 17 during a time when the thermal recording material 10 is rewound on the roll 11. The thermal recording material 10 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays by an ultraviolet lamp 18 while being forwarded toward a discharge opening 21 again, and the yellow thermal color-developing layer of the thermal recording material 10 is optically fixed. A magenta image and a cyan image are thermally recorded similarly, and the thermal recording material 10 is cut by a borderline with an unrecorded region by a cutter 22 after the images of three colors are recorded, and discharged onto a tray 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printing method, and more particularly to a thermal printing method in which an image is thermally recorded on a roll-shaped thermosensitive recording material and then cut into a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal recording type thermal printer uses a sheet-shaped thermal recording material in which a thermosensitive coloring layer is layered on a support, and the front end is fixed by a clamp member provided on a platen drum. Thermal recording is performed by winding the material around the peripheral surface of the platen drum, pressing the thermal head against the heat-sensitive recording material to heat it, and developing the color of the heat-sensitive coloring layer.
The heat-sensitive recording material, on which thermal recording has been completed, is fixed by being irradiated with ultraviolet rays by an optical fixing device so that the unrecorded portion is not colored even when heat is applied during storage.

[0003]

By the way, as described above, since the leading end portion of the sheet-shaped heat-sensitive recording material is fixed by the clamp member, the recordable area is restricted, the margin of the print is increased, and the heat-sensitive recording material is increased. There was a problem of causing waste of. Further, since the length of the print depends on the diameter of the platen drum, there is a problem that the device becomes large in size when making a long print.

Further, in the thermal printing method using the sheet-shaped thermal recording material as described above, since the thermal recording material is fed and discharged after each printing, a large number of prints are continuously produced. Requires a lot of printing time as a whole. This is exactly the same when printing a large number of identical images in succession, which is inefficient.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and can reduce the margin of prints and can easily produce long prints without enlarging the printer device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal printing method capable of shortening the printing time when continuously producing the above prints.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the thermal printing method according to claim 1 is a thermal printing method in which a thermal recording material is thermally recorded by a thermal head, and then ultraviolet rays are radiated onto the thermal recording material for optical fixing. In the printing method, after the thermal recording material supplied by the roll is passed through the recording position where the thermal head is provided and pulled out for a predetermined length, the image is thermally recorded by the thermal head while rewinding the thermal recording material on the roll, Next, while pulling out the heat-sensitive recording material on which heat recording has been carried out, ultraviolet rays are radiated onto this to fix it optically, and then cut at the boundary between the recorded area and the unrecorded area.

According to a second aspect of the thermal printing method,
While pulling out the color thermosensitive recording material supplied by the roll, a thermal head continuously thermally records the images of the third color component of a plurality of images on this third layer, and subsequently, this is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed. After that, the color thermosensitive recording material is rewound on a roll, and while the color thermosensitive recording material is pulled out from the roll, the second color component images of a plurality of images are continuously heat-recorded on the second layer by the thermal head. After irradiating it with ultraviolet rays to fix the color, the color thermosensitive recording material is rewound onto a roll, and while the color thermosensitive recording material is pulled out from the roll, the first color component images of a plurality of images are formed on the first layer by a thermal head. Thermal recording is performed continuously, and then each print is cut into sheets.

The thermal printing method according to claim 3 is
While pulling out the color thermosensitive recording material supplied by the roll, a thermal head continuously thermally records the images of the third color component of a plurality of images on this third layer, and subsequently, this is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed. After that, while rewinding the color thermosensitive recording material to the roll, the second layer component images of a plurality of images are continuously thermally recorded on the second layer by the thermal head, and subsequently, the second color component images are irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed. Further, while the color thermosensitive recording material is being pulled out from the roll, the thermal recording of the first color component images of the plurality of images is continuously performed on the first layer by the thermal head, and then the respective prints are separated into sheets.

As described above, according to the present invention, a long hard copy can be obtained by performing thermal recording while keeping a long length, and finally cutting the sheet into sheets to eliminate waste. further,
When a large number of prints are continuously performed, thermal recording and optical fixing are continuously performed for each layer, and finally each print is cut into a sheet shape, so that the print time is shortened as a whole.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, a thermal printer in which the thermal printing method of the present invention is carried out is provided with a heat-sensitive recording material 10 by a roll 11. The roll shaft 12 to which the roll 11 is attached and the rotary shaft 14 of the platen roller 13 are driven by a pulse motor 15, and the rotation direction is appropriately switched to be continuously or intermittently rotated. A thermal head 17 is arranged at the recording position on the platen roller 13. As is well known, the thermal head 17 has a large number of heating elements arranged in a line in the main scanning direction. Each heating element generates thermal energy according to the density of the pixel to thermally record an image on the thermal recording material 10.

On the side of the thermal head 17, ultraviolet lamps 18 and 19 which emit ultraviolet light for optical fixing are arranged. The ultraviolet lamp 18 has an emission peak of about 42.
A 0 nm rod-shaped yellow fixing lamp is used, and the ultraviolet lamp 19 is a magenta fixing lamp having an emission peak of about 365 nm. The reflection films 18a, 19 are provided on 3/4 of these peripheral surfaces.
b is applied, and ultraviolet rays are applied to the thermosensitive recording material 10 from a quarter area facing the platen drum 10 side.

Thermal recording material 10 after recording and fixing
A cutter 22 is provided inside the vicinity of a discharge port 21 for discharging the heat sensitive recording material 10 and cuts the thermal recording material 10 at the boundary between the recorded area and the unrecorded area so that the margin is minimized. A tray 23 for accumulating the cut thermal recording material 10 is provided outside the discharge port 21.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the thermal recording material. A cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 32, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33, a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34, and a protective layer 35 are sequentially laminated on the support 31. Each of these thermosensitive coloring layers 32
Nos. 34 to 34 are layered from the surface in the order of thermal recording. The cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 32 contains an electron-donating dye precursor and an electron-accepting compound as main components, and develops cyan when heated.

As the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33, a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 365 nm,
It contains a coupler which thermally reacts with this to develop a magenta color. The magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33 has a thickness of 365 nm after the magenta image is thermally recorded by the thermal head 17.
When irradiated with ultraviolet rays in the vicinity, the diazonium salt compound is photolyzed and the coloring ability is lost.

The yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34 contains a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 420 nm and a coupler which thermally reacts with the diazonium salt compound to develop yellow. When this yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34 is irradiated with near ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 420 nm, the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34 is photo-fixed and loses its coloring ability.
Note that the light is also fixed by near-ultraviolet light of 365 nm, which has higher energy than this.

The operation of the thermal printer thus constructed will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.
When the roll 11 is attached to the roll shaft 12 and the print start switch is turned on, the pulse motor 15 rotates the roll shaft 12 clockwise and the rotary shaft 14 counterclockwise. The heat-sensitive recording material 10 is a roll 11
The sheet is pulled out from the sheet, passes through the recording position while being wound around the peripheral surface of the platen roller 13, and is conveyed toward the discharge port 21.

When the trailing edge of the recording area of the thermosensitive recording material 10 reaches the recording position, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched, the roll 11 is rotated counterclockwise, and the platen roller 13 is rotated.
Is rotated clockwise. Thermal recording material 10 is roll 1
It begins to rewind to 1, and at the same time the thermal head 17
The thermal recording is started. Each of the heating elements of the thermal head 17 is heated to a temperature in consideration of the color developing characteristics of the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34, so that the yellow image is printed on the thermosensitive recording material 10 as 1
Heat is recorded line by line.

When thermal recording is performed up to the front end portion 10a of the heat-sensitive recording material 10, the yellow ultraviolet lamp 18 is turned on, the rotation directions of the roll 11 and the platen roller 13 are switched, and the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is again discharged to the discharge port 21. Sent to you. While the thermosensitive recording material 10 is being conveyed, near-ultraviolet rays having a wavelength of about 420 nm are irradiated from the ultraviolet lamp 18 to optically fix the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34.

When the trailing edge of the recording area of the thermal recording material 10 reaches the recording position again, the roll 11 and the platen roller 13
The rotational direction is switched, and the thermal recording material 10 is rewound on the roll 11 while the thermal head 17 thermally records a magenta image. When the thermal recording of the magenta image is completed, the ultraviolet lamp 18 is turned off, the ultraviolet lamp 19 for magenta is turned on instead, and the thermosensitive recording material 10 is sent toward the discharge port 21. Ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 365 nm are emitted from the ultraviolet lamp 19 to optically fix the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33.

When the trailing edge of the recording area of the heat-sensitive recording material 10 reaches the third recording position, the heat-sensitive recording material 10 is rolled by the roll 1.
While being rewound to 1, the thermal head 17 thermally records the cyan image. Tip 10 of thermal recording material 10
When the thermal recording of the cyan image is completed up to a, the rotation directions of the roll 11 and the platen roller 13 are switched, and the thermal recording material 10 is conveyed toward the discharge port 21. At this time, since the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer 32 has a thermal energy of about 80 mJ / mm ² or more required for thermosensitive coloring, it does not develop color under normal storage conditions, so the ultraviolet lamp 19 is turned off. You can, but leave it on for bleaching the unrecorded areas.

At the time of the fourth feeding, since the thermal recording and the optical fixing of each thermosensitive coloring layer are all completed, the pulse motor 15 is continuously driven even when the rear end of the recording area reaches the recording position, and the thermosensitive recording is performed. The material 10 is continuously conveyed. When the trailing edge of the recording area reaches the position of the cutter 22, the thermal recording material 10 is stopped, and the cutter 22 is activated at the next moment,
The recorded portion of the image is separated from the unrecorded portion of the thermosensitive recording material 10 and discharged to the tray 23.

In the next thermal recording, the thermal recording material 10
Has already been pulled out, so that the thermal recording material 10 is slightly returned or pulled out slightly so that the rear end of the recording area comes to the position of the thermal head 17, depending on the print size, and then, as described above, yellow Record the image.

Next, a thermal printer which carries out a thermal printing method for continuously producing a plurality of prints will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 4, the thermal recording material 10 pulled out from the roll 11 is located at a position where it becomes straight between the pair of conveying rollers 41 and 42 so that the recording conditions by the thermal head 40 are the same during the drawing and during the rewinding. A thermal head 40 is installed.

When the print start switch is turned on, the pulse motor 15 rotates the roll shaft 12 and the rotary shaft 14 in the counterclockwise direction. The thermal recording material 10 is pulled out from the roll 11 and conveyed toward the recording position. When the tip of the recording area of the thermal recording material 10 reaches the recording position, the thermal recording of the yellow image is started by the thermal head 17. At the same time, the ultraviolet lamp 18 for yellow fixing is turned on.

When the thermal recording of the first sheet is completed, the thermal recording of the second yellow image is subsequently started. In the meantime, 1
When the thermally recorded portion of the first yellow image reaches below the ultraviolet lamp 18 for yellow, the ultraviolet lamp 1
The near-ultraviolet ray in the vicinity of 420 nm from 8 is irradiated, and the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34 is optically fixed. Similarly, a plurality of yellow images are sequentially heat-recorded and optically fixed. The plurality of images may have the same pattern or different patterns.

After thermal recording and optical fixing of a predetermined number of, for example, n yellow images, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched, and the roll 11 and the platen roller 13 are rotated clockwise. The heat-sensitive recording material 10 is a roll 11
When the front end of the recording area of the first sheet reaches the recording position after being rewound, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched.

While the thermal recording material 10 is being pulled out from the roll 11 again, thermal recording of a plurality of magenta images is started by the thermal head 40 as in the recording of the yellow image. At this time, the ultraviolet lamp 18 is turned off and the magenta ultraviolet lamp 19 is turned on instead. UV lamp 1 on the part where the magenta image is heat recorded
Ultraviolet rays in the vicinity of 365 nm from 9 are irradiated, and the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33 is optically fixed in order.

After thermal recording and optical fixing of n magenta images, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched,
The thermal recording material 10 is rewound on the roll 11. When the leading edge of the recording area of the first sheet reaches the recording position, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched and the thermal recording material 10 is conveyed toward the discharge port 21 while thermal recording of the first cyan image is performed. Be started.

When a number of cyan images are heat-recorded and the thermal recording material 10 is further conveyed, the boundary between the first and second sheets reaches the position of the cutter 22, and the thermal recording material 10 is stopped. It At the next moment, the cutter 22 is activated and the first print is separated from the thermal recording material 10 and discharged to the tray. Similarly, the second, third, ..., Nth prints are sequentially separated from the thermal recording material 10,
It is discharged to the tray.

The thermal printer shown in FIG. 6 has a thermal head 40 disposed between the ultraviolet lamps 18 and 19. When the print start switch is turned on, the thermal recording material 10 is pulled out from the roll 11,
It passes below the ultraviolet lamp 19 for magenta fixing and is conveyed toward the recording position. When the tip of the recording area of the thermal recording material 10 reaches the recording position, the thermal head 17
The thermal recording of the yellow image is started by. At the same time, the ultraviolet lamp 18 for yellow fixing is turned on.

When the portion on which the yellow image is thermally recorded reaches below the ultraviolet lamp 18, the ultraviolet lamp 18 irradiates the ultraviolet ray to optically fix the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer 34. When the thermal recording of the first yellow image is completed, the second yellow image is subsequently thermally recorded, and the nth yellow image is sequentially thermally recorded. Then, the heat-recorded portions are sequentially optically fixed by the ultraviolet lamp 18, and n
When the first sheet is optically fixed, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched.

As soon as the thermal recording material 10 begins to be rewound on the roll 11, the trailing edge of the n-th recording area reaches the recording position and thermal recording of the magenta image is started from here. At the same time, the ultraviolet lamp 18 is turned off and the magenta ultraviolet lamp 19 is turned on instead. Hereinafter, magenta images are thermally recorded by the thermal head 40 in the order of n-1, n-2, ..., 2, and the first sheet, and the thermally recorded magenta thermosensitive coloring layer 33 is optically fixed by the ultraviolet lamp 19 in sequence. To be done.

After the thermal recording and the optical fixing of the magenta image are completed, the rotation direction of the pulse motor 15 is switched and the thermal recording material 10 is pulled out from the roll 11 again. 1
When the leading edge of the recording area of the first sheet reaches the recording position, thermal recording of the first cyan image is started. Hereinafter, in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, n cyan images are thermally recorded, and
These are cut into sheets by the cutter 22,
It is discharged to the tray.

In the embodiment described above, an image is recorded with almost no blank space in the print. However, the size of the blank space can be arbitrarily set by controlling the feeding amount of the thermal recording material. Further, the width of the recording area for recording an image is regulated by the length of the thermal head or the platen roller, but the length of the recording area can be set arbitrarily, and continuous recording is performed on all rolls of the thermal recording material. Is also possible.

In the above embodiment, the line printer for recording by moving the thermal head or the recording paper relatively in the sub-scanning direction was described, but the present invention is also applied to the serial printer for two-dimensional relative movement for recording. can do. In this serial printer, heat generating elements are arranged in the main scanning direction, a thermal head is used that moves in the sub scanning direction during thermal recording, and the recording paper moves in the main scanning direction.

[0036]

As described above in detail, according to the thermal printing method of the present invention, the heat-sensitive recording material is supplied by a roll, and the heat-sensitive recording material is heat-recorded while being pulled out or rewound. Since the thermal recording material that has completed thermal recording and optical fixing is cut at the boundary with the unrecorded area, it is not necessary to fix the tip of the thermal recording material, and the print margin can be reduced, which is economical. . Further, by controlling the feed amount of the heat-sensitive recording material, it is possible to easily create a print of an arbitrary length. Therefore, it is possible to create a long print without increasing the size of the printer device.

When a large number of prints are continuously performed, thermal recording and optical fixing are continuously performed for each layer, and finally each print is cut into a sheet shape, so that a large number of sheets are fed and discharged. The time required for printing is unnecessary, and the printing time can be shortened as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a thermal printer.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a layer structure of a thermosensitive recording material.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a print sequence of the thermal printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a thermal printer suitable for continuously producing a large number of prints.

5 is a flowchart showing a print sequence of the thermal printer shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the structure of a thermal printer in which a thermal head is arranged in the middle of an ultraviolet lamp.

7 is a flowchart showing a print sequence of the thermal printer shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Thermal Recording Material 11 Roll 13 Platen Roller 15 Pulse Motor 17,40 Thermal Head 18,19 UV Lamp 22 Cutter 41,42 Conveyor Roller Pair

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display area 6956-2H B41M 5/18 Z

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a thermal printing method in which a thermal recording material is thermally recorded by a thermal head and then is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed, the thermal recording material supplied by a roll is recorded at a recording position where the thermal head is provided. After passing through and pulling out for a predetermined length, the thermal recording material is rewound on a roll to thermally record an image, and then while the thermal recording material on which thermal recording has been performed is pulled out, ultraviolet rays are radiated onto it for optical fixing. Then, the thermal printing method is characterized in that cutting is performed at the boundary between the recorded area and the unrecorded area. 2. A first to a third at least three thermosensitive color developing layers having different colors to be developed are sequentially layered on a support, and at least an uppermost third layer and a second thermosensitive color developing layer. Uses a color thermosensitive recording material having a photo-fixing property with ultraviolet rays of a specific wavelength range and having a lower thermal recording sensitivity in the deeper layers.
In a thermal printing method in which a color component image and a first color component image are sequentially heat-recorded to form a color image, while a color thermal recording material supplied by a roll is pulled out, a plurality of images of a plurality of images are formed on the third layer by a thermal head. The third color component image is continuously heat-recorded, and subsequently, the light is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed, and then the color heat-sensitive recording material is rewound on a roll, and then the color heat-sensitive recording material is pulled out from the roll. The thermal recording of the second color component images of a plurality of images is continuously performed on the two layers with a thermal head, and then the image is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to be optically fixed. While pulling out the recording material from the roll, the first layer continuously records thermal images of the first color component images of the plurality of images on the first layer, and then each print is formed into a sheet. A thermal printing method characterized by separation. 3. A first to a third at least three thermosensitive color developing layers having different colors to be developed are sequentially layered on a support, and at least the uppermost third and second thermosensitive color developing layers. Uses a color thermosensitive recording material having a photo-fixing property with ultraviolet rays of a specific wavelength range and having a lower thermal recording sensitivity in the deeper layers.
In a thermal printing method in which a color component image and a first color component image are sequentially heat-recorded to form a color image, while a color thermal recording material supplied by a roll is pulled out, a plurality of images of a plurality of images are formed on the third layer by a thermal head. The third color component image is continuously heat-recorded, and subsequently, ultraviolet rays are applied to this for optical fixing, and then while the color heat-sensitive recording material is being rewound on a roll, the second layer is used for thermal recording of a plurality of images. The two-color component images are continuously heat-recorded, and subsequently, ultraviolet rays are applied to this to fix the image, and then the color heat-sensitive recording material is further pulled out from the roll, and the first layer of a plurality of images is formed on the first layer by the thermal head. A thermal printing method, which comprises continuously thermally recording color component images and then separating each print into a sheet.