JPH0686137B2 - Ink donor film - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an ink donor film, and more particularly to an ink donor film provided with a band-shaped storage means using a magnetic material to improve the use efficiency of the donor film. Regarding the donor film.

[Conventional technology]

The ink donor film 2 used in the conventional thermal transfer printer 1 has a thermal transferable ink applied to a film base material and wound around a donor film supply roll 3 in a roll shape as shown in FIG. The ink donor film 2 sent by the drive roll 9 from the donor film supply roll 3 is selectively heated by the thermal head 4 in accordance with an image signal, and transferred to the recording paper 5 pressed against the platen roll 6. Recording is performed (the thermal head 4 and the platen roll 6 form a recording unit 7). The used ink donor film 2 for which recording has been completed is collected by the donor film take-up roll 8.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, since the ink donor film 2 used in the conventional thermal transfer printer 1 is supplied to the recording section 7 together with the recording paper 5 as described above and the thermal recording process is performed, as shown in FIG. Although only the area C-D of the corresponding ink donor film 2 is subjected to the transfer processing in order to perform the thermal recording processing only on the recording portion R, the donor film BC corresponding to the size of the recording paper 5 is provided. Interval and B-E, which is the sum of D-E, are required for passing the recording unit 7 of the recording paper 5. Further, the donor film between A and B for feeding the recording paper 5 and between E and F for discharging the recording paper 5 is consumed regardless of the thermal transfer recording. As a result, as a whole, the donor film 2 having a length between A and F was consumed after passing through the recording portion 7 although it was between C and D that was actually used for thermal recording. Therefore, the use efficiency is very low (this becomes smaller as the ratio of the recording portion R to the recording paper 5 becomes smaller).

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems]

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and in order to improve the use efficiency of the ink donor film, in an ink donor film coated with a thermal transfer ink, the non-printed area is specified along the longitudinal direction of the donor film. The present invention provides an ink donor film provided with a band-shaped storage means using a magnetic material for storing information.

Hereinafter, the ink donor film according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a magnetic stripe 11 is provided on one side which is a non-printing area along the longitudinal direction of an ink donor film 10 in which a thermal transferable ink is applied to a film base material. FIGS. 2A and 2B show an example of a thermal transfer printer 12 using the ink donor film 10 of the present invention. A donor film supply roll 13 in which the ink donor film 10 according to the present invention is wound in a roll shape, and a drive roll 21 described later from the donor film supply roll 13
The donor film 10 sent out by picking up the recording paper is inserted from the recording paper insertion tray 14 according to the image signal.
A thermal head that selectively heats when pressed against 15
16 and a platen roll 17 that presses the recording paper 15 against the thermal head 16 (a recording unit 22 is configured by the thermal head 16 and the platen roll 17). The recording paper 15 after recording is placed on the discharge tray 18 and the donor film 10
There is provided a drive roll 21 having an original drive source (motor) 20 that conveys the toner to the donor film take-up roll 19 direction. The donor film take-up roll 19 is for collecting the used ink donor film 10 after recording. Further, in the recording section 22, a writing head 23 having a structure as shown in FIG.
A read head 24 having a structure as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D is provided between the recording section 22 and the recording section 22. As shown in FIG. 4, the write head 23 and the read head 24 have magnetic cores 23a, 24a made of soft iron or the like and coils 23b, 24b.
It is a roll. Each unit of the thermal transfer printer 12 described above is controlled by a built-in control unit (for example, a microcomputer) 25. The control unit 25 is the printer 12
The input interface 25a for inputting various sensor signals and operation command signals inside, and the program necessary for the arithmetic processing of the input signal (a program such as finding an unused ink donor film and recording again using that part) ROM 25b to store and CPU2 to perform predetermined calculation based on the program
5c and RAM 25d for temporarily storing calculation results and data
And an output interface 25e that outputs a control signal to various controlled objects of the printer 12 (the drive source 20 of the drive roll 21, the writing head 23, etc.) based on the calculation result.

In the above configuration, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. 3A. When the recording paper 15 is inserted from the recording paper insertion tray 14, the recording paper 15 is supplied from the donor film supply roll 13 by the drive roll 21. It is conveyed to the recording unit 22 while being overlapped with the ink donor film 10, and the thermal recording process is performed by the thermal head 16. Information indicating "used" by the magnetization process by the write head 23 is input to the magnetic stripe 11 corresponding to the portion of the ink donor film 10 on which the thermal transfer is performed by the thermal head 16 in the thermal recording process. . Then, the recording paper 22 for which the thermal recording process has been completed is ejected to the output tray by the drive roll 21.
After being discharged to 18, the donor film 10 is wound on a donor film winding roll 19. After that, the ink donor film 10 that has passed through the recording unit 22 is rewound, the unused portion is searched by the read head 24, and when the rewinding of the unused portion is completed, the check of the unused portion is finished, and the unused portion is continued. It is used for heat-sensitive recording on new recording paper 15.
The unused portion of the ink donor film 10 is searched for by rewinding the ink donor film 10 at a specific timing. Next, the writing of the information "used" to the magnetic stripe 11 is performed by magnetizing the magnetic stripe 11 as shown in FIG. Fourth
When a current i is passed in the direction of the arrow in the coil 23b of FIG. 9 (a), magnetic lines of force are generated in the magnetic core 23a, and N and S are formed at both ends of the head of the magnetic core 23a. Next, when the magnetic stripe 11 is placed under this head, the magnetic lines of force pass through the magnetic stripe 11 and create S and N at the entrance and the exit thereof, as shown in FIG. That is, when N and S are formed at both extremes of the head, S and N are formed in the magnetic stripe 11 to magnetize the used portion. In this way, information is read into the magnetic stripe 11 as shown in FIG. When reading next,
This is performed as shown in FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 4C, when the magnetic core 24a is brought close to the magnetized magnetic stripe 11, the lines of magnetic force pass through the head of the magnetic core 24a and an induced voltage e is generated in the coil 24b. This e
The induced voltage of V becomes a reproduction output signal and is output to the control unit 25. On the contrary, no output appears in the non-magnetized portion, as shown in FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not the ink donor film of the corresponding portion has been used, depending on whether or not the reproduction output signal of eV is output.

Another embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. The same parts as those in FIGS. 2A and 2B are denoted by the same reference numerals, and thus the duplicated description will be omitted. However, the difference from the first embodiment is that the write head 23 has a magnetic head Instead, a heating element outside the recording range of the thermal head 16 for image recording is used. For example, a magnetic stripe that has been magnetized from the beginning
When 11 is formed of chromium dioxide (CrO ₂ ), the Curie point temperature of chromium dioxide is 75 ° C. Therefore, when the thermal head 16 is heated to 75 ° C. or higher, the recording paper 15
At the same time, the heat-sensitive recording process can be performed, and at the same time, the magnetism of the magnetic stripe 11 is demagnetized.

As shown in FIG. 4 (d), the portion corresponding to that portion has the induced voltage e of zero, so that the used portion and the unused portion of the ink donor film 10 can be easily identified. As described above, in the second embodiment, the magnetic head for the write head used in the first embodiment is not required, and the merit of cost reduction is added. After that, the ink donor film 10 is run prior to new thermal recording, the unused portion of the ink donor film 10 is searched by the read head 24, and thermal recording is performed using the unused portion. That is,
In the ink donor film in FIG. 5, between A and C, DF
In the meantime, it becomes possible to reuse.

Regarding rewinding of the ink donor film 10,
By rewinding each roll of the recording paper 15 instead of rewinding each page, the use efficiency can be further improved.

In that case, the magnetic information of END provided at the end portion of the ink donor film 10 by the read head 24 (this magnetic information is
It is advisable to rewind all one roll of the ink donor film 10 when (previously input) is detected.

Further, if a mechanism for independently conveying the recording paper 15 and the ink donor film 10 is provided, it is possible to utilize the unused portion between C and D in FIG.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the ink donor film of the present invention, in the ink donor film coated with the thermal transferable ink, the magnetic material for storing the specific information in the non-printed area along the longitudinal direction of the donor film is used. Since the band-shaped storage means used is provided, the use efficiency of the ink donor film can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of an ink donor film according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and (b) are explanatory views showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer using the ink donor film according to the present invention, and FIG. (A) and (b) are explanatory views showing another embodiment of the thermal transfer printer using the ink donor film according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are thermal transfer printers. Structure and principle of the write head and read head, FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a conventional thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 6 is a print area of a recording paper and a usage area of an ink donor film in the thermal transfer printer. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship of. Explanation of symbols 10 …… Ink donor film, 11 …… Magnetic stripe.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink donor film coated with a heat transferable ink, provided with a band-shaped storage means using a magnetic material for storing predetermined information in a non-printed area along the longitudinal direction of the film. An ink donor film characterized by: