JPH0740619A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a shift of a printing surface caused by an ink sheet pulled out of a take-up roll by a method wherein after each color is detected by a color detection sensor for the ink sheet, the ink sheet is further fed by a certain amount under control. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer printer comprises a thermal head 8 with a plurality of heating resistors, an ink sheet 9 with a plurality of color surfaces, an ink sheet supply roll 10a, an ink sheet take-up roll 10b, and a sensor 11 for detecting each color of the ink sheet. As shown by a symbol 14, after the elapse of a specific time (t) from the absence of a detection signal of a color detection marker 13, an ink sheet feed motor is brought to a stop. The time (t) is determined by a length of the ink sheet 9 pulled out of the take-up roll 10b by lowering the thermal head 8 and a take-up speed by the motor. Namely, the time (t) determined in accordance with a pull-out amount of the ink sheet can correspond to individuality per printer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for performing multicolor recording using an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer printer for performing multicolor recording using an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces has been put into practical use. In such a thermal transfer printer, a conventional one is shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-257280. As described above, a method is known in which a marker on an ink sheet is detected, a color surface to be printed is located, and then printing is performed.

[0003]

However, although there is an example of detecting the marker of the ink sheet of each color to perform printing in the above-mentioned prior art, the operation from the detection of the marker to the printing is performed. No details are given. here,
FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a conventional thermal transfer printer and a timing chart of a sequence operation. In FIG. 5, is a printer configuration, is an ink sheet and a color detection marker 1
An example is a simple time chart of sequence operation. Further, in the figure, reference numeral 1 is a thermal head, 2 is an ink sheet, 3a is an ink sheet supply roll, 3b is an ink sheet take-up roll, 4 is a color detection sensor, 5 is a platen drum, and 6 is an ink sheet. It is a color detection marker. In the sequence operation of the conventional thermal transfer printer, when the color detection marker is no longer detected as shown in 7,
Immediately, the ink sheet motor was stopped and the thermal head was lowered to start printing.

However, in such a sequence operation,
When the thermal head is lowered, there is a problem that the ink sheet is pushed toward the drum by the thermal head, the ink sheet is pulled out from the take-up roll side, and the color detection marker is printed from the applied portion. Moreover, there is a problem that the ink sheet sags when the conveyance of the ink sheet is stopped, and the ink sheet is not normally conveyed at the start of printing. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of solving the above problems and printing a normal image.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors, a recording medium, a means for conveying the recording medium, and a plurality of color surfaces. In a thermal transfer printer having an ink sheet and a sensor for detecting the color of the ink sheet, applying a pulse to the thermal head according to image data, pressing the thermal head against the ink sheet, and printing on the recording medium After detecting each color by the sensor, the ink sheet is further fed by a constant amount. (Claim 1). Further, in the thermal transfer printer, it is possible to arbitrarily determine a fixed amount of the ink sheet to be fed (claim 2).

Further, the present invention is directed to a thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors, a recording medium, a means for conveying the recording medium, an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces, and a color detection for the ink sheet. It has a sensor, performs cueing of the color surface of the ink sheet according to the image data, adds a pulse to the thermal head according to the image data,
In a thermal transfer printer that presses the thermal head against an ink sheet to print on the recording medium, an ink sheet take-up mechanism and a supply mechanism are separately provided, and only the take-up mechanism side is driven first after the head is lowered. (Claim 3). Further, in the thermal transfer printer, the driving time of the ink sheet winding mechanism side can be arbitrarily determined (claim 4).

[0007]

In the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, after detecting each color by the sensor, the ink sheet is pulled out from the take-up roll by the head descending by further controlling the feeding of the ink sheet by a fixed amount, and the printing surface is displaced. It is possible to solve that. Further, since it is possible to arbitrarily determine the amount by which the ink sheet is fed by a fixed amount, the ink sheet feeding time t can be changed by software, so t can be determined according to the amount by which the ink sheet is pulled out. It is possible to cope with individual differences of printers.

Further, in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the ink sheet take-up mechanism and the ink sheet supply mechanism are separately provided, and after the head is lowered, only the take-up mechanism side is driven first, whereby the ink sheet head is provided downstream of the head. The slack can be removed, and stable transportation can be performed at the time of printing, especially at the time of rising. Further, since the drive time of the ink sheet take-up mechanism side can be arbitrarily determined, the drive time of the ink sheet can be arbitrarily set by software, so that it is possible to cope with individual differences of printers.

[0009]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. First, the structure of claim 1 is shown in FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 8 is a thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors, 9 is an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces, 10a is an ink sheet supply roll rotatably driven by an ink sheet supply motor (not shown), and 10b is an ink sheet not shown. An ink sheet take-up roll rotatably driven by a take-up motor, 11 is a sensor for detecting the color of the ink sheet, and 12 is a platen drum around which a recording medium for thermal transfer is wound and which conveys the recording medium. It has the same configuration. An example of the form of the ink sheet of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is shown in FIG. Reference numeral 13 in the drawing is a color detection marker, which is also similar to FIG. 5, but shows an enlarged main part.

Next, FIG. 1 is a time chart of the sequence operation of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention. Conventionally, FIG.
As indicated by reference numeral 7, the ink sheet transport motors (ink sheet supply motor and ink sheet take-up motor) are stopped immediately after the detection of the color detection marker is stopped, the transport is stopped, and the thermal head 8 is lowered. However, in the present invention, as indicated by reference numeral 14 in FIG. 1, the ink sheet conveying motor is stopped after a predetermined time t has elapsed since the detection signal from the color detection marker disappeared. Here, the time t is the winding roll 10 due to the lowering of the thermal head 8.
It is determined by the length of the ink sheet 9 that is pulled out from b and the winding speed of the motor. For example, if the ink sheet is pulled out by 1 mm when the head descends and the winding speed is 0.57 mm / sec, t should be 1.75 seconds or more. The above t can be changed by software.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an example of a flow chart of the sequence operation. In FIG. 2, the sequence of reading the input of the sensor 11 after rotating the ink sheet transport motor is the same as the conventional method, but the sensor 1
It is a feature of the present invention that a routine as shown in 15 is entered between the time when the detection signal from 1 disappears and the time when the ink sheet conveying motor is stopped. Then, by changing the above t depending on the printer, it is possible to cope with the individual difference of the printer. There is a method of changing t, for example, by setting a certain value and looping the program by the number of times of the value. In this way, the value of t can be determined by (instruction execution time) × (number of loops) of the program.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a time chart of claim 3. The structure of the thermal transfer printer is the same as in FIG. In the prior art, the conveyance of the ink sheet was started at the same time as the printing signal, but in the present invention, as shown by reference numeral 16, only the winding side motor of the ink sheet 9 is driven t1 ahead of the start of printing. After the lapse of t1, the ink sheet supply side motor and the drum drive motor are started to start printing. After the thermal head 8 is lowered, the ink sheet 9 is pressurized, so that the ink sheet 9 cannot be conveyed even if both the winding side and the supply side are driven. But,
By driving only the winding side, the slack of the ink sheet 9 on the downstream side of the thermal head 8 can be removed.

Next, FIG. 4 shows an example of a flow chart of the control of claim 4. In FIG. 4, after the thermal head 8 is lowered, only the take-up motor is driven at 17 and the same 18 routine as 15 is entered, the set time is set to t1, and after the elapse of t1, the supply side motor and the platen drum 1 are set.
2 is driven to start printing. It should be noted that this t1 may be determined by looking at the actual operation of the printer, and thus it is possible to cope with individual differences of the printer. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above embodiments are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0014]

As described above, in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, after each color is detected by the sensor,
Further, by controlling the feeding of the ink sheet by a fixed amount, it is possible to solve the problem that the ink sheet is pulled out from the take-up roll due to the head lowering and the printing surface is displaced, and a normal image can be printed. Further, since it is possible to arbitrarily determine the amount by which the ink sheet is fed by a fixed amount, the ink sheet feeding time t can be changed by software, so t can be determined according to the amount by which the ink sheet is pulled out. It is possible to cope with individual differences of printers.

Further, in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the ink sheet take-up mechanism and the ink sheet feed mechanism are separately provided, and only the take-up mechanism side is driven first after the head is lowered, so that the ink sheet head is provided downstream of the head. The slack can be removed, stable feeding can be performed at the time of printing, especially at the time of rising, and a normal image can be printed. Also,
Since the drive time of the ink sheet take-up mechanism side can be arbitrarily determined, the drive time of the ink sheet can be arbitrarily set by software, so that it is possible to cope with individual differences of printers.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, is a diagram showing a configuration example of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, is a diagram showing an example of a form of an ink sheet used in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, 6 is a time chart showing an example of a sequence operation of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention (claims 1 and 2).

2 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the sequence operation shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention, which is a diagram showing an example of the form of an ink sheet used in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, and is a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention (claims 3 and 4). 3 is a time chart showing an example of the sequence operation of FIG.

4 is a diagram showing an example of a flowchart of the sequence operation shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional example, is a diagram showing a configuration example of a conventional thermal transfer printer, is a diagram showing an example of the form of an ink sheet used in the conventional thermal transfer printer, and is a sequence of the conventional thermal transfer printer. It is a time chart which shows an example of operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 8: Thermal head 9: Ink sheet 10a: Ink sheet supply roll 10b: Ink sheet winding roll 11: Sensor 12: Platen drum 13: Color detection marker

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display area B41J 35/16 B

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors, a recording medium, a means for conveying the recording medium, an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces, and a sensor for detecting the color of the ink sheet. Then, in the thermal transfer printer that applies a pulse to the thermal head according to the image data, presses the thermal head against the ink sheet, and prints on the recording medium, after detecting each color by the sensor, the ink sheet is further fixed. A thermal transfer printer, which is characterized in that it controls the amount feeding. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein
A thermal transfer printer, characterized in that it is possible to arbitrarily determine an amount of feeding the ink sheet by a constant amount. 3. A thermal head having a plurality of heating resistors, a recording medium, a means for conveying the recording medium, an ink sheet having a plurality of color surfaces, and a sensor for detecting the color of the ink sheet. Then, the color surface of the ink sheet is cued according to the image data, a pulse is applied to the thermal head according to the image data, and the thermal head is pressed against the ink sheet to print on the recording medium. In the thermal transfer printer, the ink sheet winding mechanism and the ink sheet supplying mechanism are separately provided, and only the winding mechanism side is driven first after the head is lowered. 4. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 3,
A thermal transfer printer characterized in that the drive time of the ink sheet winding mechanism side can be arbitrarily determined.