JPH0741723B2 - Image recorder - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus applicable to a printer, a copying machine, an electronic typewriter, a facsimile machine or the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, along with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording methods and apparatuses suitable for the respective information processing systems have also been developed and adopted. As one of such recording methods, the thermal transfer recording method has been widely used recently because the apparatus used is lightweight and compact, noise-free, and excellent in operability and maintainability.

This thermal transfer recording method generally uses a thermal transfer medium obtained by applying a thermal transfer ink in which a colorant is dispersed in a heat-fusible binder on a sheet-shaped support, and the thermal transfer medium is transferred to the thermal transfer medium. Medium is transferred to the transfer medium by superimposing it on the transfer medium so that the photosensitive ink layer is in contact with the transfer medium, and supplying heat from the support side of the heat-sensitive transfer medium by the thermal head to transfer the melted ink layer to the transfer medium. A transfer ink image corresponding to the shape of heat supply is formed on the top. According to this method, plain paper can be used as the transfer medium.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the conventional thermal transfer recording method is not without problems. The conventional thermal transfer recording method is that transfer recording performance, that is, print quality is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the transferred medium, and good printing is performed on the transferred medium having high smoothness, but low smoothness. In the case of the transfer medium, the image recording quality may be deteriorated.

Further, when trying to obtain a multicolor image by the conventional thermal transfer recording method, it is necessary to provide a plurality of thermal heads, or to perform complicated operations such as reverse feeding to a transfer medium and stopping. Is large and complicated, and the recording speed is reduced.

<Object of the Invention> An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional apparatus and to record a high-quality image on a transfer medium having a low surface smoothness. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that can obtain a multicolor image without causing the transferred medium to have a complicated function.

<Means for Solving Problems> The present invention which solves the above problems includes a transfer recording layer having physical properties that control transfer characteristics when light energy and heat energy are applied, and the transfer recording layer. Along the transportable path of the transfer recording medium having a supporting body,
A light source provided on the transfer recording layer side for applying light energy to the transfer recording medium; a heat source provided on the support side for applying heat energy to the transfer recording medium; A transfer unit for transferring the image formed on the recording medium to the transfer recording medium; and a fixing unit for fixing the transfer image transferred to the transfer medium by the transfer unit on the transfer medium. It is characterized by that.

Example First, an image forming method applied to the image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1a to 1d. Figure 1a ~
The time axes (horizontal axes) of the graphs in FIG. 1d correspond to each other. The transfer recording layer contains a reaction initiator, a polymerizing component, etc., which will be described later, as a sensitive component. FIG. 1a shows how the surface temperature of the heating element rises and the temperature drops thereafter when the heating means such as a thermal head is driven to generate heat for a period of time 0 to t ₃ .

The transfer recording medium pressed against the heating means exhibits a temperature change as shown in FIG. 1b with the temperature change of the heating means. That is, the temperature rises with a time delay of t ₁ , and similarly, the temperature reaches the maximum temperature at a time of t ₄ later than t _{3 and then} decreases. The transfer recording layer 1a has a softening temperature Ts, and is rapidly softened and its viscosity is reduced in a temperature range of Ts or higher. This state 1c
It is shown by curve A in the figure. Time t ₂ in followed by a time t ₄ until the viscosity drops to reach the maximum temperature after reaching Ts, again the viscosity decreasing temperature and accompanied indicates increased until the time t ₆ rapid viscosity increase drops to Ts. In this case, the transfer recording layer is basically not changed in physical properties before heating, and if it is heated to temperature Ts or higher in the next transfer step, the phenomenon of viscosity is exhibited as described above. Therefore, if the transfer medium is heated in contact with the medium to be transferred and heated for transfer, for example, Ts or higher, the transfer recording layer will be transferred for the same reason as in the transfer mechanism of conventional thermal transfer recording. As shown in FIG. 1d, when the light is irradiated from the time t ₂ similarly to heating, the transfer recording layer is softened and, for example, the reaction initiator contained in the transfer recording layer is activated and the temperature changes the reaction rate. If the temperature is raised sufficiently to increase it, the probability that the polymerizable monomer will polymerize dramatically increases, and thus the curing proceeds rapidly. When the heating and the light irradiation are simultaneously performed in this way, the transfer recording layer behaves as shown by the curve B in FIG. 1c. Then, as the reaction proceeds, the softening temperature rises, and at time t ₅ when the reaction ends, Ts changes to Ts ′. Along with this, the transfer start temperature, which is the temperature at which the transfer recording layer starts transfer, also changes. This is shown in Figure 1d. Therefore, when heating is performed in the next transfer step, there is a difference in properties between the portion where Ts 'has changed and the portion where Ts' has not changed. So, for example, Ts <Tr <
When the Tr satisfying Ts ′ is heated, a difference is generated between a portion where the viscosity is reduced and a portion where the viscosity is not reduced, and only the portion where the viscosity is reduced is transferred to the transfer medium. At this time, Ts'-Ts is preferably about 20 ° C or higher, although it depends on the temperature stability accuracy of the transfer process. In this way, heating or non-heating is controlled according to the image signal,
A transfer image can be formed by irradiating light at the same time.

As the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics of the transfer recording layer, in addition to the softening temperature described above, a melting temperature, a glass transition point, and the like are conceivable, but in any case, the melting temperature before and after the application of a plurality of types of energy, A latent image is formed in the transfer recording layer by utilizing an irreversible change such as a glass transition point. Further, the softening point, the melting temperature and the glass transition point change with almost the same tendency, and therefore the above description using the softening point is also the explanation using the melting temperature and the glass transition point as they are. (The case of the glass transition point is shown by () in FIGS. 1b and 1d.) Of course, this image forming method can be applied to the formation of a single color image. The forming method will be described. 2a to 2d are partial views showing the relationship between the multicolor transfer recording medium and the thermal head.
The thermal energy modulated according to the image recording signal is applied together with the light energy of the wavelength selected by the color tone of the image forming element whose physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics are desired to be changed. Here, “modulation” means changing the position where energy is applied according to an image signal, and “together” may be the case where light energy and heat energy are applied simultaneously, or light energy and heat energy. May be given separately.

Further, in this example, in order to improve the irradiation efficiency of light, the optical energy is applied from the transfer recording layer side of the transfer recording medium.

In the figure, a multicolor transfer recording medium 1 is a base film 1b.
The transfer recording layer 1a is provided on the upper side. Transfer recording layer
1a is a distribution layer of minute image forming elements 31, and each image forming element body 31 exhibits a different color tone. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2a to 2c, each image forming material 31 contains any color material of cyan (C), magenta (M) and yellow (Y). However, the color material contained in each image forming material 31 is not limited to cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and any color material may be used depending on the application. In addition to the coloring material, each image-forming element body 31 contains a sensitive component whose physical properties governing the transfer characteristics change rapidly when light and heat energy are applied.

The sensitive component of each image forming element 31 has wavelength dependency depending on the contained coloring material. That is, the image forming element body 31 containing the yellow coloring material undergoes rapid crosslinking and hardening when heat and light of wavelength λ (Y) are applied. Similarly, the image forming element body 31 containing the magenta coloring material has heat and wavelength λ.
The light of (M), the image forming element body 31 containing the cyan coloring material has the heat and the wavelength of λ (C), and the image forming element body 31 containing the black coloring material has the heat and the wavelength of λ (K). The reaction progresses and cures when each light is applied. Cured image forming element 31
Does not decrease in viscosity even when it is heated in the next transfer step, and is not transferred to the transfer medium. Heat and light are applied according to the recorded information.

In this multicolor image forming method, the transfer recording medium 1 is superposed on the thermal head 2 and light is irradiated so as to cover the entire heat generating portion of the thermal head 2. The irradiation light has a wavelength with which the image forming element 31 reacts sequentially. For example, when the image forming element 31 is colored with cyan, magenta, yellow, or black, the wavelengths λ (C), λ
Lights of (M), λ (Y), and λ (K) are sequentially emitted.

That is, first, the transfer recording layer 1a of the multicolor transfer recording medium 1 is irradiated with light having the wavelength λ (Y), and the heating resistors 2b, 2d, 2e and 2f of the thermal head 2 are caused to generate heat. Then, of the image forming element body 31 containing the yellow coloring material,
Imaging element body to which both heat and light of wavelength λ (Y) are applied
31 (hatched portion in FIG. 2a. Hereinafter, the cured image forming element is indicated by hatching) is cured.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2b, the wavelength λ (M) is applied to the transfer recording layer 1a.
When the heating resistors 2a, 2e, and 2f are heated while being irradiated with the light, the image forming element body 31 containing the magenta coloring material 31
Among them, the image forming element body 31 to which heat and light of wavelength λ (M) are applied is cured. Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
When the light of (C) was irradiated with the light of wavelength λ (K) and the desired heating resistor was heated, the image forming element body 31 to which light and heat were applied was cured and was not finally cured. A transfer image is formed on the transfer recording layer 1 by the image forming element 31. This transfer image is recorded on the recording paper 11 as shown in FIG. 2d in the next transfer process.
Is transcribed to.

In the transfer step, the transfer recording medium on which the transfer image is formed is brought into contact with the transfer medium and heated from the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium side to selectively transfer the transfer image to the transfer medium to form an image. To do. Therefore, the heating temperature at this time is set so that only the transferred image is selectively transferred with respect to the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics. It is also effective to apply pressure at the same time in order to effectively perform transfer. Pressurization is particularly effective when a transfer medium having a low surface smoothness is used.

Further, when the physical property that governs the transfer characteristic is the viscosity at room temperature, transfer can be performed only by pressing.

In addition, next, heat, light,
By applying at least one of the pressures, the fixing property between the transfer printing medium and the transfer medium can be improved.

Next, an example of a mono-color image forming apparatus to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. The transfer recording medium 1 used in the apparatus of the present embodiment has an image forming element body 31 composed of the components shown in the following Table 1 dispersed in a binder, which is placed on a substrate 1b made of a polyester film having a thickness of 6 μm. It was installed in. The sensitizer in this image forming element is 500 to 6
The light in the band of 00 nm is absorbed to start the reaction. The base material 1b
As the material of the above, in addition to the polyester film, poimide, aramid or the like can be considered.

Further, since this sensitizer has a magenta taste, it is mixed with phthalocyanine green mixed as a colorant and becomes black at the time of image formation. The long transfer recording medium 1 thus prepared was wound into a roll and incorporated into the apparatus as a supply roll 7. That is, the supply roll 7 is loaded on the rotatable shaft 7a. Therefore, the front end of the transfer recording medium 1 is supplied from the supply roll 7, passes through the guide bar 5a, the thermal head 2 and the guide bar 5b, and is deflected between the transfer roller 10 and the pressure roller 9 by the guide bars 5c and 5d. The recording medium 1 is sequentially wound around the peripheral surface of the roll 8 by the rotation of the roll 8 by reaching the take-up roll 8 and locking the leading end thereof. Here, the winding roll 8 is driven and rotated by a known means.

In addition, here, the transfer recording medium 1 is
It is conveyed by the transfer roller 10 so that the winding angle with respect to the thermal head 2 is constant. The thermal head 2 is provided on the side of the support 1b of the recording medium 1, and a plurality of heating elements 2a are disposed at the tip thereof, and the heating elements 2a are controlled in heat generation according to image information. Further, a constant back tension whose value is 1.8 to 2.0 Kgf is given to the supply roller by a hysteresis brake (not shown), and this support causes the support 1b of the transfer recording medium 1 to be thermally transferred. Contact the heating element of the head 2 with a constant pressure.

On the other hand, a fluorescent lamp 3 was placed 2 cm away from the transfer recording layer 1a of the transfer recording medium 1 in the region on the side of the transfer recording layer 1a of the recording medium 1 facing the thermal head 2 with the transfer recording medium 1 interposed therebetween. For this fluorescent lamp, a high color rendering green fluorescent lamp having the spectral characteristics of the graph shown in Fig. 4 is used, and the fluorescent material is Tb ³ +
Activated (La, Ce, Tb) ₂ O ₃ .0.2SiO ₂ .0.9P ₂ O ₅ was used. As another phosphor, Tb ³ + activated (Ce, Tb) MgAl ₁₀ O ₁₉ ,
A Y ₂ SiO ₅ : Ce, Tb lamp can also be used, but the above phosphor was used in terms of practical efficiency and working characteristics.

The transfer / fixing section T is composed of a transfer roller 10 and a pressure roller 9 which are provided to face each other with the transfer recording medium 1 interposed therebetween. This transfer roller 10 has a diameter of 40 mm.
A 25 μm thick Teflon-coated aluminum roller is used.

The pressure roller 9 is an aluminum roller having a diameter of 30 mm, coated with silicon rubber to a thickness of 5 mm, and further coated with Teflon to a thickness of 30 μm, and has a hardness of 40 ° (JIS A hardness). Further, the transfer roller 10 and the pressure roller 9 were set to be pressed against ^{each other} at a pressure of about 35 g / mm ² by a pressing means (not shown).

Further, the transfer roller 10 transfers and fixes the transferred image on the transfer recording medium 1 formed by the thermal head 2 onto the recording paper 11 by heating and pressure contact, so that the surface temperature becomes about 110 ° C. by the built-in heater 10a. Controlled.
The transfer medium is a recording paper with a surface smoothness of about 10 seconds.
11 was used. Further, the fixing roller 26a is a φ25 roller having a 25 μm-thick Teflon coating on an aluminum alloy roller, and has a surface temperature of 150 by a halogen heater 27 of 500 W.
Controlled to ± 3 ° C, 26b 5μm thick hardness 35
° (JIS hardness) A 30 μm Teflon-coated pressure roller on silicon rubber is urged by a pressure means (not shown) to a pressure of 20 g / mm ² . The recording paper 11 is sent out from the cassette 12 by the rotation of the feeding roller 6. The fed-out sheet 11 is once interrupted by the register roller 15 and then fed between the rollers 9 and 10 in synchronization with the transfer layer on the recording medium 1 by the register roller 15. 16 is a guide. Further, the housing 14 houses the power supply and control circuit of this image forming apparatus.

Now, FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of the control circuit.

In the figure, the circuit 60 is a sequence control circuit. The circuit 60 includes a drive circuit 61 for turning on the fluorescent lamp 3, a drive circuit 63 for energizing a step motor 62 for operating the feed roller 6, and a step motor for operating the transfer roller 10 that conveys the transfer recording medium 1. Drive circuit energizing 64
65, a drive circuit 67 for energizing a hysteresis brake 66 that gives the transfer recording medium 1 a back tension, and a transfer roller 10.
Drive circuit 72 for activating the heater 100 to a predetermined temperature by the signal of the temperature sensor 73, processing of image signal data to be given to the thermal head 2 by receiving the external image signal 69, and energizing the heating element of the thermal head 2. The image signal processing circuit 68 which controls the driving circuit for controlling the operation and the indicator of the operation panel black are respectively sequence-controlled.

Next, the operation of the above-described apparatus according to the embodiment will be described.

First, turn on the switch (not shown) on the operation panel 70 of this device.
By doing so, recording is started. Sequence control circuit 60
Receives a drive signal from the operation panel 70 and energizes the drive circuit 63 to drive the step motor 62. As a result, the roller 6 starts to rotate, and one sheet of recording paper 11 is fed from the cassette 12 until the leading edge of the recording paper reaches a not-shown alignment sensor 71 (installed near the pressure contact portion of the register roller 15). to continue. When the alignment sensor 71 detects the recording sheet 11, the hysteresis brake 66 and the transfer roller 10 (not shown) are activated at a predetermined timing to convey the transfer recording medium 1, and at the same time, each heating element 2a of the thermal head 2 is transferred in accordance with an image signal. Is activated. Further, at least the fluorescent lamp 3 is turned on while the thermal head 2 is energized. That is, with the configuration described above, the light from the fluorescent lamp 3 is directly applied to the recording layer 1a, and the heat from the thermal head 2 is applied to the recording layer 1a by conducting through the support 1b. As a result, a transfer image corresponding to the image signal is sequentially formed for each line on the transfer recording medium 1 conveyed. The transfer image thus formed on the recording medium 1 is carried to the pressure contact portion T of the transfer roller 10 and the pressure roller 9, and the transfer image is also transferred onto the recording paper 11 by the register roller 15 which rotates in synchronization as described above. At the same time, it is carried to the pressure contact portion T and the transferred image is transferred to the rollers 9 and 10.
It is transferred to the recording paper 11 by the pressure contact force between them. here,
The transferred image is subjected to a fixing action by the heat and pressure received when it is transferred to the paper 11, but even if the fixing force is weak depending on the material of the transfer recording layer or the type of the recording medium, it is applied to the fixing roller 26a. It is carried to the pressure contact portion F of the pressure roller 26b, and again subjected to the auxiliary fixing action by heat and pressure, whereby it is completely fixed. After that, the recording paper on which the transfer is completed is ejected to the paper ejection tray 13.

The mark signal (black) is used to energize the thermal head 1.
When the mark signal is not present (white), electricity is applied to generate heat. That is, the energizing energy for negative recording was 0.8 W / dot × 2.0 msec.

Further, FIG. 6 shows a drive timing chart of this embodiment.

First, the heating resistor corresponding to black of the image signal is not energized, and the portion corresponding to white of the image signal is energized for 2 msec. At the same time, the high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3 is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time was 4 msec from the start of energization of the heating resistor. The recording of the next line is similarly performed after 1 msec has elapsed from the end of irradiation, that is, 5 msec after the start of energization. A transfer image is formed by sequentially repeating this operation.

With the image forming apparatus described above, an image obtained on a recording sheet is very clear and a high-quality image having good fixability can be obtained.

Next, an example in which the image forming method used in the present invention is applied to a multicolor image forming apparatus will be described.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 2a to 2d, the image forming element body 31 which is sensitive to only four different wavelengths and has different color tones, that is, yellow, magenta, cyan and black, is provided on the support 1b. Multicolor recording is possible by using the provided transfer recording medium 1. Such a transfer recording medium 1
In this case, the image-forming element bodies 31 shown in Tables 2 to 4 were dispersed in a binder and provided on a substrate 1b made of a polyester film having a thickness of 6 μm. Table 2 ~
The photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 5 absorbs light in the bands of about 340 to 380 nm, about 380 to 450 nm, and about 450 to 600 nm in order from Table 2 and starts the reaction. The colors at the time of image formation are cyan, yellow, and magenta, respectively.

An apparatus for obtaining a multicolor image using this transfer recording medium 1
Shown in the figure.

The difference from the mono-color image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is that four light sources 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d having different wavelengths are arranged.

As these fluorescent lamps, a high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3a, a diazo copying machine fluorescent lamp 3b, and a black light 3c were used. In particular, a Sharp Cut Filter L-3818 is arranged on the front surface of the fluorescent lamp 3b for the diazo copying machine in order to obtain a desired spectral characteristic corresponding to the image forming element.

FIG. 8 shows the spectral characteristics of the fluorescent lamp in this embodiment.

Next, a process for obtaining a color image according to image signals corresponding to yellow, magenta, cyan and black in accordance with the recording timing chart of the multicolor image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 9 will be described. .

First, the heating resistor corresponding to yellow of the image signal is not energized, and the portion corresponding to white of the image signal is energized for 2 msec, and at the same time, the fluorescent lamp 3b for the diazo copying machine is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time was 4 msec. After 1 msec has passed from the end of irradiation,
Do not energize the heating resistor corresponding to magenta of the image signal,
The portion corresponding to white of the image signal was energized for 2 msec and simultaneously illuminated with the high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3a. The irradiation time is 4 msec as in the case of yellow. Similarly, in the case of cyan, the black light 3c is irradiated, and in the case of black, the health ray lamp 3d is irradiated to complete the latent image formation for all four colors. Therefore, it takes 15 to form a one-line image.
It takes msec.

By repeating the above process for each line, a full-color image can be obtained on the recording paper.

The setting conditions for the portions other than the light source are the same as those in the mono-color embodiment, and the conveyance of the recording paper 11 and the transfer recording medium 1 is the same as in the mono-color embodiment.

In this way, the full-color image obtained on the recording paper is a high-quality image with no color shift, high saturation, sharpness, and good fixability.

In each of the above-described embodiments, heat and pressure are used as the energy for performing the auxiliary fixing action. However, depending on the material of the transfer recording layer, for example, only light may be used, and either heat or pressure may be used. , Or a combination thereof.

As described above, in the present embodiment, a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose physical properties governing transfer characteristics are changed by the application of light and heat energy, and at least one of the energy of light and heat is used. By the image forming apparatus having a step of forming a transfer image by applying the light and heat energies under a condition of applying the image information corresponding to the recording information, and a step of transferring the transfer image to a transfer medium. It can achieve the purpose.

That is, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the transfer image formation and the transfer process are separated, and the transfer image is already formed in the transfer process, so that the constraint of the imagewise selective energy application is released. Therefore, it is possible to provide the transfer recording medium with energy necessary for forming a clear image by transfer according to the surface properties of the transfer medium. Further, the transfer image formed in the previous step is not a mere property change image such as a heat fusion image, but an image formed by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics. The transfer can be surely realized by utilizing the above method, and the transfer image can be faithfully transferred. For example, when a heat-melted image is used as a transfer image, it is desired to completely maintain the heat-melted image from the transfer image forming step to the transfer step. Image blurring due to heat conduction to the surroundings cannot be avoided. However, in the case of the present embodiment, the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, for example, the melting point, the softening point of the transfer recording layer, the viscosity at the same temperature, etc. are changed imagewise to form a transferred image, so this change in physical properties The transfer process is stored, and further, after the transfer image forming process, unless the energy for changing the physical properties is applied, the transfer property of the transfer image is not deteriorated and the image is not blurred. Therefore, even if the surface smoothness of the transfer medium is low, it is possible to form an image with high image quality and transfer the transfer image to the transfer medium without degrading the image quality.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the application of signalized energy for transfer image formation and the application of uniform energy for transfer are functionally separated. Compared with the case where the signalized energy of the above must be used as the energy for transfer at the same time, the condition of energy application is relaxed, for example,
The amount of energy for transfer image formation only needs to cause a change in the physical properties of the transfer recording layer, and the energy for transfer may be a uniform energy that is not signalized, so the desired transfer speed. Therefore, high-speed recording can be easily realized.

In addition, the thermal head used in the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus has the fastest thermal response speed of 1 to 5 msec.
It is a degree. Therefore, if it is attempted to drive at a repetition cycle faster than that, the temperature cannot be sufficiently increased or decreased within one cycle, and the effect of heat accumulation appears on the image quality without insufficient heating or conversely the temperature does not decrease. This is one of the most important factors that prevent speeding up, but if a plurality of types of energy are used as in this embodiment, for example, if a thermal head and light irradiation are combined, the heating state is effective even if heat is accumulated. Since it is only during light irradiation, it is possible to reduce the influence of the temperature drop rate after the peak temperature as in the past by irradiating light only during a limited time zone near the peak temperature. Even if the thermal head of No. 2 is used, the recording operation can be performed with a shorter repetition period, so high-speed recording becomes easier.

Further, since the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment forms a transfer image by applying a plurality of types of energy, the energy type for forming the transfer image is higher than that in the case where the transfer image is formed only by the conventional heat. The number of changes in the physical properties of the transferred image can be adjusted stepwise. In addition, even if heat is used, multiple types of energy will be used in combination with other energies that have a quick response response such as light, and are easy for stepwise adjustment of intensity. Is easily formed. For example, by setting the intensity or time of light irradiation in three steps and combining it with heating, gradation expression in four steps (3 steps + non-heating) becomes possible.

Further, although it is desired that such control be performed at high speed, it is also possible to use high-speed halftone recording together with energy such as light that has a fast response response.

In this embodiment, an apparatus for obtaining a full-color image by using three colors of yellow, magenta and dian has been described, but it is needless to say that it is possible to configure the case of four colors including black.

Further, in the image forming method according to the present embodiment, the transfer image is formed by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, but the physical properties are arbitrarily determined depending on the type of the transfer recording medium used. For example, in the case of a transfer recording medium in which a transferred image is transferred in a heat-melted state, it is a melting temperature, a softening temperature, a glass transition point, or the like. In the case of a transfer recording medium that is transferred in a state of penetrating into, the viscosity is at the same temperature.

In the image recording apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the image forming process, an image forming element body is formed as disclosed by the applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-150597 or Japanese Patent Application No. 61-128814. By appropriately selecting the types of the colorant and the photoinitiator, by selecting the light source having the wavelength that causes the photoinitiator to react, and by using the process disclosed in the above application, it is possible to obtain a multicolor of a single color, two colors or three or more colors. It is also possible to obtain a color or full-color recorded image.

<Advantages of the Invention> As described above, the present invention provides a recording apparatus capable of recording a high-quality image having good fixability even on a transfer medium having a low surface smoothness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIGS. 1a to 1d are explanatory views for explaining the principle of transfer image formation when a transfer image is formed by light and thermal energy, and FIGS. 2a to 2d are multicolor transfer recording media and thermal heads. 2e is a partial view showing the relationship between a multicolor recording medium and a transfer target medium, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a monocolor image forming apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a monocolor image forming apparatus. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the light source used, FIG. 5 is a control circuit block diagram of the monocolor image forming apparatus, FIG. 6 is a timing chart of photothermal energy application of the monocolor image forming apparatus, and FIG. 7 is a multicolor image forming apparatus. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the spectral characteristics of a fluorescent lamp used in a multicolor image forming apparatus, and FIG. 9 is a light / heat energy application timing chart of the multicolor image forming apparatus. In the figure, 1 ... Transfer recording medium 2 ... Thermal head 3 (3a 3b 3c) ... Fluorescent lamp 4 ... Pressure roller 5 ... Guide bar 6 ... Feed roller 7 ... Supply roll 8 ... Winding Roll 9 ...... Pressure roller 10 ...... Transfer roller 11 ...... Recording paper 12 ...... Recording paper cassette 13 …… Paper tray 14 …… Enclosure containing power and control circuit 26a …… Fixing roller 26b …… Pressure roller 31 ...... Image forming element

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transportable path of a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer having physical properties that control transfer characteristics when light energy and heat energy are applied, and a support for supporting the transfer recording layer. Along the way, when the transfer recording medium is sent through the transportable path,
A light source for providing the transfer recording medium with light energy provided on the side where the transfer recording layer of the transfer recording medium is located, and when the transfer recording medium is sent through the transportable path,
A heat source provided on the side of the transfer recording medium where the support is located to apply heat energy to the transfer recording medium, and a transfer for transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium to the transfer medium. And a fixing unit for fixing the transfer image transferred to the transfer medium by the transfer unit to the transfer medium. 2. An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat energy from the heat source is applied to the transfer recording medium according to image information.