JPH079690A - Monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable automatic detection of a trouble of a transfer recording printer or a system using the printer and automatic information of the detected result to be carried out by a method wherein abnormality of a resistance value is judged on the basis of results wherein the measured resistance value is respectively mutually compared with a preliminarily set reference value and a resistance value of an adjacent thermal head. CONSTITUTION:A data which heats only one heating element is generated with a data generation circuit 109, transferred to a thermal head 100, latched with a signal from a latch generation circuit 111, and an enable signal from an enable signal generation circuit 112 is added to the head 100 at that time to heat only the aiming heating element. A current at that time is measured with an ammeter, amplified and level-adjusted. Thereafter, it is sampled to be A/D converted. A measured value is written in a buffer memory 106. A data which heats each heating element is successively generated with the circuit 109. Each measured value is successively written in the memory 106. Resistance values of all heating elements are measured. When the measured values are fluctuated at not less than a specific value, the information is given by an alarm or the like.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an abnormal increase in resistance value of a heating element of a thermal head of a thermal transfer recording printer, wire breakage, paper (heat transfer sheet) cut, film (heat transfer sheet, transparent protective layer sheet) cut. A monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording that monitors and reports troubles such as printer abnormalities such as jamming, running out of change when a thermal transfer recording printer is applied to a shooting box, and burnout of an illumination lamp during shooting. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Thermal transfer recording printers include melt transfer recording printers and sublimation transfer recording printers. Especially, the transfer mechanism of the sublimation transfer printer suitable for gradation expression is
For example, it is as shown in FIG. The transfer film (thermal transfer sheet) 21 is formed by laminating a heat resistant slipping layer 21a, a transfer base material 21b, and a sublimation transfer layer 21c with a primer interposed to improve adhesion of a coating material to a base material. . A film that has been subjected to an easy-adhesion treatment may be used. The heat resistant slipping layer 21a is a mixture of polyvinyl butyral, polyisocyanate and phosphoric acid ester, the transfer base material 21b is polyethylene terephthalate, polyimide or the like, and the sublimation transfer layer 21c is an indoaniline type, a pyrazolone type, an azo type or the like. Sublimable dyes, polyvinyl acetal, cellulosic binders.

An image receiving sheet (heat transfer sheet) 22 is formed by laminating an image receiving layer 22b and an image receiving sheet base material 22a with a primer interposed. The image receiving layer 22b is a saturated polyester, vinyl chloride, etc., and the base material 22a is a synthetic material. The back surface layer is made of paper, foamed polyester, foamed polypropylene, etc., and is made of a binder, a lubricant, a coating agent, etc., respectively. Further, the vinyl chloride resin itself may be used as the receiving layer.

The image receiving paper 22 is provided around the platen roll 23.
Is wound around, and the transfer film 21 is superposed on the transfer film 21 in a closely contacted state, and the thermal head 24 is attached to the transfer film 21.
The sublimation transfer dye is transferred by heating by being brought into contact with the back surface of the above and is attached to the image receiving layer 22b to be dyed.
In the sublimation transfer device, the dye transfers to the image receiving layer by the amount of applied heat, so that gradation can be recorded according to the amount of heat for each pixel dot.

A color printer based on such a sublimation transfer system, for example, based on 8-bit multivalued data in units of pixels, determines gradation (density) by the number of pulses applied to the heating resistor of the corresponding thermal head. Have control. An example of this gradation control will be outlined with reference to FIG.

For example, image data input from an external device such as a host computer via the I / F 1 is written in the buffer memory 2. The data written in the buffer memory 2 is read line by line by the thermal head control circuit 3 and compared with the values of 1 to 255 for each pixel in sequence. First, the density data of each pixel is compared with "1". For density data equal to or greater than "1", "1" is present at that position, and for density data less than "1". A pulse train for each pixel for one line in which "0" is arranged at that position is output.

That is, the output from the thermal head control circuit 3 should be "1" at the position of the density data which is greater than or equal to "1" and "0" at the other positions. become. This pulse train is timing-controlled and set in the shift register 41 in the print head 4. The latch circuit 42 latches the data in the shift register by the latch signal from the thermal head control circuit 3. During the period when the enable signal is applied to the gate circuit 43, only the heating resistor 44 corresponding to the bit that latches "1" among the bits of the latch circuit 42 is selectively driven to generate heat and recording is performed. . Next, the thermal head control circuit 3 compares the transfer data with “2”,
For density data whose density data is equal to or greater than "2", "1" is placed at that position, and when density data is less than "2", "0" is placed at that position for each line of each pixel. Output a pulse train. In this way, the pulse train output from the thermal head control circuit 3 is timing-controlled and set in the shift register 41 and latched by the latch circuit 42, and "1" is set among the bits of the latch circuit 42 as described above. The heating resistor 44 corresponding to the existing bit is driven and recording is performed. Hereinafter, the same operation is repeated until the comparison value reaches the maximum density data “255”, and the transfer of one line is completed.

[0008]

The thermal head used in such a thermal transfer recording printer has a streak pattern in the printing direction due to the resistance value of the heating resistor becoming high or broken due to various causes during use. The density of the image may drop and the print may be omitted. Since a line-type thermal head is used, for example, if one of the heating elements is abnormal, streak-like marks appear in the sub-scanning direction. To detect such printing defects: -Connect the thermal head to be measured to a dedicated device, measure the resistance value of the heating element, increase the resistance value of the heating element,
Check for breaks. -By observing the printed matter, check if there is a streak-like density drop and if there is a missing print. There is a method such as. However, it is difficult to automatically detect streak-shaped density drop and print omission while the thermal head is mounted on the printer. In addition, if printing cannot be continued due to paper shortage, film shortage, jamming, etc. in addition to such defective printing, the operator of the thermal transfer recording device must actually inspect the device, and the trouble situation Could not be confirmed. For this reason, there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp the occurrence of trouble and to respond to the trouble that occurs quickly and appropriately, especially in the thermal transfer recording apparatus that is operated unattended. It was also a factor that increased the cost of operating the equipment, such as the necessity of patrol.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to automatically detect a trouble of a thermal transfer recording printer or a system using the thermal transfer recording printer, and to automatically notify the detection result. It is an object of the present invention to provide a monitoring mechanism for thermal transfer recording that can be performed.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting a thermal transfer sheet, a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal transfer sheet to be transported are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors are provided. In a thermal transfer recording printer including a thermal head for generating an image according to image information and recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet, and a thermal head drive control unit for transferring image data to the thermal head, the resistance of the thermal head A resistance value measuring means for measuring the value and a resistance value abnormality judging means are provided, and the measured resistance value is compared with a preset reference value and the resistance value between adjacent thermal heads respectively, and the resistance value abnormality is judged based on the comparison result. It is possible to make a distinction, to provide a streak detecting means for detecting a streak in the main scanning direction or the sub-scanning direction, and Bets or providing the jamming detecting means of the thermal transfer sheet, jamming detecting means,
Performing by detecting the rotation of the unwind roll and platen roll of the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet,
In addition, a microswitch is arranged in the vicinity of the transport path of the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet, and the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet is detected by the microswitch, and the unwinding roll and the platen roll of the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet are detected. A thermal transfer sheet or a thermal transfer sheet breakage detection means for detecting the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet breakage by detecting the rotation of the heat transfer sheet, the number of remaining screens of the thermal transfer sheet, the transparent protective layer transfer sheet, and the thermal transfer sheet. Alternatively, the number of used screens detecting means is provided.

Further, according to the present invention, the illuminating means arranged in the photographing box for illuminating the subject, the photographing means for photographing the subject illuminated by the illuminating means, and the subject image signal photographed by the photographing means are input. Image processing means,
A thermal transfer recording printer that receives an image-processed image signal and prints out based on the image signal, a fee payment mechanism, and an illumination unit, a photographing unit, an image processing unit, and a thermal transfer unit based on a start signal from the fee payment mechanism. In a photographing mechanism including control means for controlling a printer, a state detecting means for detecting a state of the photographing mechanism and a reporting means for reporting a detection result are provided, and the detecting means is a resistance value measuring means of a thermal head. , Streak detecting means for detecting streaks in the sub-scanning direction, thermal transfer sheet or thermal transfer sheet breakage or jamming detection means, thermal transfer sheet, transparent protective layer transfer sheet or thermal transfer sheet remaining screen number or used screen number detection means, illumination means One or more out-of-balls detecting means or a change-out detecting means of the payment machine.

[0012]

The present invention is directed to an abnormal increase in the resistance value of the thermal head of a thermal transfer recording printer, or a printer error such as wire breakage, paper break, film break, or jamming, and change when the thermal transfer record printer is applied to a photographing box. Trouble such as burnout, burnout of lighting lamp during shooting, etc. can be constantly or automatically monitored and detected automatically, and if any trouble occurs, it can be reported to a remote location at the same time as the trouble occurs or periodically. Therefore, for example, the information of the photographing boxes that are individually arranged can be collected at the sales bases and the like, and it becomes possible to promptly respond when a failure occurs and to take appropriate measures according to the content of the trouble that has occurred. Also,
By regularly reporting the operating status of each shooting box, it is possible to make detailed responses according to each shooting box.

[0013]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a resistance value measuring circuit of a heating element of a thermal head. The thermal head 100 includes a plurality of heat generating resistors and a circuit for driving and controlling each heat generating resistor, and is supplied with power from the driving power source 113 to supply the clock generating circuit 11
It is driven in synchronization with the clock generated at 0. The data generation circuit 109 generates and transfers data for heating only one heating resistor, and the latch generation circuit 111 generates a latch signal for latching the data transferred to the thermal head. The heating resistors corresponding to the latched bits are selectively driven and generate heat during the period in which the enable signal from the enable signal generating circuit 112 is applied. These data generation circuit 109 and latch generation circuit 11
1. The enable signal generation circuit 112 synchronizes with the clock from the clock generation circuit 110 and the resistance value measurement control circuit 1
It is controlled by 08.

The thermal head 100 includes a constant voltage power source 1
A constant voltage is supplied from the V _H and V _L terminals from 01, the current flowing through the heating resistor is measured by the current measuring device 102, amplified by the differential amplifier 103, and the level shift circuit 10
At 4, the voltage level is adjusted to a predetermined level. The level-shifted signal is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 105 driven by the sampling timing signal from the resistance value measurement control circuit 108 synchronized with the clock from the clock generation circuit 110, and is taken into the buffer memory 106. And is compared with a reference value preset and recorded in the ROM 107.

Next, the resistance value measurement will be explained.
The data generation circuit 109 generates data for causing only one heating resistor to generate heat and transfers it to the thermal head 100,
A latch signal from the latch generation circuit 111 is used for latching, and at this time, an enable signal from the enable signal generation circuit 112 is applied to the thermal head 100 to heat only the heating resistor of interest. The current flowing at this time is measured by the current measuring device 102, amplified, adjusted in level, sampled and A / D converted, and the measured value is stored in the buffer memory 10.
Write to 6. Then, the data generating circuit 109 sequentially generates data for causing each heating resistor to generate heat, and the measured values at that time are sequentially written in the buffer memory 106 to measure the resistance values of all the heating resistors.

Next, with respect to each heating resistor, whether or not the measured value of each heating resistor is compared with a reference value recorded in the ROM 107 and has changed by a predetermined value or more is measured. Inspect whether the measured value has changed more than a specified value. If either of the above conditions applies, an error is displayed on a monitor screen (not shown) or an alarm is issued.

Although a constant voltage is supplied to the thermal head from the constant voltage power supply in the above description, a constant current is supplied from the constant current power supply and the voltage between the V _H and V _L terminals is measured. Good. The power source for measurement may be shared with the power source for printing, or may be prepared separately and used by switching. For the level shift, an appropriate value may be used according to the range of the resistance value to be measured, and the clock generation circuit, the latch circuit, and the enable signal generation circuit may be shared with the printing circuit or separately prepared. You may make it switch and use it later.

The decrease in the density of streaks due to the head breakage (broken line) and the print omission that occur in the sub-scanning direction of the printed matter are detected depending on whether the measured value is within the allowable range in the resistance measurement. Alternatively, a line sensor may be installed in the main scanning direction, data may be integrated in the sub scanning direction, and determination may be made based on the integrated value.

Next, jamming detection by sticking the heat transfer sheet and the heat transfer film in the heat transfer recording printer will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows a normal state, and the thermal transfer film 122 fed from the unwinding roll 120 is the platen roll 124.
The thermal transfer sheet 123 together with the thermal head 100
It is pressure-contacted with, is heated and recorded, and is sequentially wound by a winding roll 121. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2B, if the heat-transferred sheet and the heat-transfer film are stuck to each other, the winding on the winding roll 121 is stopped, or the rotation speed of the winding roll decreases. Jamming occurs. In this way, when jamming occurs due to the sticking of the heat transfer sheet and the heat transfer film, the platen roll rotates but the take-up roll 121 does not rotate or the rotation speed extremely decreases. Therefore, it is possible to detect jamming from the difference in rotation speed between the platen roll and the take-up roll. Of course, it may be detected only from the rotation speed of the winding roll itself. Of course, if necessary, it is also applicable to jamming of the transparent protective layer transfer sheet and the heat transfer target sheet.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining detection of a thermal transfer film break in a thermal transfer recording printer. As shown in FIG. 3A, the microswitch 130 is arranged close to the transport path of the thermal transfer film 122. As the heat transfer film is used, the diameter of the roll film in the unwinding roll 120 becomes smaller, so that the transport path is gradually displaced upward, and at the film end, the heat transfer film contacts the microswitch as shown in FIG. 3B. , It is possible to detect the thermal transfer film break.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the detection of the thermal transfer sheet breakage in the thermal transfer recording printer. In a normal state, as shown in FIG. 4A, the thermal transfer sheet is unwound from the unwinding roll and is pressed against the thermal transfer sheet (not shown) by the platen together with the thermal transfer sheet (not shown). When the heat transfer sheet and bobbin are fixed with weak adhesion, when the paper end is reached,
Since the sheet is separated from the unwinding roll as shown in (b), the unwinding roll becomes free and the rotation is stopped, and only the platen rotates. Further, when the heat transfer sheet and the bobbin are strongly adhered to each other, at the paper end, as shown in FIG. 4 (c), the unwinding roll is constrained and rotation is stopped, and only the platen is rotated. . In both cases of weak adhesion and strong adhesion, the rotation of the unwinding roll is stopped and only the platen is rotated, so that the thermal transfer sheet breakage can be detected by monitoring the rotation of both. Of course, only the rotation of the unwinding roll may be monitored to detect the thermal transfer sheet shortage.

Although the thermal transfer sheet has been described with reference to FIG. 3 and the thermal transfer sheet with reference to FIG. 4, it is of course applicable to each of the thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet, and also to the transparent protective layer transfer sheet. Is. In addition, regarding the number of remaining screens of the thermal transfer sheet, the transparent protective layer transfer sheet, and the thermal transfer sheet, the counter number is set in the counter when setting the sheet, and the counter value is decremented for each printing operation. Alternatively, counting may be performed by detecting and decrementing a mark indicating the number of remaining screens on the sheet side in a unit of one screen or a unit of a fixed number of screens. In addition, the counter value is incremented for each printing operation, or a mark indicating the number of remaining screens attached to the sheet is detected to detect the number of inserted sheets, the number of remaining screens detected, and a certain number of screens. With respect to those marked on the sheet in units, the number of sheets to be used can be obtained by using the increment together.
Further, the rotation speed of the unwinding roll when the sheet is pulled out at a constant speed may be detected by the rotary encoder, and the roll diameter may be calculated from the rotation speed of the roll to estimate the number of remaining screens or the number of used sheets.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the overall construction of a photographing box to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 140 is a photographing box, 141 is a chair, 142 is a light, 143 is a camera,
144 is a monitor, 145 is a controller, 146 is a payment machine, 147 is a thermal sublimation transfer printer, and 148 is a power source. The photographing box 140 is composed of a storage unit for storing a photographing device and a photographing space in which a chair or the like on which a person sits is arranged, and basically, an unmanned photographing is possible. At the time of shooting, if a charge is put in the payment machine 146 or a predetermined charge is paid by a prepaid card or the like, an activation signal is transferred from the payment machine 146 to the controller 145. Upon receiving the activation signal, the controller 145 starts controlling the light 142, the camera 143, the sublimation transfer printer 147, and the like. It should be noted that each device has a power supply 14
Power is supplied by 8.

First, the light is turned on to illuminate the person sitting on the chair 141, and a picture is taken by the camera 143. Camera 143
Is composed of, for example, a CCD image sensor and an A / D converter built-in, and the digital image signal from the camera 143 is
It is taken in by the controller 145. Controller 14
Reference numeral 5 controls each device and has image processing functions such as image enlargement / reduction, sharpness correction function, color masking, image layout, and gradation correction. The image data subjected to the image processing is transferred to the sublimation transfer printer 9 and printed out. Of course, the heat-sensitive sublimation transfer printer is not limited to the heat-sensitive sublimation transfer printer.

FIG. 6 shows a system for detecting and reporting a printer trouble that occurs in the thermal transfer recording printer arranged in the photographing box of FIG. 5, a trouble such as a ball of an illumination light, or a change of payment machine. It is a figure explaining. When the thermal transfer recording printer is arranged in the photography box, the controller 145 controlling the entire photographing system is arranged in the photographing box. Therefore, the thermal head of the thermal transfer recording printer is arranged in the same manner as described above. Increased resistance, wire breakage, paper (heat transfer sheet) break,
Printer abnormalities such as film (heat transfer sheet) breakage and jamming can be detected, and this information can be taken into the controller and reported to the monitoring side.

Further, since the controller 145 is connected to a payment machine, an illumination lamp, a camera, etc. in addition to the printer, for example, a change in the payment machine is detected by a method such as weight detection, or an outage of the illumination lamp is detected as a resistance value. It is detected by a method such as detection by measurement and taken into the controller,
Similarly, the monitoring side can be notified. In addition, as a method for detecting the lamp burnout, refer to the brightness data of the background obtained by shooting, and if the brightness data is less than the set reference value, or store the brightness data of the background at the previous shooting in the memory. It may be stored in the memory, and compared with the brightness data of the background of the captured image, and when the brightness data captured this time is lower than the value stored in the memory by a predetermined value or more, a break may occur. In addition, a light amount sensor that measures the amount of light at the time of photographing in the photographing space may be provided to detect the breakage.

In FIG. 6, the modem 150 is connected to the controller 145 which controls the entire photographing system of the photographing box 140, and when trouble occurs somewhere in the photographing system, the information is sent from the controller 145 to the telephone line 152. Or to the wireless device 151. The trouble information sent to the telephone line 152 is taken into the host machine 154 via the modem 153, and the trouble information sent from the wireless device 151 is received by the wireless device 155 and taken into the host machine 154.

Not only the trouble in the photographing box is reported, but also the number of used (sales) sheets of the thermal transfer sheet, the transparent protective layer transfer sheet, and the thermal transfer sheet, or the number of remaining screens is regularly reported as described above. You may It is also possible to collect the information of a plurality of photographing boxes in the sales base where the host machine is arranged by such a notification system.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the resistance value of the thermal head of the thermal transfer recording printer is abnormal, the wire is broken, the paper is cut, the film is cut, the jamming occurs, and the thermal transfer recording printer is applied to the photographing box. Out of change,
Since it is possible to automatically monitor a trouble such as a burnout of the illumination lamp at the time of shooting, it is possible to promptly and appropriately deal with the trouble. In particular, if a thermal transfer recording printer is placed in an unmanned shooting box, the details of the trouble can be grasped at the sales office where the host machine is installed at the same time as the trouble occurs. Appropriate measures can be taken according to the contents of the troubles that have occurred, and fine-grained measures can be taken by creating a failure occurrence real-time list, individual failure history, and the like. In addition, since it is easy to grasp the number of sold products, it is possible to effectively replenish the frequently used shooting boxes with materials, and it is also possible to easily grasp the number of remaining screens of each shooting box material, making it appropriate. Since it is possible to set up a proper material replenishment schedule and to effectively allocate the personnel to be dispatched, it becomes possible to minimize the human cost required for maintenance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a resistance value measuring circuit of a heating element of a thermal head.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating jamming detection of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a film end of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a paper end of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a shooting box.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a trouble notification system of a photographing box.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a transfer mechanism of a sublimation transfer printer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a thermal head control circuit.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Thermal head, 101 ... Constant voltage power supply, 102
... current measuring device, 120 ... unwinding roll, 121 ... winding roll, 122 ... thermal transfer sheet, 123 ... transfer sheet, 124 ... platen roll, 130 ... micro switch, 140 ... photography box, 142 ... light, 143 ...
Cameras 145 ... Controllers, 147 ... Thermal sublimation transfer printers, 150, 153 ... Modems, 152 ... Telephone lines, 151, 155 ... Radios, 154 ... Host machines.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location B41J 29/48 E B65H 7/06 9037-3F

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the transported thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat in accordance with image information, In a thermal transfer recording printer including a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, a resistance value measuring means for measuring the resistance value of the thermal head And a resistance value abnormality determining means, which compares the measured resistance value with a preset reference value and the resistance value between adjacent thermal heads, respectively, and determines the resistance value abnormality based on the comparison result. Monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording. 2. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the transported thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat according to image information, In a thermal transfer recording printer including a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, a streak detecting means for detecting streaks in the sub-scanning direction is provided. A monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording characterized by being provided. 3. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet being transported are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat in accordance with image information, A thermal transfer recording printer including a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, wherein a thermal transfer sheet or a jamming detection means for the thermal transfer sheet is provided. A monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording characterized by the above. 4. The monitoring mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the jamming detecting means detects the rotation of the unwinding roll and the platen roll of the thermal transfer sheet or the thermal transfer sheet. 5. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the transported thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat in accordance with image information, In a thermal transfer recording printer equipped with a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, a thermal transfer recording printer or a micro transfer roller is provided near a thermal transfer sheet conveyance path. A monitoring mechanism in heat-sensitive transfer recording, characterized in that a switch is arranged and a thermal transfer sheet or a thermal transfer sheet break is detected by the microswitch. 6. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet being transported are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat in accordance with image information, In a thermal transfer recording printer including a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, a thermal transfer sheet or a roll for unwinding the thermal transfer sheet and a platen. A monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording, comprising: a thermal transfer sheet or a thermal transfer sheet breakage detecting means for detecting a thermal transfer sheet or thermal transfer sheet breakage by detecting rotation with a roll. 7. A thermal transfer sheet, a transporting means for transporting the thermal transfer sheet, the thermal transfer sheet and the thermal transfer sheet being transported are pressed against the surface by a platen roller, and a plurality of heating resistors generate heat in accordance with image information, A thermal transfer recording printer comprising a thermal head for recording an image on a thermal transfer sheet and a thermal head drive control means for transferring image data to the thermal head, wherein the thermal transfer sheet, the transparent protective layer transfer sheet, the thermal transfer sheet A monitoring mechanism in thermal transfer recording, which is provided with means for detecting the number of remaining screens or the number of used screens. 8. The monitoring mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the conveying means also conveys the protective layer transfer sheet. 9. An image processing unit, which is arranged in a photographing box and illuminates a subject, a photographing unit for photographing the subject illuminated by the illuminating unit, and an image processing to which a subject image signal photographed by the photographing unit is input. Means, a thermal transfer recording printer to which the image-processed image signal is input, and prints out based on the image signal, a fee payment mechanism, and an illumination means, a photographing means, an image processing means based on an activation signal from the fee payment mechanism. A monitoring mechanism in heat-sensitive transfer recording, comprising a state detecting means for detecting a state of the photographing mechanism and a reporting means for reporting a detection result in a photographing mechanism including a control means for controlling the thermal transfer printer. 10. The detection means includes resistance value measuring means of a thermal head, streak detecting means for detecting streaks in the main scanning direction or sub-scanning direction, thermal transfer sheet or thermal transfer sheet breakage or jamming detection means, thermal transfer sheet, transparent. 10. The protective layer transfer sheet or the heat transfer transfer sheet, comprising one or more of a remaining screen number or used screen number detecting means, a ball out detecting means of an illuminating means, or a change out detecting means of a payment machine. Monitoring Mechanism for Thermal Transfer Recording of Paper.