JPH09216445A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform hot-melt transfer recording and thermal sublimation transfer recording to the same recording medium by one thermal transfer printer by providing a control part performing control so as to select a ribbon cassette by a cassette replacing mechanism to perform recording in the recording mode corresponding to recording data. SOLUTION: Either one of a hot-melt transfer recording mode control part and a thermal sublimation transfer recording mode control part is operated on the basis of a recording mode signal by a control part 27. A ribbon cassette 5 housing the ink ribbon 16 corresponding to either one of a hot-melt transfer recording mode and a thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected by a cassette replacing mechanism. The ribbon cassette 5 housing the ink ribbon 16 corresponding to the selected recording mode is selectively delivered between a canopy 15 and an upper carriage 4b by the parallel crank mechanism and rotary crank mechanism constituting the cassette replacing mechanism to be mounted on a carriage 4.

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 capable of selecting a desired ribbon cassette from a plurality of ribbon cassettes and automatically exchanging it for recording. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer suitable for recording image data and character data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional thermal transfer printers perform printing on paper using an ink ribbon coated with a heat-melting ink (heat-melting ink ribbon) and an ink ribbon coated with a sublimation ink ( It is known that a thermal sublimation ink ribbon) is used to print on a recording medium.

On the other hand, a thermal transfer printer that prints on a recording medium using a hot-melt ink ribbon (hereinafter referred to as a thermal-melt thermal transfer printer) prints on a wide variety of recording media such as plain paper, cardboard, and postcards. It is possible and easy to use.

On the other hand, a thermal transfer printer (hereinafter referred to as a thermal sublimation type thermal transfer printer) for printing on a sheet using a sublimable ink ribbon is comparable to a silver lead photograph by using a dedicated paper which is surface-treated as a sheet. It is possible to obtain a high quality printed image. In other words, the amount of ink that is sublimated and transferred to the paper can be controlled by the amount of energy applied to the thermal head, so that it is possible to obtain density gradation, and the obtained image is very close to a silver lead photograph. . Although it is suitable for full-color recording as described above, it is not suitable for obtaining a sharp image such as character information recording because the edge portion of each pixel is blurred.

Then, a heat-melting type thermal transfer printer for printing on a sheet using an ink ribbon coated with a heat-melting ink, and a heat sublimation type for printing on a sheet using an ink ribbon coated with a sublimable ink. Since the thermal transfer printers have different characteristics of ink to be used, in the past, the thermal transfer printers have been individually put into practical use as different types of thermal transfer printers.

In recent years, there has been an increasing need to record characters on a photographic image by superimposing them on printing a New Year's card or creating an original calendar. When performing such recording,
Thermal sublimation transfer recording is performed for full color recording, and thermal fusion transfer recording is performed for character recording, so that desired recording can be obtained by performing two types of recording on one recording medium. Has been done.

As the thermal transfer printer, conventionally, a plurality of ribbon cassettes having different colors of ink are arranged so as to face the carriage, and the required ribbon cassette is selected from the plurality of ribbon cassettes. There is known one that is selected and automatically replaced and mounted on a carriage so that printing or the like can be performed.

In such a conventional thermal transfer printer having a plurality of ribbon cassettes, various sensors such as a sensor for detecting the color of the ribbon cassette and a sensor for detecting the home position of the carriage are provided. The type of the ribbon cassette is detected by, for example, changing the shape of the ribbon cassette for each type of the ink ribbon, or forming a detection hole corresponding to the type of the ink ribbon in the ribbon cassette, and providing it on the carriage. This is done by contacting a mechanical switch to detect it. Further, the home position of the carriage is detected by, for example, contacting the position detecting member of the carriage with a home position detecting sensor including a mechanical switch.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional thermal transfer printer, since the thermal fusion thermal transfer printer and the thermal sublimation thermal transfer printer are individually put into practical use, characters are put in the photographic image. Documents have been used for New Year's cards, etc., but when general recording on recording media and recording of high quality recorded images comparable to silver lead photographs are required in this way, heat melting Two thermal transfer printers, which are different in type from the thermal transfer printer and the thermal melting printer, have to be used, which requires a large installation space and increases the economic burden.

Further, in detecting the type of the ribbon cassette in the above-mentioned conventional thermal transfer printer, it is necessary to form a dedicated ribbon cassette for each type of ink ribbon, and it is necessary to form a wide variety of ribbon cassettes. A variety of molding dies are required to form the cassette, which imposes a large economic burden, and it takes a lot of labor and time to store the ribbon cassette before storing the ink ribbon and to manage the inventory. It was With such an increase in the types of ink ribbons, the structure of the sensor for detecting the type of ribbon cassette becomes complicated and expensive, increasing the cost of the thermal transfer printer as a whole and coping with the recent cost reduction. There was also a problem that I could not do it.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and thermal melting transfer recording using an ink ribbon coated with thermal melting ink on the same recording medium in one thermal transfer printer. , It is possible to perform thermal sublimation transfer recording using an ink ribbon coated with a sublimable ink. Furthermore, with a simple structure, it is possible to select from among a plurality of ribbon cassettes of different ink types and colors. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of selecting a required ribbon cassette, automatically exchanging the ribbon cassette, mounting the ribbon cassette on a carriage for recording, and reducing the cost.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a thermal transfer printer according to a first aspect of the present invention is provided with a ribbon cassette and a carriage which can reciprocate along a platen and is opposed to the carriage. A thermal transfer printer including a cassette holding portion for holding a plurality of ribbon cassettes and a cassette exchange mechanism capable of automatically selecting and exchanging ribbon cassettes between the carriage and the cassette holding portion. Of the plurality of ribbon cassettes, a heat-melt transfer recording mode in which recording is performed by heat-melt transfer onto a recording medium using a heat-meltable ink ribbon housed in a part of the plurality of ribbon cassettes, and among the plurality of ribbon cassettes Thermal sublimation transfer recording mode in which recording is performed by thermal sublimation transfer on the recording medium using the thermal sublimation ink ribbon stored in the rest of the And a recording mode selecting section for selecting one of the recording modes corresponding to the recording data input from the external input section, and the cassette exchanging mechanism based on the recording mode selected by the recording mode selecting section. And a control unit for controlling the recording to be performed in the recording mode corresponding to the recording data.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the recording mode selection section selects either the thermal fusion transfer recording mode or the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode in accordance with the recording data, and the control section selects each of them. A desired ribbon cassette suitable for the recording mode can be selected and automatically mounted on the carriage, and recording in the recording mode suitable for the recording data can be performed.

The thermal transfer printer according to a second aspect is the thermal transfer printer according to the first aspect, wherein the ribbon cassette is an identification for identifying the type of ink ribbon housed in the ribbon cassette. The carriage has a marker, the carriage has a sensor for detecting the identification marker, and the control unit stores the ribbon cassette in the ribbon cassette and the presence or absence of the ribbon cassette based on an output signal from the sensor accompanying the movement of the carriage. It is characterized in that the type of the formed ink ribbon is determined.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, even when a plurality of ribbon cassettes are used, the desired ribbon cassette can be reliably identified by detecting the identification marker of the ribbon cassette, and the recorded data can be recorded. Recording in a suitable recording mode can be performed.

A thermal transfer printer according to a third aspect is the thermal transfer printer according to the first or second aspect, wherein the recording mode selection section automatically sets the recording mode based on the input recording data. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 4 is characterized in that the thermal transfer printer according to claim 3 is the thermal transfer printer according to claim 3. When it is determined that it is character data, the thermal fusion transfer recording mode is automatically selected, and when it is determined that it is image data, the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is automatically selected. I am trying.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the thermal fusion transfer recording mode is selected when the recording data stored in the storage section is character data, and the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected when the recording data is image data. If character data and image data are mixed in the recording data, the recording in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode of the image data is selected with priority, and then the character is recorded on the same recording medium. It is possible to judge and control to perform thermal fusion transfer recording of data.

A thermal transfer printer according to a fifth aspect is the thermal transfer printer according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the control section selects the thermal fusion transfer recording mode by the recording mode selecting section. When the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected by the recording mode selection unit, the character data is recorded, and when the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected, the image data is recorded. The thermal transfer printer according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein when the thermal melting transfer recording mode is selected, recording is performed using a ribbon cassette containing a black thermal melting ink ribbon. The feature is to do.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, on the same recording medium, the recording of general black character data is a sharp image, and the recording of image data is a high quality recording comparable to a silver lead photograph. Images can be obtained.

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the main part, and FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a carriage. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment, a flat platen 2 is arranged at a desired position of a frame (not shown) such that its printing surface 2a is substantially vertical. A guide shaft 3 is arranged below the front side of the platen 2 in parallel with the platen 2.
The vertically divided carriage 4 is attached to an appropriate position of the guide shaft 3, and the lower carriage 4a attached to the guide shaft 3 is attached to the one shown below.
And the other shown above is the ribbon cassette 5 described later.
And an upper carriage 4b which is attached to and detached from the lower carriage 4a in the vertical direction. The carriage 4 is reciprocated along the guide shaft 3 by driving an appropriate driving belt 6 wound around a pair of pulleys (not shown) by driving means (not shown) such as a stepping motor. It is designed to be movable. Further, the carriage 4 can be selected by the control unit 27, which will be described later, from one of two movement speeds, high speed and low speed.

A well-known head moving mechanism (both not shown) which faces the platen 2 and can be operated by a driving force of a driving motor with respect to the platen 2 can be brought into and out of contact with the platen 2. A thermal head 7 that prints on a sheet (not shown) on the platen 2 in a pressure contact state (head-down state) in which the thermal head 7 is in contact with is disposed. The thermal head 7 includes a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in an array that selectively generate heat based on desired print data input by an appropriate external input device (not shown) such as a keyboard or an image scanner. (Not shown). Further, in the thermal head 7, the control unit 27, which will be described later, can select either one of the strong pressure contact and the weak pressure contact as the pressure contact force with respect to the platen 2, and the thermal energy of the thermal head 7 can be set to be large or small. Either one of two stages (specifically, two stages of energization time for the heating element, long time and short time) can be selected.

Now, the cassette exchange mechanism in this embodiment will be described.

The carriage 4 has a plate-like upper carriage 4b, which is substantially parallel to the upper surface of the lower carriage 4a attached to the guide shaft 3, and is brought into contact with and separated from the lower carriage 4a by the parallel crank mechanism 8. It is configured so that it can move in parallel. This parallel crank mechanism 8
As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of links 9a and 9b are provided at both left and right ends of the carriage 4 and intersect each other in an X shape. The crossing position of these links 9a and 9b is determined by a pin 10a. The ends of the links 9a, 9b are pivotally attached and are slidable by the pins 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e into long holes (not shown) formed in the upper ends of the left and right side portions of the lower carriage 4a and the upper carriage 4b, respectively. Is locked to.

A rotary crank mechanism 11 is disposed on the lower carriage 4a, and the rotary crank mechanism 11 allows the upper carriage 4b to move in parallel. This rotary crank mechanism 11
A rotating plate 12 serving as a rotating member supported to be rotatable and driven by the lower carriage 4a, and a connecting link 14 serving as a connecting member pivotally connected to an eccentric position of the rotating plate 12 by a pin 13a. The front end 14 is pivotally connected to the upper carriage 4b by a pin 13b.
The rotary plate 12 is rotatably driven by an appropriate drive means (not shown) such as a motor.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, above the carriage 4, a substantially plate which is openably and closably supported by a frame (not shown) at an appropriate interval as shown by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. A canopy 15 in the shape of a circle is provided. This canopy 15 functions as a paper retainer on the exit side of a paper feed mechanism (not shown) in the closed state,
The carriage 4 is arranged so as to face the carriage 4, and has substantially the same length as the moving region of the carriage 4.

At a predetermined position on the lower surface of the canopy 15 which faces the carriage 4 in parallel, there is provided a cassette holder (not shown) as a cassette holding portion for holding a plurality of ribbon cassettes 5. This cassette holder Therefore, a plurality of ink ribbons 16K, 16Y, 16M, 16C of four colors for performing multicolor printing in this embodiment are provided.
Ribbon cassettes 5K, 5Y, 5M, and 5C, which are stored, are arranged in a line in the moving direction of the carriage 4. In the present embodiment, an ink ribbon (heat-melting ink ribbon) 1 coated with black heat-melting ink 1
The carriage includes a ribbon cassette 5K having 6K housed therein, and ribbon cassettes 5Y, 5M, 5C having the ink ribbons (thermally sublimable ink ribbons) 16Y, 16M, 16C coated with thermally sublimable ink housed therein. 4 are arranged in a line in the moving direction. In this embodiment, the ink ribbon 16Y will be described as yellow, the ink ribbon 16M as magenta, and the ink ribbon 16C as cyan. The ribbon cassettes 5K, 5Y, 5M, and 5C are connected to the canopy 15 and the upper carriage 4b by the operation of the parallel crank mechanism 8 that operates along with the rotary crank mechanism 11, as indicated by the double-headed arrow B in FIG. It is designed to be selectively delivered between the two.

Returning to FIG. 1, the carriage 4 will be further described. On both left and right sides of the upper carriage 4b, there are engaging portions 17a whose tips are gently curved inwardly and projections are formed on the upper and lower ends. The plate-shaped arms 17 are provided upright at an interval substantially equal to the width of the ribbon cassette 5. A pair of rotatable bobbins 18 are arranged at predetermined intervals in the center of the upper carriage 4b so as to project upward, and the bobbins 18 cause the ink ribbon 16 to move in a predetermined manner. It is possible to drive in any direction. One of the pair of bobbins 18 is the ink ribbon 1
A take-up bobbin 18a for taking up 6 and a delivery bobbin 18b for delivering the ink ribbon 16 are provided on the other side. Further, the ink ribbon 16 stored in the ribbon cassette 5 is provided on the edge of the carriage 4 on the side far from the platen 2.
An optical sensor 19a is provided as the sensor 19 for detecting the type of the. As the optical sensor 19a, a reflective type is used in the present embodiment. The optical sensor 19a is connected to a control unit 27, which will be described later, that controls the printing operation of the thermal transfer printer 1 arranged at a desired position of the thermal transfer printer 1. The control unit 27 uses a memory (not shown), a CPU, or the like, based on at least the output signal from the optical sensor 19a associated with the movement of the carriage 4, the presence / absence of the ribbon cassette 5, and the type of the ink ribbon 16 stored in the ribbon cassette 5. ,
It is possible to determine or detect the moving distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position, the open / closed state of a canopy 15 described later, the distance between a pair of adjacent or separated ribbon cassettes 5, and the like.

The ribbon cassettes 5K, 5Y, 5M and 5C of the present embodiment are all formed to have the same shape and the same size regardless of the kind of the ink ribbon 16, and they are a pair of upper and lower. A pair of reels (not shown) rotatably supported in a case body 20 having a substantially rectangular plane,
A pair of rotatably supported ribbon feed rollers and a plurality of guide rollers facing the rotatably supported ribbon path are arranged. The ink ribbon 16 is wound between the pair of reels, and the middle portion of the ribbon path of the ink ribbon 16 is led out to the outside. When the ribbon cassette 5 is mounted on the upper carriage 4b, one of the pair of reels serves as a take-up reel that winds up the ink ribbon 16 of the portion used for printing, and the other reel delivers the ink ribbon. It is used as a delivery reel. Then, on the inner peripheral surface of each reel, a plurality of key grooves are formed in a spline shape at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the inner peripheral surface of one reel is
The take-up bobbin 18a is engaged with the take-up hole 21a, and the inner peripheral surface of the other reel has the take-up bobbin 18b.
Is a delivery hole 21b with which is engaged. In addition, a concave portion 22 facing the thermal head 7 is formed on a surface of the ribbon cassette 5 that faces the platen 2 when mounted on the carriage 4.
Is formed, and the intermediate portion of the ink ribbon 16 is led out in the recess 22.

An identification mark 23 for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 16 contained in each ribbon cassette 5 is provided on the rear surface of the ribbon cassette 5 extending in parallel with the surface in which the recess 22 is formed. It is arranged. The identification mark 23 of the present embodiment has a reflection sticker 2 having striped non-reflective portions 24a of different numbers depending on the type of the ink ribbon 16.
4.

Then, the identification mark 23 is detected by the optical sensor 19a provided on the carriage 4, and the detection signal is output to the control section 27 of the printer. In the control section 27, the identification mark 23 of each ribbon cassette 5 is detected. By counting the number, the type of the ink ribbon 16 stored in the ribbon cassette 5 is determined.

That is, the ribbon cassette 5a shown on the left side in FIG. 1 is provided with the reflection seal 24A having four non-reflective portions 24a as the identification mark 23, and the ribbon cassette 5b shown on the right side in FIG. A reflection sticker 24B having two non-reflecting portions 24a is disposed as the identification mark 23. And the ribbon cassette 5
In FIG. 1, the left end of the rear surface shown on the near side is a reference position BP for detecting the identification mark 23, and the identification mark 2
3, the distance L to the right end surface of the non-reflective portion 24a located at the right end in FIG. 1 is the same in all the identification marks 23, and within the distance L, a desired distance for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 16 is set. The non-reflecting portion 24a is formed. Then, the carriage 4 can be stopped in a state where the optical sensor 19a detects the identification mark 23 to be used, and in the state in which the carriage 4 is stopped, the ribbon cassette 5 stored in the cassette holder is transferred to the upper carriage 4b. It is supposed to be delivered.

The identification mark 23 may be printed on the ribbon cassette 5, and is not particularly limited to the configuration of this embodiment.

In the thermal transfer printer of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a storage unit 25 for storing the print data input from the external input unit 31, and a print mode selection for selecting the print mode of the print data. Based on the unit 26 and the recording mode selected by the recording mode selection unit 26,
The ribbon cassette 5 is selected and a control unit 27 is provided for controlling the desired recording.

The recording mode selection unit 26 at least heat-melts the recording based on a signal sent from a mode selection switch S (not shown) arranged at a desired position of a frame (not shown) of the thermal transfer printer. Heat transfer recording mode or heat sublimation ink ribbon 1 in which printing is performed by heat melt transfer on a sheet such as plain paper using the heat sensitive ink ribbon 16a.
6b is used to select the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode in which printing is performed on the special paper by thermal sublimation transfer, and the result is sent to the control unit 27 as a recording signal. In the present embodiment, the mode selection switch S includes three types of switches (S1 and S, respectively) that indicate a thermal fusion transfer recording mode, a thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, and an automatic selection mode.
2 and S3), and when the operator operates the desired mode selection switch S, the recording mode selection unit 26
A selection mode signal indicating the selected recording mode is transmitted.

The recording mode selection unit 26 automatically selects the recording mode based on the recording data stored in the storage unit 26 when the recording mode selection switch S indicating the automatic selection mode is operated. It has an automatic selection means 28 adapted to make a selection.
In the present embodiment, when it is determined that the recording data is binary data (hereinafter referred to as character data), the thermal fusion transfer recording mode is automatically selected, and the three primary colors + gradation data (hereinafter , Image data), the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is automatically selected.

Needless to say, in other embodiments, the identification of character data and image data is not limited to this identification method.

Then, the control unit 27, based on the selection result of the recording mode selection unit 26, the moving speed of the carriage 4, the energization time to the thermal head 7, the pressure contact force of the thermal head 7 against the platen 2, the ribbon cassette. It has a thermal fusion transfer recording mode control unit 29 and a thermal sublimation transfer recording mode control unit 30 which control selection of 5 and the like so as to correspond to each mode. Further, the control unit 27, based on the output signal from the optical sensor 19a accompanying the movement of the carriage 4, the presence / absence of the ribbon cassette 5, the type of the ink ribbon 16 stored in the ribbon cassette 5, and the carriage 4 relative to the home position. Travel distance, canopy 1
The open / closed state of the ribbon cassette 5, the distance between the ribbon cassettes 5, 5, ... Is discriminated or detected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described.

First, after the operator inputs desired print data from the external input section 31, the operator drives the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment to select the mode changeover switch so as to match the print purpose. Thus, the print mode is selected.

When the print mode selecting operation is performed, the recording mode selecting section 2 is operated from the mode changeover switch S.
6 is transmitted to the recording mode selection unit 26.
Determines whether the selection mode signal sent from the selected mode changeover switch S is the selection mode signal indicating one of the thermal melting transfer recording mode, the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, and the automatic selection mode, A recording mode signal is sent to the control unit 27.

At this time, when it is determined that the mode selection switch S selected by the operator is in the automatic selection mode, the automatic selection means 28 inputs the data from the external input section 31 and stores it in the storage section 25. If the recorded data is character data or image data, and if it is determined that it is character data, then the thermal fusion transfer recording mode is selected, and if it is determined that it is image data, thermal sublimation transfer is selected. The recording mode is selected and each recording mode signal is sent to the control unit 2.
Send to 7. Further, when the character data and the image data are mixed as the recording data, the recording in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode of the image data is preferentially selected, and then the character data is recorded on the same recording medium. Judgment and control are performed so as to perform thermal fusion transfer recording.

Next, in the control section 27, either the thermal fusion transfer recording mode control section 29 or the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode control section 30 is operated based on the recording mode signal, and the cassette exchange mechanism is operated. The operation of selecting the ribbon cassette 5 in which the ink ribbon 16 corresponding to either the thermal melting transfer recording mode or the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is stored is started.

When the operation of selecting the ribbon cassette 5 is started, the home is issued by a command from the control unit 27 (more specifically, either the thermal melting transfer recording mode control unit 29 or the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode control unit 30). When the carriage 4 located at the position is moved (runs), the optical sensor 19a provided on the carriage 4 detects the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5. Then, the optical sensor 19a sends a unique detection signal of each identification mark 23 due to the arrangement and pitch of the non-reflecting portions 24a to the control unit 27, and the identification mark 23 corresponding to the command issued by the control unit 27.
If it is the identification mark 23 corresponding to the command, the movement of the carriage 4 is stopped. If it is not the identification mark 23 corresponding to the command, the carriage is moved until the identification mark 23 corresponding to the command is detected. Continue to move 4.

Then, the ribbon cassette 5 containing therein the ink ribbon 16 corresponding to the selected recording mode.
2 is selectively transferred between the canopy 15 and the upper carriage 4b by the parallel crank mechanism 8 and the rotary crank mechanism 11 which constitute the cassette exchange mechanism described above, as indicated by a double-headed arrow B in FIG. , Ribbon cassette 5
Is attached to the carriage 4, and the operation of selecting the ribbon cassette 5 is completed.

The color order of image data recording in this embodiment is yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C.

As described above, even when a plurality of ribbon cassettes 5 are used, in the present embodiment, the difference in the reflection seal 24 of the ribbon cassette 5 depending on the type of the ink ribbon 16 is detected. By doing
The ribbon cassette 5 (specifically, the ink ribbon 16) can be reliably identified.

Further, the type of the ribbon cassette 5 in the present embodiment is detected in a non-contact state by the identification mark 23 provided on the ribbon cassette 5 and the optical sensor 19a provided on the carriage 4, so that the detection is performed. Since there are no moving parts associated with the operation, stable operation can be maintained for a long period of time.

Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the arrangement and pitch of the non-reflective portions 24a of the reflective seal 24 forming the identification mark 23 are the same as those of the existing reflective seal 24 even if the type of the ribbon cassette 5 is increased. It can be easily dealt with by making it different.

Further, the ribbon cassette 5 of this embodiment is
Regardless of the type of the ink ribbon 16, all of the case bodies 20 of the ribbon cassette 5 are formed to have the same shape and the same size. In such a ribbon cassette 5, resin is injected using one type of molding die. It can be efficiently formed by molding, and the labor required for production management, storage, inventory management, etc. of the ribbon cassette 5 can be reduced, and mass production of a small number of products can be achieved, thus achieving cost reduction. it can.

Further, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment, since each ribbon cassette 5 is attached to the predetermined position of the canopy 15, from the home position of the carriage 4 to the identification mark 23 of each ribbon cassette 5. Since the distance is a constant value, the moving distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position can be easily detected. That is, by counting the number of steps of a stepping motor (not shown) that drives the carriage 4, the movement distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position can be easily detected. In other words, the home position can be easily detected. Then, the step number of the stepping motor corresponding to the distance from the predetermined home position to the identification mark 23 of each ribbon cassette 5 is compared with the actual step number of the stepping motor when the carriage 4 is driven. Accordingly, it is possible to detect a change in the thermal transfer printer 1 due to temperature, such as a change in the distance between the home position and the ribbon cassette 5 and a change in the distance between the ribbon cassettes 5.

Further, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 of this embodiment, the ribbon cassette 5 is attached to the predetermined position of the canopy 15, so that the ribbon cassette 5 can be identified when the canopy 15 is opened. The mark 23 does not face the optical sensor 19a, resulting in the carriage 4
Even if the scanning is performed, the optical sensor 19a cannot detect the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5. This can be used to detect the open / closed state of the canopy 15.

As described above, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment, one sensor 19 detects the presence and type of the ribbon cassette 5, the home position, the open / closed state of the canopy 15, and the like. Since they can be used in common, it is possible to reduce the cost as a whole.

Next, as described above, when the operation of selecting the ribbon cassette 5 is completed, the recording medium corresponding to the selected print mode is manually inserted between the platen 2 and the thermal head 7 or a paper feeding device (not shown). The printing operation is started after confirming that it has been set by. In the present embodiment, as the recording medium, dedicated paper for the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is used during recording in any recording mode. However, it goes without saying that it is possible to record using plain paper during recording in the thermal fusion transfer recording mode.

When the printing operation is started, in the case of the thermal fusion transfer recording mode, the thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen 2 in the head-down state by a command from the thermal fusion transfer recording mode control unit 29 of the control unit 27. Force 0.
5 to 3.0 kg, the moving speed (printing speed) of the carriage 4 (thermal head 7) is about 10 to 50 cm / sec, and the energization time per dot of the thermal head 7 (specifically, the heating element) is 50 to 2000 μsec. The character data stored in the storage unit 25 is recorded by controlling to a certain degree. As a result, it is possible to reliably perform printing by thermal fusion transfer on the recording medium using the black thermal fusion ink ribbon 16K.

In the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode,
In response to a command from the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode control unit 30 of the control unit 27, the carriage 4 (thermal head 7) is moved with the pressure contact force of the thermal head 7 against the platen 2 in the head-down state being set to about 0.2 to 1.5 kg. The speed (printing speed) is set to about 0.2 to 25 cm / sec, the energization time per dot of the thermal head 7 (specifically, the heating element) is set to about 170 to 30,000 μsec, or the energization is controlled to be repeated a plurality of times and stored. The image data stored in the unit 25 is recorded. Thus, the thermal sublimation ink ribbon 16b can be used to reliably perform thermal sublimation transfer printing on the recording medium.

Furthermore, by making the pressure contact force of the thermal head 7 against the platen 2 in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode weaker than that in the thermal fusion transfer recording mode, wear of the thermal head 7 in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is reduced. As a result, the overall durability of the thermal head 7 can be reliably improved.

The moving speed (printing speed) of the carriage 4 (thermal head 7) in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is slower than that in the thermal melting transfer recording mode, and
In the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, the energization time per dot of the heating element of the thermal head 7 is set longer than in the thermal melting transfer recording mode, or is repeated a plurality of times to melt the thermal melting ink and transfer it to the paper. Requires more thermal energy than the thermal fusion transfer recording mode,
Since it is possible to reliably perform printing in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode in which the thermal sublimation ink is sublimated and transferred to the recording medium, it is possible to obtain high-quality printing quality comparable to silver lead photography.

Furthermore, in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, the heating temperature of the heating element of the thermal head 7 is raised by simply energizing the heating element of the thermal head 7 per dot a plurality of times. It is possible to reliably prevent the risk of breakage beyond the allowable temperature.

When recording is carried out in the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, the ribbon exchanging mechanism is controlled to move the ribbon cassette 5 to yellow Y, magenta M and cyan C.
As described above, the data is provided in the order of.

When the switch is operated in the automatic selection mode, the control unit 27 determines whether the recorded data is character data or image data. When it is determined that the data is character data, the heat is generated. When the melt transfer recording mode is selected and it is determined that the data is image data, the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected and recording is automatically performed. Furthermore, the recording data is a mixture of character data and image data. In some cases, the image data is preferentially recorded in the thermal-thermal sublimation transfer recording mode using a special paper, and then the character data is recorded so as to be superimposed on the image data. The heat-meltable ink is placed on top of the heat-sensitive ink, making it possible to obtain high-quality image data recording, and the character data is also sharp with no edge blurring. It is possible to obtain an in-the record.

As described above, the thermal transfer printer 1 according to the present embodiment is in a thermal fusion transfer recording mode in which printing is performed by fusion transfer using the thermal melting ink ribbon 16a by switching the mode changeover switch according to the purpose of printing. , A thermal sublimation transfer recording mode for performing high-quality printing comparable to a silver lead photograph by thermal sublimation transfer on a special paper using the thermal sublimation ink ribbon 16b can be easily selected, and printing can be performed. With the thermal transfer printer 1 on the stand, it is possible to reliably perform general printing on a recording medium and high-quality printed images comparable to silver lead photographs, and it is possible to reliably reduce the installation space as compared with the conventional case. .

If the control unit 27 controls so that all the black portions in the image data are printed by thermal fusion transfer recording, the lines of the diagram stored in the storage unit as image data are controlled. It is also possible to draw sharp lines.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be modified as necessary.

For example, the ribbon cassettes provided in the plurality of cassette holders of the canopy are not limited to the above-mentioned combination, and for example, when the thermal transfer printer is used as a dedicated machine for the thermal fusion transfer recording mode, All of the ribbon cassettes arranged in the cassette holder may store the ink ribbon coated with the hot-melt ink, and vice versa. Further, depending on the recording control of the thermal transfer printer, ink layers of different colors are repeatedly formed at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction, and
It is also possible to use a color ink ribbon in which a marker for discriminating the ink layer of each color is formed.

[0067]

As described above, the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention can surely determine the type of the ink ribbon stored in the ribbon cassette by detecting the identification marker of the ribbon cassette according to the type of the ink ribbon. In addition, even if the case bodies of the ribbon cassette are all formed in the same shape and the same size, it does not affect the distinguishability of the ribbon cassette at the time of cassette replacement. It is possible to form well,
The labor required for production management, storage, inventory management, etc. of ribbon cassettes can be reduced, mass production of a small number of products is possible, and cost can be reduced. Furthermore, one thermal transfer printer can be used depending on the recording purpose. Since recording can be performed by simply selecting the thermal melting transfer recording mode or the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode, the installation space can be reduced more reliably than before, and general printing and silver lead printing on a recording medium can be performed. It is possible to reliably perform printing of a high-quality printed image comparable to a photograph.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a main part of an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a carriage of an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Thermal Transfer Printer 2 Platen 4 Carriage 5 Ribbon Cassette 5K (Ink Ribbon Coated with Thermal Melting Ink Stored Inside) Ribbon Cassette 5Y, 5M, 5C (Ink Ribbon Coated with Thermal Sublimable Ink Inside Ribbon cassette 7 Thermal head 17 Ink ribbon 17K Ink ribbon 17Y, 17M, 17C (Heat-melting ink is applied) Ink ribbon 25 (Memory sublimation ink is applied) 25 Storage unit 26 Recording mode selection unit 27 Control Section 28 Automatic Selection Means 29 Thermal Melt Transfer Recording Mode Control Section 30 Thermal Sublimation Transfer Recording Mode Control Section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A carriage that carries a ribbon cassette and is capable of reciprocating along a platen; a cassette holding unit that holds a plurality of ribbon cassettes at predetermined positions so as to face the carriage; A thermal transfer printer comprising a cassette exchange mechanism capable of automatically selecting and exchanging a desired ribbon cassette with a cassette holder, wherein a thermal transfer printer accommodated in a part of the plurality of ribbon cassettes. A heat-melt transfer recording mode in which recording is performed by heat-melt transfer on a recording medium using a fusible ink ribbon, and a recording medium is heated by using a heat-sublimable ink ribbon stored in the rest of the plurality of ribbon cassettes. Corresponds to the recording mode, which is the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode for recording by sublimation transfer, and the recording data input from the external input section. Based on the recording mode selecting section for selecting one of the recording modes and the recording mode selected by the recording mode selecting section, the ribbon cassette is selected by the cassette exchanging mechanism and recording is performed in the recording mode corresponding to the recording data. A thermal transfer printer, comprising: a control unit for controlling the operation. 2. The ribbon cassette has an identification marker for identifying the type of the ink ribbon stored in the ribbon cassette, the carriage has a sensor for detecting the identification marker, and the control is provided. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the unit determines the presence / absence of a ribbon cassette and the type of ink ribbon stored in the ribbon cassette based on an output signal from the sensor accompanying the movement of the carriage. . 3. The recording mode selection unit according to claim 1, wherein the recording mode selection unit includes an automatic selection unit configured to automatically select a recording mode based on input recording data. The thermal transfer printer described. 4. The automatic selection means automatically selects the thermal fusion transfer recording mode when it is determined that the recording data is character data, and when it is determined that the recording data is image data,
The thermal transfer printer according to claim 3, wherein the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is automatically selected. 5. The control unit records character data when the thermal fusion transfer recording mode is selected by the recording mode selection unit, and when the thermal sublimation transfer recording mode is selected by the recording mode selection unit. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer printer is controlled so as to record image data. 6. When the thermal melting transfer recording mode is selected,
6. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein recording is performed using a ribbon cassette containing a black heat-meltable ink ribbon.