JPH1016414A - Ink ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain a polishing property to a print head and to prevent the generation of troubles such as grazing on a printed image. SOLUTION: In an ink ribbon 10, three-color inks of cyan 12a, magenta 12b, and yellow 12c are arranged and applied in surface order on the surface of a transparent base film 11. A polishing agent 14 is applied only on the back of the ink ribbon 10 (base film 11) corresponding to the position of a mark 13 for detecting an ink ribbon position which is given to the boundary of each color ink 12 (12a, 12b, 12c) to constitute the whole. In printing, a print head is pressed directly to the exposed smooth surface of the back of the ink ribbon 10 which is not coated with a polishing agent 14 so that the ink corresponding to an exothermic position is melted uniformly and can be transferred to paper (printing medium).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon used in a thermal printer for performing printing (printing) by thermally transferring ink to recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been a thermal printer which performs printing by thermally transferring ink to recording paper based on thermal control of a print head. A dedicated ink ribbon is used for this thermal printer.

FIG. 5A is a side view showing a configuration of a main part of a thermal printer. As shown in FIG. 1A, when the recording paper 3 and the ink ribbon 4 are superimposed on the opposing portion of the platen 1 and the print head 2 and conveyed from the left as indicated by the arrow A in the figure, these The print head 2 presses against the platen 1 as shown in FIG.

The ink ribbon 4 is generally formed by uniformly applying a thermal transfer ink on a transparent base film made of resin. This thermal transfer ink is usually composed of three primary colors of subtractive color mixture: C (cyan: greenish blue) and M (magenta:
It is formed by applying a red dye) and Y (yellow: yellow) in an area corresponding to the size of the recording paper in the longitudinal direction of the base film in a plane-sequential manner. Alternatively, it is formed by applying a black color ink on one surface of a base film.
An abrasive for cleaning and polishing the print head 2 is applied to the entire surface opposite to the surface to which the thermal transfer ink is applied, that is, the back surface (the lower surface in the figure).

[0005] On the other hand, the print head 2 has a number of heating elements, not shown, corresponding to the maximum number of pixels in the width direction in the main scanning direction (width direction of the recording paper). The heating element has both ends in the sub-scanning direction connected to a common electrode and a segment electrode, respectively, and is covered with a glass material 5. The heating element is selectively supplied with an applied voltage pulse by the two electrodes to generate heat, and heat energy based on the heat generation is transmitted to the ink ribbon 4 to record the thermal transfer ink corresponding to the heated heating element. Transfer (print) on paper 3

FIG. 5 (b) shows the above-described print head 2
FIG. 3 is an enlarged schematic diagram illustrating a state where printing is performed by pressing a recording paper 3 and an ink ribbon 4 against a platen 1. When the above-described printing operation is repeated, various fine dusts adhere to the surface of the heating element of the print head 2. The abrasive 6 applied to the entire back surface of the ink ribbon 4 shown in FIG. 2B is provided to remove such dusts by polishing the surface of the heating element.

[0007]

However, the abrasive 6 applied to the back surface of the ink ribbon 4 is originally coated with the abrasive 6 for polishing and cleaning the print head 2. An extremely rough surface, that is, a surface having severe unevenness is formed.

If there is a large unevenness on the surface to which the print head 2 (ie, the heating element) is to be pressed, a gap B is formed between the heating element and the back of the ink ribbon 4. If such a gap B is formed between the heating element and the back surface of the ink ribbon 4, the thermal conductivity at that portion decreases. If the heat transfer is poor, the transfer of the thermal transfer ink to the recording paper 3
However, there is a problem that the printing is not performed properly in response to the heat generated by the heating element, and a problem such as blurring of a printed image occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances,
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon which maintains the polishing property of a print head and does not cause a problem such as blurring of a printed image.

[0010]

The structure of the ink ribbon according to the present invention will be described below. The present invention is an ink ribbon in which thermal transfer ink is applied to a contact surface side with a print-receiving medium, and position detection marks are provided at predetermined intervals in a longitudinal direction of the thermal transfer ink applied surface, An abrasive is applied to a position corresponding to the position detection mark on a surface opposite to a contact surface side with the print-receiving medium.

The position detecting mark may be, for example,
As described above, a plurality of thermal transfer inks, which are applied in the longitudinal direction of the application surface on the contact surface side with the print-receiving medium in a plane-sequential manner, are provided for each color boundary. Further, for example, as described in claim 3, for each set of a predetermined plurality of colors of thermal transfer inks of a plurality of thermal transfer inks which are applied face-to-face in the longitudinal direction of the application surface on the contact surface side with the print-receiving medium. Attached and configured.
Further, for example, as described in claim 4, a length obtained by arbitrarily multiplying the size of the printing medium corresponding to the longitudinal direction of the application surface of the monochromatic thermal transfer ink applied to the contact surface side with the printing medium. It is configured to be attached to each boundary.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is a plan view of an ink ribbon according to an embodiment, FIG. 1B is a side view thereof, and FIG. 1C is a view showing a use state thereof. Same figure
As shown in (a) and (b), the ink ribbon 10 is provided on the surface of the transparent base film 11 with cyan 12a and magenta 1a.
Inks of three colors, 2b and 12c, are applied face-to-face in the longitudinal direction of the base film 11 and applied. A mark 13 for detecting the position of each ink of the ink ribbon 10 when the ink ribbon 10 is mounted on the apparatus main body (printing apparatus) and printing is performed is provided at a boundary of each color ink 12 (12a, 12b, 12c). (13a, 13b, 1
3c) is attached.

In this embodiment, as shown in a partially enlarged view indicated by a circle D in FIG. 2B, the back surface of the ink ribbon 10 (base film 11) corresponding to each position of the mark 13 is provided. A polishing agent 14 is applied to form the whole.
That is, the abrasive 14 is present only in the portion corresponding to the position of the mark 13 and is not applied to the position corresponding to each color ink 12.

As shown in FIG. 1 (c), the ink ribbon 10 and a material such as paper or synthetic resin are provided in a printing section where a printing head 15 and a platen roller 16 of the apparatus main body, which will be described in detail later, face each other. Tape-shaped paper P (medium to be printed)
Are superimposed and conveyed as shown by the arrow E in the figure, the print head 15 rotates upward from the non-print position to the print position shown in the figure, and moves the ink ribbon 10 and the paper P to the platen. Printing is performed by pressing the roller 16. At this time, the back surface of the base film 11 corresponding to the surface of the color ink 12 pressed by the print head 15 has no abrasive 14 and is smooth. Therefore, the heat energy generated by the print head 15 is uniformly transmitted from the back surface of the base film 11 to the ink-coated surface corresponding to the position where the heat is generated, without unevenness. As a result, the color ink 12 in the portion that has received the thermal energy is melted without unevenness and is transferred onto the paper P without unevenness.

In this embodiment, in the portion where the color ink 12 is not applied, that is, the portion where the mark 13 is attached, that is, the portion where the abrasive 14 is applied to the back surface, the print head 15 The printing operation (heating process) is stopped only by pressing the back surface of the ink ribbon 10.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing the arrangement of a detector (optical sensor) for recognizing (detecting) the mark 13 and the ink ribbon for performing the pause operation. Same figure
The optical sensor 17 shown in (a) is composed of a light emitting section 17a and a light receiving section 17b arranged with the ink ribbon 10 (partially cut away in the figure) interposed therebetween.

The base film 11 is transparent as described above, and the color inks 12 have translucency based on their respective spectral transmission characteristics. The output of the unit 17b) is on.
Since the mark 13 is black, the output of the optical sensor 17 is off. A control unit (CPU) of the apparatus main body recognizes whether the optical sensor 17 is on or off, and
To control the heat generation of

The optical sensor 17 shown in FIG. 2B is similar to the optical sensor 17 shown in FIG.
Then, the arrangement of the light emitting unit 17a and the light receiving unit 17b is changed as shown in FIG.
Unlike this, an example is shown in which both the light emitting unit 17a and the light receiving unit 17b are arranged on the ink application surface side of the ink ribbon 10 '. This is because the ink ribbon 10 'has one color ink,
For example, this is an example in the case of being constituted only by the black ink 12 '. In such a case, the mark 13 'is set to a reflective color,
For example, it is configured in white. In this case, the output of the optical sensor 17 is opposite to that in the case of FIG. 9A, and is off at the ink 12 'and on at the mark 13'. The optical sensor 1
If the output of 7 is taken out through an inverting circuit, it can be turned on at the ink 12 'and turned off at the mark 13', as in the case of FIG.

Also, in the case of the ink ribbon 10 ', when printing, the ink 1
In a portion where 2 ′ is not applied, that is, in a portion where the mark 13 ′ is attached, that is, in a portion where the abrasive 14 is applied on the back surface, the print head 15
The printing operation (heat generation processing) is stopped only by pressing against the back surface of 0 '.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an example of a printing apparatus in which the ink ribbon 10 (or 10 ') mounted on the apparatus main body and the optical sensor 17 on the apparatus main body side are arranged as described above. The printing device 20 shown in FIG. 2 includes the print head 15 and the platen roller 16 shown in FIG. 1C, and the optical sensors 17 (17a, 17b) shown in FIG. 2A. A tape cassette 30 is detachably mounted on the printing device 20. A paper discharge port 21 is opened on the side of the mounting section of the tape cassette 30, and cutting blades 22a and 22b for cutting the paper P discharged to the outside after printing are completed are provided on both sides of the paper discharge port 21. Is provided.

The tape cassette 30 includes a paper reel 31, a sending reel 32, and a take-up reel 33. A long tape-shaped paper P (medium to be printed) is wound around the paper reel 31. 1 (a), (b),
(c) and the ink ribbon 10 shown in FIG.
The ink ribbon 10 'shown in FIG. FIG.
Indicates a state immediately after mounting of an unused new tape cassette 30.

The paper reel 31 is engaged with a paper reel drive shaft 40 of the main body device, and is driven to rotate in both forward (clockwise direction, print transport direction) and reverse (counterclockwise direction, rewind direction) directions. The take-up reel 33 is engaged with the take-up reel drive shaft 50 of the apparatus main body, and is driven to rotate in the forward direction (clockwise direction in the drawing, print transport direction). And the sending reel 3
2 is engaged with the brake shaft 60 of the main body device to appropriately brake the driven rotation.

The tape cassette 30 has a recess 34 formed therein. The print head 15 is aligned with the recess 34 and the tape cassette 30 is mounted. Print head 15
Are fixedly supported at one end of a bracket (not shown), and the print head 15 is vertically moved within the concave portion 34 in the printing direction and the non-printing position as described above by rotating the bracket up and down. And rotate.

The paper P wound on the paper reel 31
Is sent out from the paper reel 31 as the paper P-1,
In the printing unit, the three color inks are superposed and transferred to form an image, and the paper P-2 is discharged to the outside. On the other hand, the ink ribbon 10 (10 ') is pulled out (sent out) as the ink ribbon 10-1 from the sending reel 32 by the winding by the rotation of the winding reel 33, and the sheet P-1 is opened at the opening of the concave portion 34. And the ink 12 (see FIG. 1 (c)).
Is transferred to the sheet P-1.

On the other hand, the tape cassette 30 in which all the internal materials have been used is the tape cassette 30 except for the end portion where the paper P is locked to the paper reel 31.
Of the ink ribbon 1
0-2 is wound around the take-up reel 33 and accommodated. still,
The above-mentioned rotation or rotation drive is performed by a stepping motor via a drive switching mechanism, a drive transmission gear, etc., although not particularly shown, for the paper reel drive shaft, take-up reel drive shaft, print head bracket, platen roller 16 and the like. Will be

The above-mentioned optical sensor 17 (17a, 17b) is located at a position sandwiching the used ink ribbon 10-2 to be wound, in the ink ribbon winding path branched downward from the print head 15 downstream in the printing conveyance direction. Is arranged.
A control unit (CP) provided on a print board (not shown)
U) indicates that the ink ribbon 10 in the printing unit is based on a signal output by the optical sensor 17 detecting the mark 13.
When the mark 13 is located in the printing portion, that is, when the abrasive 14 is in contact with the print head 15 based on this recognition, the print head 15 does not perform the printing process. To control the selective heat generation.

In the above embodiment, the application position of the abrasive 14 is determined by the marks 13a, 1a
3b and 13c are arranged in correspondence with each other, but the application position of the abrasive 14 is not limited to this, and for example, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), cyan, magenta,
It may be arranged at each position corresponding to only the mark 13c between the yellow 12c and the cyan 12a, which is a boundary of a set of three colors of yellow.

In the above embodiment, the three-color ink ribbon for color printing has been described.
Even in the case of an ink ribbon 10 'of one color black for monochrome printing as shown in FIG. 2B, polishing is performed at each position corresponding to the ribbon position detecting mark 13' as shown in FIG. 4B. The agent 14 may be applied.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the abrasive to be applied to the back of the ink ribbon is placed only at the position corresponding to the position detection mark on the ink ribbon,
The back surface of the ink ribbon corresponding to the ink application surface can be kept smooth, so that the heat generated by the print head can be directly transferred to the ink surface without unevenness, thereby printing a correct image without blurring. (Print) can be

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a plan view of an ink ribbon according to an embodiment, FIG. 1B is a side view thereof, and FIG.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating an example of an arrangement configuration of an optical sensor that detects a position of an ink ribbon according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printing apparatus that performs printing by attaching an ink ribbon according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating two examples of an ink ribbon according to another embodiment.

FIG. 5A is a side view showing a configuration of a main part of a conventional thermal printer, and FIG. 5B is a diagram schematically showing an enlarged state during printing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Platen 2 Print head 3 Recording paper 4 Ink ribbon 5 Glass material etc. 6 Abrasive 10, 10-1, 10-2, 10 'Ink ribbon 11 Base film 12 (12a, 12b, 12c) Color ink 12a Cyan 12b Magenta 12c Yellow 12 'Ink 13 (13a, 13b, 13c), 13' Mark 14 Abrasive 15 Print head 16 Platen roller 17 (17a, 17b) Optical sensor 17a Light emitting unit 17b Light receiving unit 20 Printing device 21 Paper outlet 22a, 22b Cutting Blade 30 Tape cassette 31 Paper reel 32 Sending reel 33 Take-up reel 34 Recess 40 Paper reel drive shaft 50 Take-up reel drive shaft 60 Braking axis P, P-1, P-2 Paper (medium to be printed)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon in which a thermal transfer ink is applied to a contact surface side with a print-receiving medium, and a position detection mark is provided at a predetermined interval in a longitudinal direction of the thermal transfer ink applied surface, the ink ribbon comprising: An ink ribbon, wherein an abrasive is applied to a position corresponding to the position detection mark on a surface opposite to a contact surface side with a printing medium. 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the position detecting mark is attached to a boundary surface of a plurality of thermal transfer inks of a plurality of colors which are applied in a longitudinal direction of the application surface on a contact surface side with the print target medium. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The mark for position detection is provided at each boundary of a set of a plurality of predetermined colors of thermal transfer inks of a plurality of colors applied in a longitudinal direction of the application surface on a contact surface side with the print medium. 2. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon is attached to the ink ribbon. 4. The position detection mark arbitrarily doubles the size of the printing medium corresponding to the longitudinal direction of the application surface of the single-color thermal transfer ink applied to the contact surface side with the printing medium. 2. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon is provided at a boundary portion for each length.