JPH11334209A - Method for recording image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a high density gradation without depending upon a recording medium. SOLUTION: The method for recording an image comprises the step of forming the image 21 on a film layer 10 having a heat sensitive layer 11 made of a material having a transmittance of a light changing according to a thermal energy, a photothermal conversion layer 12 made of a material for absorbing a light L emitted to supply a thermal energy to the layer 11 to generate the energy and an ink absorption layer 13 for absorbing an ink 22. In this case, the method comprises a first treating step of selectively illuminating the light L to a position corresponding to a position for forming ink image dots 21 to heat the layer 12 from the layer 11 side, and a second treating step of discharging the high density ink 22 from the layer 13 side to form the image dots 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording medium comprising a material having a transmittance changing on a surface layer.
The present invention relates to an image recording method for realizing excellent image gradation by changing the transmittance of the surface layer by applying light or heat from the other side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printers are compatible with plain paper, have high speed,
Low price, full color, high image quality, stable color reproduction,
Demands for low noise, low power consumption, environmental preservation, and the like are increasing, and various types of printers have been proposed and commercialized. Among them, a laser printer using an electrophotographic method and an ink jet printer for flying ink dots are becoming very popular because they are close to the above requirements.

However, since the laser printer uses an electrophotographic system, each process such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, fixing, and cleaning is very complicated, so that it is difficult to reduce the size of the laser printer. Need electricity. On the other hand, an ink jet printer has advantages of small size, low cost, and low power consumption because an image is formed by directly flying ink on paper using a serial head.

In both the electrophotographic system and the ink jet system, when expressing gradation, the density of one pixel is constant.
It is difficult to express gradation as in a sublimation type thermal transfer printer. For this reason, when expressing gradations by these methods, a method called so-called area gradation is used in which several pixels are collectively expressed. Therefore, when expressing high gradation,
Methods for reducing the size of dots and improving resolution have become mainstream. As a method for expressing density gradation, high gradation is achieved by using high-density ink and low-density ink in the ink jet method, but the number of ink tanks increases, and the head becomes large. There is also the problem of becoming.

In recent years, various intermediate tone recording methods using reversible thermosensitive recording materials have been disclosed and proposed.

1) In the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-116183, the transparent state changes to a white turbid state when heated to a predetermined temperature, and the white turbid state is maintained. The principle of returning is used. Therefore, in order to obtain an intermediate opaque state showing a halftone using a recording material, it is realized by controlling a heating amount or an electric power amount, a light intensity, or a light irradiation time to the recording heating element. .

2) The technique disclosed in JP-A-7-81240 is a multi-gradation thermal transfer image forming method using a heat-meltable ink. In this method, a surface porous recording medium is formed on a transparent base material, and the ink is transferred from the back side of the ink ribbon coated with the heat-meltable ink by a thermal head. Thereafter, by applying heat and pressure only through a film only to the area where transparency is required, a transmission image area and an opaque image area can be obtained.

[0008] 3) The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-80682 is a recording method using a color rewritable recording medium. In this method, a recording medium that forms a fine pixel of a plurality of colors on a base material and in which transparent / non-transparent reversibly changes depending on the temperature in contact with the substrate is used, and the recording medium is exposed to light having a wavelength corresponding to image information. To selectively generate heat in the fine pixel,
By making the rewritable layer transparent / non-transparent by this heat, a color image is obtained.

[0009]

However, the above image recording method still has the following problems.

In the above 1), heat is applied to the reversible thermosensitive recording material to cause a change in the transparent / opaque state to visualize the material, but a full-color image cannot be obtained by this method. In order to obtain a full-color image, instead of using a reversible thermal recording material utilizing a physical change of a polymer as described above, a chemical change utilizing a color change caused by opening and closing of a lactone ring such as a leuco dye is used. Is generally used. However, those utilizing this chemical change can provide a full-color image, but have insufficient color reproducibility, and are inferior in durability and storability to those of the physical change type, making it difficult to obtain an image close to photographic quality. is there.

In the above 2), the amount of heating must be controlled in order to obtain multi-gradation, and the amount of heating (temperature) contributes to the melting state and transparency of the ink. In addition to instability, it is difficult to obtain a gradation of transparency according to the amount of heating.

[0012] In the above 3), there is an advantage that the recording medium can be used many times, but a resolution and a high density gradation higher than that of the master image cannot be obtained. Is different.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to convert irradiating light into heat, and apply the heat to make the transparent / opaque irreversible. Image recording that enables high-density gradation and high-quality pictorial images to be stably realized on simple recording media such as plain paper using a polymer material that causes a state change. Is to provide a way.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording method comprising: a heat-sensitive layer made of a material whose light transmittance is changed by heat energy; and a heat-sensitive layer for supplying heat energy to the heat-sensitive layer. An image recording method for forming an image on a film layer comprising: a light-to-heat conversion layer made of a material that absorbs irradiated light to generate thermal energy; and an ink absorption layer that absorbs ink, wherein the heat-sensitive layer A first processing step of selectively irradiating and heating the light-to-heat conversion layer at a position corresponding to a position where an ink image dot is formed from the side, and discharging high-density ink from the ink-absorbing layer side. And a second processing step of forming ink image dots.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording method comprising:
2. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein the first processing step controls the density gradation based on the number of light spots applied to the ink image dots.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording method comprising:
3. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink used in the second processing step is a plurality of color inks.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the image recording method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings and tables.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows a sectional structure of a recording film layer used in an image recording method in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1A, a recording film layer 10 has a heat-sensitive layer 11 which changes from transparent to opaque by heat or changes from opaque to transparent by heat, and converts light energy into heat energy. Photoelectric conversion layer 12,
It has a three-layer structure in which an ink absorbing layer 13 for absorbing ink discharged from the image recording apparatus is provided.

Hereinafter, each of the above layers will be described.

<1-1> Thermosensitive Layer 11 The thermosensitive layer 11 is a solution in which a polymer and an organic low-molecular substance are dissolved, or a solvent in which the organic low-molecular substance is hardly soluble or insoluble and the polymer component is soluble. A solution in which the organic low-molecular substance is dispersed in fine particles in a solution in which the polymer component is dissolved can be easily provided by, for example, a method of forming into a film shape. The amount of the organic low molecular weight substance is preferably 5 to 80% by weight based on the polymer component.

The polymer used as the polymer component preferably has high transparency, is stable, and has good film formability or film formability. Such polymers include, for example, homopolymers or copolymers of vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, vinylidene chloride, vinyl alcohol, maleic acid, acrylonitrile, acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, polyester, polyamide, polycarbonate, Silicone resin and the like can be mentioned. These may be used in combination of two or more.

In addition to these polymers, styrene /
Butadiene-based latex, acrylonitrile / butadiene-based latex, vinylidene chloride-based latex and the like are also preferably used by emulsifying and dispersing. The solvent used for the coating solution of the heat-sensitive layer 11 is appropriately selected depending on the type of the organic low-molecular substance or the polymer used. Specific examples of the solvent include, for example, cyclic ethers such as tetrahydrofuran, ketones such as methyl ethyl ketone and methyl isobutyl ketone, alcohols such as methanol and ethanol, and water.

The light scattering properties of the above materials change depending on the heating temperature or the cooling temperature. That is, transparency / opacity can be controlled by controlling the temperature applied to these polymer materials.

<1-2> Light-to-heat conversion layer 12 The transparent light-to-heat conversion layer 12 formed on one side of the heat-sensitive layer 11
It can be obtained by dispersing a very light-colored dye having an absorption wavelength in a specific wavelength region such as near infrared rays in a transparent resin matrix. Known dyes having such characteristics include cyanine dyes, squarium dyes, azulhenium dyes, indophenol dyes, metal complex dyes, nitrofquinone dyes, and anthraquinone dyes. In the present embodiment, 3 to 5 μm
By dispersing the near-infrared absorbing material in a transparent resin matrix, a material capable of absorbing a wavelength region around 800 nm was produced. The content of the cyanine dye is desirably 20 to 50% by weight based on the resin binder, and the resin binder may be a heat-resistant transparent material. For example,
Use of polyvinyl alcohol, starch and derivatives thereof, cellulose derivatives such as methoxycellulose, hydroxyethylcellulose, carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose and ethylcellulose, engineering plastics such as polycarbonate, polysulfone, polyamide and polyphenylene oxide is preferred. The thickness of such a light-to-heat conversion layer is preferably about 0.2 μm to 1 μm.

From the above, the light-to-heat conversion layer 12, which is a layer having high light-to-heat conversion efficiency, formed on one surface of the heat-sensitive layer 11,
Efficient light-to-heat conversion can be performed, and the transparency of the heat-sensitive layer 11 can be changed with little input energy.

<1-3> About the ink absorbing layer 13 The ink absorbing layer 13 formed on the light-to-heat conversion layer 12 on the side opposite to the heat-sensitive layer 11 is composed of a pigment, a binder, and an auxiliary.
As the pigment, a porous material having a low refractive index is selected in order to obtain high ink absorbency and color forming density. Amorphous silica, hydrated alumina, light calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, hydrotalsalt and the like are used. As the binder, a water-soluble resin having good strength and ink absorbability, such as polyvinyl alcohol and polyvinylpyrrolidone, which can be easily formed into a film is used. Further, it is more effective to add a cationic resin, a light stabilizer, a fluorescent whitening agent and the like as an auxiliary agent.

In FIG. 1A, the heat-sensitive layer 11 is formed as a support. However, as shown in FIG. 1B, a structure in which a transparent support 15 is separately provided on the uppermost portion may be used.

<1-4> Transparent Support 15 The support 15 preferably has high transparency, and has dimensional stability without being deformed by heat generated by laser beam irradiation. Although the thickness of the support 15 is arbitrary, it is preferable to use one having a thickness of 100 μm or less.

Examples of the transparent support 15 include polyester films such as polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate, cellulose derivative films such as cellulose triacetate film, and polystyrene films.
Polyolefin films such as a polypropylene film and a polyethylene film, a polyimide film, a polyvinyl chloride film, a polyvinylidene chloride film, a polyacryl film, a polycarbonate film and the like can be used, and these can be used alone or in combination.

In the case of the four-layer structure shown in FIG. 1B, the transparent support 15 also functions as a recording surface protection layer for protecting the surface of the recording film layer 10.

In the case of a four-layer structure using the transparent support 15, the heat-sensitive layer 11 or the light-to-heat conversion layer 12 is
Each layer is formed by coating / drying on 5. When applying, wire bar coating method, blade coating method,
Known coating methods such as an air knife coating method, a gravure coating method, a roll coating coating method, a spray coating method, and a dip coating method can be used. For drying, a known heating furnace such as an electric furnace can be used. on the other hand,
In the case of a three-layer structure without using the transparent support 15, the heat-sensitive layer 11 also serving as a support is formed into a film, and the light-heat conversion layer 12 and the ink moisture absorbing layer 13 are coated / dried on the heat-sensitive layer 11. . Note that this coating / drying method can be realized by the same method as that used when the transparent support 15 is provided.

Next, each step of the image recording method for expressing the halftone shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

<2-1> State of Recording Film Layer Before Processing FIG. 2A shows the recording film layer 10 used here, and the structure shown in FIG. 1A is used. .

<2-2> Selective Heating Step FIG. 2 (b) shows a step for expressing a half tone, and
This is a step of providing thermal energy to the first.

In this embodiment, since the photothermal conversion layer 12 is provided, as shown in the drawing, light energy is supplied from the back surface, that is, the upper surface of the ink absorbing layer 13 of the recording film layer 10. That is, heat is selectively applied to the resin material of the heat-sensitive layer 11 at a position where a color image is formed. here,
This light energy is, for example, a laser beam L of a semiconductor laser 30 or the like, and the portion of the photothermal conversion layer 12 irradiated with the laser beam L via the lens 31 is partially heated by photothermal conversion. This heating changes the heat-sensitive layer 11 from transparent to opaque.

By the way, as a method of applying heat, there is a heating method using a thermal head or a laser.

When a thermal head is used as a heating method, the minimum heating area is several tens of microns on one side, and high resolution cannot be obtained. In addition, heating by the thermal head scans the head in close contact with the recording sheet, so that the head itself wears out and the components of the recording layer adhere to the surface of the head as scum, so that an accurate recorded image can be obtained. May not be.

On the other hand, when a laser is used as a heating method, the laser light can be easily focused to about several μm, which is suitable for high-density recording. Since the spot diameter can be set arbitrarily, the resolution can be selected. In addition, since there is no contact, there are various advantages such as high reliability of the device, high-speed modulation, and downsizing of the system. Therefore, in order to obtain a resolution higher than the resolution of a color image, photothermal conversion using laser light is preferable.

Therefore, it is preferable that the laser has the wavelength in the infrared region. Specific examples thereof include a helium-neon laser, an argon laser, a carbon dioxide laser, a YAG laser, an ion gas laser, a metal vapor laser, a gallium / arsenic (Ga /
As), gallium / indium / phosphorus (Ga / In /
Various types of lasers such as a junction type such as P) and other semiconductor lasers. These lasers can be used for applications in which the size of the apparatus is not limited and high-speed recording is given top priority.

Particularly, among these lasers, it is preferable to use a semiconductor laser which is small in size, low in cost, and excellent in stability, reliability, durability and ease of modulation.
Further, when the semiconductor laser 30 is used, besides the above-mentioned advantages, the ON / O of the light intensity is modulated by modulating the injection current.
There are advantages that other lasers do not have, such as direct modulation of the FF. Therefore, it is preferable to use the semiconductor laser 30 for recording on a small scale such as personal use.

For the above reason, if the semiconductor laser 30 is used as a heating method, the selective opaque region 36 is formed by modulating the injection current according to the image information. The size of the opaque region 36 varies depending on the spot diameter and energy of the laser beam, and the spot diameter is variable depending on the optical characteristics of the lens. Therefore, the spot diameter may be determined according to the resolution of image recording. For example, a spot diameter of about several microns can be easily achieved, and when converted to an image recording resolution, 2000 dpi (dot p.
er inch) or higher resolution recording is possible.

<2-3> Image Forming Step FIG. 2C shows a step of forming ink image dots on the ink absorbing layer 13.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that ink image dots are formed only on the ink absorbing layer 13 by the ink discharging means 20.

As an image forming method, a method of forming the ink image 21 by discharging the ink 22 by a known ink jet recording apparatus 20 or another known image forming method may be used. That is, it is also possible to apply an image recording method in which the density gradation cannot be expressed by the conventional ink alone. In other words, the method of expressing the gradation of an image using a pigment-based ink is a recording method in which an image is formed using an area expression. To cite specific examples, an ink jet system in which an ink diluted with a solvent is directly discharged onto a sheet to form an image by performing image formation, a photosensitive drum is charged and exposed, and toner is selectively adhered by electrostatic force and developed, An electrophotographic system in which an image is formed by a transfer and fixing process, a melt thermal transfer system in which a molten ink is dried and applied to a film, and an image is formed on a recording medium by selective heating from the back surface of the film are used.

Actually, an ink jet system and a fusion heat transfer system are mainly used for low-cost personal use machines, and a high-speed electrophotographic system is mainly used for business use. In the present embodiment, an ink jet system was used in order to aim at a low cost machine capable of forming a non-contact image.

<2-4> State of Recording Film Layer after Processing As shown in FIG. 2D, a transparent / opaque image is formed immediately above the image obtained by the ink jet recording apparatus 20, whereby the intermediate Tone expression is possible.

Next, the halftone image dots obtained according to the above-described image recording method have the following structure.

FIG. 3 shows the state of halftone image dots. Here, the large circle is the image dot 21 formed by the ink jet recording apparatus 20, and the small circle indicates the transparent 35 / opaque area 36 formed by irradiating the semiconductor layer 30 on the heat-sensitive layer 11. Small circle 3 formed in the large circle 21
The number of 5, 36 can control the density gradation in the image dot. In other words, the higher the number of small circles, the more accurate the density gradation can be realized. for that reason,
When the state of this small circle becomes transparent 35 or opaque 36, halftone expression is possible.

In this embodiment, the image dots 21 formed by the ink jet method are formed at 600 dpi (dot diameter of about 50 μm).
m), 2400d thermal recording 35, 36 by laser
pi (dot diameter: about 12 μm). As a result, by increasing or decreasing the transparent 35 / opaque portion in the image dot 21 and changing the area ratio of the transparent 35 / opaque portion 36, a halftone expression can be realized. That is, the transparent portion 35 or the opaque portion 36, which is a small circle in the image dot 21,
By changing the ratio of the numbers, the halftone expression by the density gradation can be realized.

More specifically, assuming that the image resolution in the ink jet recording apparatus 20 is 600 dpi and the resolution of the heat-sensitive layer 11, which is the transmittance changing layer by the light-to-heat conversion of the semiconductor laser 30, is 2400 dpi.
Sixteen transmittances can be changed for each image forming dot. By these combinations, an image of 16 gradations is finally obtained at 600 dpi.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the gradation expression when the heat-sensitive layer 11 which changes to the binary state of transparent 35 / opaque 36 is formed on the ink image.

For example, FIG.
All of the gradation areas are transparent areas 35. (B)
Has four opaque regions 36 among the 16 gradation regions of the image dot 21. In (c), there are six opaque regions 36 among the 16 gradation regions of the image dot 21. In (d), there are 9 opaque regions 36 among the 16 gradation regions of the image dot 21. (E) shows that all 16 gradation areas of the image dot 21 are opaque areas 36.
It is. As a result, since the ratio of the opaque region 36 increases from (a) to (e), the density also decreases from (a) to (e).

In the above description, the image dots 21 are formed at 600 dpi and the resolution of the thermosensitive layer 11 is set at 2400 dpi. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if the beam diameter of the semiconductor laser 30 is reduced,
1 is set to 3000 dpi, and the resolution for forming the image dots 21 is set to 300 dpi or 1200 dpi.
It is of course possible to use pi.

The above contents are summarized in Table 1 below.
become that way.

[0056]

[Table 1]

As a result, if the image resolution increases, the photographic quality can be achieved even if the number of gradations is small.

The above contents are as follows.
The configuration in which the transparent support 15 is not provided has been described. However, in the case where the opaque region 36 is formed by performing photothermal conversion with the laser light L on the configuration in which the transparent support 15 is provided, if the member is transparent with respect to the wavelength of the laser light L to be used, the support may be formed. It is more preferred because there is no extra absorption by the body. Each of the above members has a wavelength of a general semiconductor laser 30, that is, 830 nm, 7
It is preferable to use a material having a low absorptivity for near infrared rays such as 80 nm and infrared rays such as 650 nm to 630 nm.

As described above, by using the image recording method in the present embodiment, it is possible to form an image with a higher resolution than ink image forming dots, and to realize a high density gradation. Therefore, the present invention can be applied to a transmissive recording medium such as an OHP, and a high-quality pictorial image can be obtained.
Furthermore, the reliability of the device is high, the system can be miniaturized, and non-contact is used.Because the scanning is not carried out in close contact with the recording medium, the head and the like are worn or the components of the recording layer are formed on the head surface. It has the advantage that it does not adhere as scum. Further, since laser heating is used as a heating method, laser light can be easily focused to about several μm, which is suitable for high-density recording. In addition, since the spot diameter can be set arbitrarily, the resolution can be selected by the number of spots based on the spot diameter, and there is an effect that high-speed modulation and downsizing of the system are possible.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, only parts different from the first embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the case of monochrome as the ink for forming an image has been described, but in the present embodiment, the case of color as the ink for forming an image will be described.

In the first embodiment, the case where one pixel is formed at 600 dpi in monochrome image formation has been described. In this embodiment, Y (yellow), M
A case in which the above contents are applied to the formation of a color image by using four colors of (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) will be described.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing this four-color structure. That is, one pixel is equivalent to four dots, that is, the pixel size is equivalent to 300 dpi. In other words, as in the case of Table 1, as the image quality increases, the number of gradations decreases as the image resolution increases.

As a result, as in the case of the monochrome in the first embodiment, the same quality as the photographic quality can be realized.

As described above, in addition to the effects, advantages, and the like of the first embodiment, the present invention has the effect of realizing the same quality as a photographic image in a color image. (Third Embodiment) A third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In this embodiment, the correlation between the temperature of a material whose transparency changes according to the temperature and the transparency will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the material which changes to the transparent / opaque binary state described in the above embodiment, the transparency changes rapidly at a certain temperature, as shown in FIG. (Transmittance of 10% or less). However, when a material whose transparency changes gradually according to the temperature as shown in (1) or (2) is used, a better halftone expression can be achieved.

For example, a material which is transparent at a temperature of 50 degrees or less, increases its opacity as the temperature increases, and becomes completely opaque when heated to 150 degrees or more. At intermediate temperatures, the transparency varies with temperature. By using a material whose transparency changes linearly with temperature,
It can be seen that the number of tones obtained is greater than in the case of the above embodiment, and is closer to the photographic quality. In addition, when this material is used, even when the resolution of laser heating is not increased, halftone expression can be achieved, and an image with high density gradation can be obtained.

As described above, by using the image recording method of the present embodiment, the halftone expression of the ink image dots becomes possible as compared with the method of the first embodiment, and a high-quality pictorial image can be obtained. It has the effect that it can be done.

(Fourth Embodiment) A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 6 shows that, using the recording film layer 10 having the three-layer structure shown in FIG. 1A, (a) heat energy is applied to a material whose light transmittance changes after an image is formed by ink. In this case, (b) the processing procedure in the case where an image is formed by ink after applying thermal energy to a material whose light transmittance changes is shown.

FIG. 7 shows the results of measuring the density change of a recorded image with a microdensitometer when the thermal energy is changed in the above methods (a) and (b).
Comparing the result of (a) with the result of (b), the density of (a) decreases almost in proportion to the light energy. However, in the result of (b), in addition to the large variation, the decrease in density is small even when the same energy is applied as described above. That is, changing from transparent to opaque requires more light energy. This is because, after forming the ink image 21 and applying thermal energy to the material 11 whose light transmittance changes, the ink 2
2, the heat energy is dispersed, and the heat transfer to the thermosensitive layer is inferior to (a). However, in practice, there is no problem in practical operation because it falls within the range of the error.

Therefore, in the image recording method according to the present embodiment, any of the above methods (a) and (b) may be used. Desirably, the method (a) is used. In this case, heat energy given to the heat-sensitive layer 11 is not dispersed due to a difference in the amount of ink on which an image is formed, and a stable light-to-heat conversion characteristic can always be obtained. . as a result,
The image density of the thermosensitive layer 11 corresponding to the amount of light can be obtained. Further, since heat is not taken by the ink 22, light energy is converted to heat energy without waste.

An example in which the image recording method of the present invention is applied to image recording of a printer or the like will be described below.

(Application Example) FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a basic configuration of an image recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer.

This image recording apparatus has the following configuration in which an image is formed by the ink jet recording apparatus 20 and the laser beam L is scanned by rotating the polygon mirror 33.

The recording film 10 is transported by providing two pairs of transport rollers 45 in the Y direction in the drawing, which is the transport direction. In the image forming means, image ink droplets 22 are ejected from an inkjet recording device 20 provided on a stage 23 movable in the X direction of the drawing in accordance with image forming information. The selective heating means is configured to irradiate the recording film 10 with the laser light L emitted from the semiconductor laser 30 via the plurality of lenses 31, 32, the polygon mirror 33, and the Fθ lens.

With the above configuration, the laser beam L emitted from the semiconductor laser 30 is applied to the recording film 10 by the drawing X
The recording film 10 is interposed between rollers in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction (Y direction) and conveyed by rotating the rollers 45 (called sub-scanning). Image is formed.

In order to perform the main scanning, reflection of the laser beam L by rotation of a galvanometer mirror or the like or diffraction of the laser beam L by rotation of a disk on which a plurality of holograms are formed can be used in addition to the polygon mirror 33. .
These are partly put into practical use by laser printers, POS, and the like, and are known technologies.

The main scanning for image formation by the ink jet system can be moved serially by, for example, driving a single-axis stage or a wire. At this time, each time one line is scanned by the main scanning, the transport roller 45 is rotated by a predetermined amount in the sub-scanning direction to move the recording film 10. Thereby, the main scanning direction (the drawing X)
Direction) and the sub-scanning direction (Y direction in the drawing), an ink image having a size corresponding to the required resolution is formed.

As described above, an ink image corresponding to image information is formed on a transparent film. In the present embodiment, an image formed on a transparent recording film can be expressed in a high-resolution halftone, and an image recording method that reduces photographic quality can be provided.

Next, the processing steps of image recording in the image recording apparatus will be described.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a recording film used in this application example and an image recording process on the film. Here, only the points different from the processing steps of FIG. 2 will be described.

There are the following two differences.

1) The recording film 10 used has an adhesive layer 14 formed on the lower surface of the ink absorbing layer 13.

2) The processing step includes a step of laminating the recording film 10 on which an image having density gradation has been formed on a white support such as plain paper.

That is, FIGS. 9A to 9D show the adhesive layer 1.
Since the process is the same as that shown in FIG. 2 except that Step 4 exists, the description is omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 9E, a recording medium P such as plain paper is brought into contact with the recording film 10, and the recording film 10 on which an image is formed is laminated on the plain paper P. Finally, the state is as shown in FIG.

Here, the adhesive layer 14 and the recording medium P are
The contents are as follows.

<9-1> Adhesive Layer 14 The adhesive layer 14 may be a heat-sensitive adhesive which is softened by heating to exhibit adhesiveness, or may be formed of an adhesive and adhered by pressure. Any of pressure-sensitive adhesives that exhibit

<9-2> Recording Medium P The recording medium P may be made of any material as long as it has a white color tone and is easy to see by reflection.
Paper such as condenser paper, laminated paper, coated paper,
Polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, resin films such as polystyrene, and metals such as aluminum and copper,
Alternatively, a complex or the like obtained by combining the above can be used. Note that a pigment may be contained to make the color white. The thickness of these supports is preferably in the range of 5 to 500 μm, and the shape of the recording medium P can be any shape such as a sheet shape, a tape shape, and a label shape.

Next, a case where the processing steps shown in FIG. 9 are specifically applied to the apparatus shown in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 10 (a), the recording film 10 has an adhesive layer 14 on the side to be adhered to the recording medium P, and the leading end of the laminated film cassette 41 wound in a reel shape is a gripper. 43. A recording medium P such as plain paper is fed (in the direction of arrow B) by a sheet feeding device (not shown), and the recording medium P is transported to the laminating position by the rotation of the transport roller 45 (in the direction of arrow A).

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10B, when the leading end of the recording medium P comes to the same position as the leading end of the laminate film 42, the laminating roller 46 is rotationally moved in the direction of the arrow C (the gripper 43 and the cutter). 49 also rotates)
Then, the recording medium P and the laminated film 42 come into contact with each other at a position slightly away from the leading ends of the recording medium P and the laminated film 42.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10C, by rotating the transport roller 45 and the laminating roller 46 in the direction of arrow D, the recording medium P is moved in the direction of arrow E so that the leading end of the laminate film 42 is attached to the recording medium P. Back until it is pressed and laminated. At this time, the rotation speed of the transport roller is set to be equal to or greater than the rotation speed of the transport roller 45 in order to eliminate the deflection of the recording medium P.
It is preferable to set the relationship of the rotation speed of

Further, when the position, that is, the leading end of the recording medium P reaches the pressing position of the laminating roller 46, the irradiation of the semiconductor laser 30 is started. Therefore, the laser beam L irradiated from the upper surface of the laminate film 42 by the semiconductor laser 30 in accordance with the image information.
The transparent / opaque layer is formed on the laminate film 42 by the light energy of the above. After the irradiation of the laser beam L in accordance with the image information, the ink 22 is ejected from the inkjet recording device 20 and the image formation on the laminate film 42 is started. The image forming position in the inkjet is controlled so as to coincide with the light energy irradiation position according to the image information.

Next, as shown in FIG. 10D, the laminating roller 46 rotates in the direction of arrow G, and the laminate film 42 and the recording medium P are transported in the direction of arrow F, and are bonded by the pressing force of the laminating roller 46. You. At this time, the light irradiation of the semiconductor laser 30, the ejection of the ink 22 from the ink jet recording apparatus 20, and the rotation of the laminating roller 46 are synchronized. That is, the ink jet recording apparatus 20 is provided with a one-axis stage in the main scanning direction (not shown) (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 7).
Is rotated by one line (in the direction of arrow G), and by repeating this sequentially, a planar image can be formed.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 10E, when the rear end of the recording medium P passes through the laminating roller 46, the laminating roller 46 separates in the direction of arrow I and returns to the initial position. The laminated film 42 is cut by the cutter 49 in accordance with the rear end position of the recording medium P, and the laminated film 42 is bonded to the rear end of the recording medium P by pressing and rotating the discharge roller 47. Thus, the image forming process is completed.

In the above description, the recording film 10 has been described as an example of a film laminate.
You may implement using another well-known method.

As described above, by laminating the recording film on which the above image is formed on the recording medium P, that is, the white support, a high-quality image can be obtained on any recording medium P.

The embodiments and application examples described above are not limited to the above description unless the gist of the present invention is changed.

[0102]

According to the image recording method of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained in each claim.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to form an image having a higher resolution than ink image dots, to achieve a higher density gradation, and to be applicable to a transmissive recording medium such as an OHP. Thus, a high-quality pictorial image can be obtained. That is, there is an effect that image recording can be performed regardless of the recording medium. In addition, since stable light-to-heat conversion characteristics are always obtained and an image density corresponding to the amount of light is obtained, the heat is not taken up by the ink, so that light energy is converted to heat energy without waste. have. As a result, high reliability, high-speed modulation, miniaturization of the system, and inexpensive manufacturing are possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the laser light can be easily focused to about several μm and is suitable for high-density recording. Since the spot diameter can be set arbitrarily, the resolution can be selected. In addition, since it is non-contact, the reliability of the device is high, and high-speed modulation and system downsizing can be achieved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by using a color ink, it is possible to form a high-resolution image even in a color image, further to realize a high density gradation, and to further realize a transmission type recording such as OHP. It can be adapted to the medium, and a high-quality pictorial image can be obtained. That is, there is an effect that image recording can be performed regardless of the recording medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing a structure of a recording film used in an image recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a process diagram showing a recording processing step of the image recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating density gradation expression according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a transparent / opaque portion in an ink image according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a correlation between the temperature and the transparency of a recording film used in the image recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a comparison of recording processing steps of the image recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a correlation between light energy and density in comparison of recording processing steps of the image recording method according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a main part of an image recording apparatus to which the image recording method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a process diagram showing a recording process in an image recording apparatus to which the image recording method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a recording processing operation in an image recording apparatus to which the image recording method according to the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Recording film 11 Heat sensitive layer 12 Light-to-heat conversion layer 13 Ink moisture absorption layer 20 Ink jet recording device 21 Ink image 30 Semiconductor laser 35 Transparent area 36 Opaque area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A heat-sensitive layer made of a material whose light transmittance is changed by heat energy, and a light-heat conversion layer made of a material that absorbs light applied to supply heat energy to the heat-sensitive layer and generates heat energy. And an ink-absorbing layer that absorbs ink, and an image recording method for forming an image on a film layer comprising: a light-heat conversion layer corresponding to a position where an ink image dot is formed from the heat-sensitive layer side. A first processing step of selectively irradiating and heating light at a position, and a second processing step of ejecting high-density ink from the ink absorbing layer side to form ink image dots. An image recording method, comprising: 2. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein in the first processing step, the density gradation is controlled based on the number of light spots applied to the ink image dots. 3. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein the ink used in the second processing step is a plurality of color inks.