JPS60110496A - Melting type thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To develop a way to multi-color image recording by enabling radation recording, by thermally superposing and transferring a light attenuating layer to the color ink layer thermally transferred to recording paper only in the number of times corresponding to the gradation of a recording image. CONSTITUTION:A transfer sheet 3 and recording paper 4 are passed between a recording head 1 and a platen 2 opposed so as to be contacted under pressure in a superposed state. The recording head 1 has plural heat generating dots arranged in one line in the width direction thereof and the recording paper 4 and the transfer sheet 4 are sent by the rotation of the platen 2 and, when the recording head 1 is heated in a pattern corresponding to an image to be recorded in synchronous relation to the feed of the recording paper 4 and the transfer sheet 3, the ink layer of the transfer sheet 3 is melted and transferred to the recording paper 4. At a first time, the transfer of a single color and the superposition transfer of the ink layer in the number of times corresponding to necessary gradation are performed by the recording head 1. Subsequently, at the time of each transfer in a second and a third time, each single color transfer and gradation transfer are superposed on the recording picture element at the first time. By this method, the gradation of each single color is adjusted and superposition transfer is performed to enable multi-color recording.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention particularly relates to a thermal transfer recording method for recording color images.

(B) Conventional technology The so-called melting type thermal transfer recording method, in which ink deposited on a base film is heated and melted according to a recording pattern and transferred onto recording paper, is a binary method of transferring ink or not. It is an expression that records an image, and for this reason,
With this type of method, it is difficult to obtain density gradations, and even in the case of color image recording, only seven colors can be recorded at most.

(c) Object of the invention = 1- The present invention is to enable gradation recording in a melt-type thermal transfer recording method and pave the way to multicolor image recording.

(d) Structure of the Invention The feature of the melt-type thermal transfer recording method of the present invention is that the light attenuation layer is thermally superimposed and transferred onto the color ink layer thermally transferred onto the recording paper a number of times corresponding to the gradation of the recorded image. It is in.

(e) Embodiment FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the apparatus. Transfer sheets (3
) and the recording paper (4) pass in a superimposed manner.

The recording head (1) includes a plurality of heating dots arranged in a line in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the recording paper (4), that is, in the width direction of the recording paper (4). The transfer sheet (3) is a base film coated with a monochromatic ink layer uniformly applied to a thickness of about 3 to 4 μm, and is pulled out from a supply roll (5) and wound around a winding shaft (6). taken. Platen (2)
The rotation of the recording paper (4) and the transfer sheet (3) are fed together, and in synchronization with this feeding, the recording head (1) is heated in a pattern corresponding to the image to be recorded. , transfer sheet (3
) is melted and transferred onto the recording paper (4).

After the recording paper (4) is transferred thereto, it is then sent by a feed roller (not shown) to the first to nth gradation stages (
71) to (7n). Each of these stages is
They all have the same configuration, and the recording paper (4) is used at each stage.
The gradation imparting sheet (10) passes overlappingly between the gradation imparting pad (8) and the pressure roller (9), which face each other in pressure contact.

The gradation imparting head (8) is the same as the recording head (1). The gradation imparting sheet (10) is a base film coated with a uniform layer of gray ink to a thickness of approximately 1 μm, and is pulled out from the supply roll (11) and placed on the winding shaft (12). When the gradation imparting head (8) generates heat, the gradation imparting sheet (1
The gray ink layer of
4) Move to the side.

By adjusting the heat generation timing of the gradation head (8), a gray ink layer (3-) is formed on one pixel ink layer (20) transferred by the recording head (1) as shown in FIG. 211), (212), etc. are transferred one after another in a superimposed manner. These gray ink layers act as light attenuating layers, and therefore, if the number of superimposed layers is i, the optical density of such a pixel is one-half that of the original pixel ink layer (20). Therefore, in this device, when adding, for example, the third gradation to any one pixel, the first to third gradation
At the gradation imparting stages (71) to (73), three gray ink layers are superimposed and transferred to the pixel. That is, according to this apparatus, a total of n+1 gradations can be created in this way.

The present invention can be applied to multicolor image recording. In this case, the first
In the figure, as the transfer sheet (3), as shown in FIG.
In the transport direction, Y (yellow), C (cyan), M
A recording paper (4) coated with each monochromatic ink layer (magenta) was circulated three times in the recording system shown in FIG. That is, during the first transfer, the recording head (1
), first, a single color transfer corresponding to Y color and a superimposed transfer of a gray ink layer are carried out a number of times according to the required gradation, and then similarly during the second and third transfers, Monochrome transfer of C color and M color and gradation transfer are performed by superimposing them on the first recording pixels. Figure 4 shows an example of the superimposed transfer state of the 7 color layers of the 0th gradation (30>, the C color Je! (31) of the 2nd gradation, and the M color layer (32) of the 1st gradation. It represents an intermediate color. That is, multicolor recording can be made by adjusting the gradation of each single color and superimposing the transfer.

(F) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, it is possible to record multicolor images in a melt-type thermal transfer recording method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a side view of the recording system, FIGS. 2 and 4 are side views showing the recording state, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the transfer sheet. <1)... Recording head, (3)... Transfer sheet, 4)... Recording paper, (8)... Gradation imparting head, (10
)...gradation imparting sheet. 5-

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A melt-type thermal transfer recording method characterized by thermally superimposing and transferring a light attenuation layer onto a color ink layer thermally transferred onto a recording paper a number of times corresponding to the gradation of a recorded image.