JPS60175062A - Gradation recording method of ion current control - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve gradation reproducibility by turning on and off a voltage, which changes at the same period as a recording period, with a pulse width corresponding to a recording signal and modulating the diameter of an ion beam to perform recording. CONSTITUTION:A voltage generating circuit 11 generates the voltage which changes at a recording period T between dots of one line and those of the next line and this voltage is applied to collectors of transistors TRs 141, 142,.... Turning-on/off of bases of TRs 141, 142,... is controlled by turn-on/off signal input parts 121, 122,..., and various voltage waveforms, for example, voltages having time widths t0-t1, t0-t2, and t0-t3 are outputted as the output voltage by the timing of the turn-on/off signal and the pulse width of the turn-on signal. When an especially low recording density is expressed, the voltage having the time width t0-t1 is impressed to an aperture electrode to select the turning-on state where the diameter of the ion beam is reduced, and thus, gradation reproducibility is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a recording method that performs gradation recording by controlling the ion beam diameter in a recording method by controlling an ion flow.

[Prior art]

First, the principle of electrostatic recording using ion flow will be explained with reference to FIG.

By applying a voltage of @KV between the corona wire 2 and the corona wire 20, the ions generated by the corona wire 2 have a diameter of 1, for example, 1 due to the electric field formed by the corona wire 2 and the counter electrode 3.
The amount of ion passing through the ion flow control hole 4 of approximately 00 to 500 μm is controlled by the electric field formed by the upper control electrode 6 and lower control electrode 7 formed by the aperture t@5y<. That is, as shown in FIG. 1(a), if the electric field formed by the upper control electrode II 6 and the lower control electrode T is set in the same direction as the electric field formed by the corona wire 2 and the opposing electrode 3, the ion passes through the ion flow control hole 4 like an ion flow 10a, and forms an electrostatic latent image 9 on the recording medium 8 made of a dielectric material on the counter electrode 3. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1(b), when the electric fields formed by the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode 7 are reversed, ions are absorbed by the upper control electrode 6 like an ion flow 10b, and the electrostatic latent image 9 is not formed. In addition,
Figure 1(a).

In (b), only one aperture electrode 5v is shown, but in reality, many electrodes are provided in one line.

II to control the conventional ion flow
The 915 method includes the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode 11.
There are a pulse width control method in which a voltage with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal is applied between the L poles T, and a voltage control method in which a voltage having a magnitude corresponding to the recording signal is also applied.

The former method has the advantage of being easy to implement with a digital circuit in order to control the pulse width, but has the disadvantage of poor gradation reproducibility when considering the development of the electrostatic latent image formed. Furthermore, the latter method has the advantage of good gradation reproducibility because the voltage is controlled and the ion beam diameter is controlled.

The drawback is that the voltage control circuit for each electrode is complicated and expensive.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to eliminate these drawbacks, this invention records by changing the ion beam diameter rather than turning on and off a voltage that changes at the same period as the recording period with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal. It is. The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which reference numeral 11 indicates a voltage generation circuit that generates a voltage to be applied to the 7-part electrode; 12.
．． 12. ．． 12. ,... is ON.

OFF signal input section (hereinafter collectively referred to as simply 12
That's what it means. The same applies to other symbols), I L ,
13t, 13s, ... are control signal output sections,
14, , 14t, 14g, ... are transistors, 15.1 15,115. l... is a resistor.

Note that the control signal output section 13 is applied to each aperture electrode, but seven pertier electrodes are omitted.

Figure 3 shows an example of the output from the pressure generating circuit 11, where the horizontal axis is time t, the vertical axis is voltage V, and T is the recording period, that is, the recording interval from one line of dots to the next line's dots. be.

As shown in the figure, the output changes at the same cycle as the recording cycle T.

Next, the operation shown in FIG. 2 will be explained. Voltage generation circuit 1
The voltage generated from 1 is applied to the voltage converter of each transistor 14, and the ON/OFF signal input section 12 turns ON/OFF.
Because it is controlled, the output voltage is O-N, OF
Depending on the timing of the F signal and the pulse width of the ON signal, various voltage waveforms may be generated, for example, at time t in FIG. -t1*t6
It is possible to output a voltage with a width of ~tl'+L6~t8.

Special feature: When expressing a low recording density, for example, if you use a voltage in the range from time t0 to t in Figure 3, you can select the ON state with the ion beam diameter narrowed, resulting in excellent reproducibility. It is possible to record

Next, the above operating principle will be explained. Figure 4(a).

(b), Cc) are 7 pertiers 11 poles 5 shown in Figure 1.
In other words, it shows the change in the ion beam diameter due to the change in voltage applied to the upper and lower control electrodes 6.7, and only half of the ion flow control hole 4 from the center is shown.

The ion beam diameter can be controlled by the voltage applied to the seven pertier electrodes 5, as shown in FIG.

That is, in Fig. 4 (a), (b), and (e), E1+E
! +EB is the electric field near the upper control electrode 6, respectively.

Electric field between upper control electrode 6 and lower control electrode T.

It shows the wealth and world in the vicinity of Seyo and Kakuho A.

Figure 4(a) shows E, /E, --0,5,E, /E
, -4, the ion flow 10A is the ion flow control hole 4.
cannot be passed and no recording is made.

Figure 4(b) shows Ex/E+Frequent0 * EB/EH
= 4, indicating that recording is performed by the narrow ion flow 10B.

Figure 4(c) shows El/El-2r EH/E
This is the case of l -4, and shows that recording is performed with a thick ion flow of 10C.

FIGS. 5 and 6 respectively show electrostatic latent images in the case of the present invention and in the conventional case where only the pulse width is changed without changing the voltage. The waveforms #1 to #4 in FIGS. 5 and 6 show waveforms 7 in which the pulse width increases in the order of 1 to 4, and L
indicates the development slice level, the horizontal axis indicates the position Ift (recording size), and the vertical axis indicates the charge density.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 6, if you cut the developed slice novel L, #1. When the charge density is low like waveform #2, no recording is made at all, resulting in a loss of $3. Self-recording is performed only when the waveform reaches $4.

On the other hand, in the present invention shown in FIG. 5, even when the waveform is #1, the slice level is higher than L, and it can be seen that recording can be performed with a narrow ion beam diameter.

As is clear from a comparison of Figures 5 and 6 and 7, this invention has a higher level [! fAK is excellent.

In the above embodiment, the voltage application to the seven pertier electrodes 5 was applied between the upper control electrode 6 and the lower control electrode T, but this was done by applying only one 1llL electrode and keeping the other electrode at a constant potential. You may ask K to keep it.

Furthermore, the output voltage waveform of the voltage generation circuit 11 is as follows.

Not only those that change linearly as shown in Figure 3.

It is also possible to use a voltage waveform that changes in an upwardly concave or upwardly convex curve.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, this invention allows the ion beam diameter to be changed.
Using a voltage that changes at the same period as the recording period, this voltage is turned ON and OFF with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal.
Since K is set so as to cause F, there is an advantage that recording with excellent tone elevation can be performed using a circuit that can be easily realized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 (a) and (b) are diagrams explaining the principle of electrostatic recording using ion flow, Figure 2 is a circuit diagram of the main part of an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the principle of electrostatic recording using ion flow. Figures 4(&) to (e) are diagrams showing examples of controlling the ion beam diameter, Figure 5 is a diagram showing an electrostatic latent image according to the present invention, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the voltage output of the circuit.
The figure is a diagram showing a static latent image using the same conventional pulse width modulation method. In the figure, 10 is an ion flow, 11 is a voltage generation circuit, and 12 is O
N, 0FF (ei input section, 13 is control signal output section, 1
4 is a transistor, and 15 is a resistor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a recording method in which ion flow is controlled using t7 pertier electrodes, a voltage that changes at the same period as the recording period is used as the voltage applied to the 7 pertier electrodes, and this voltage is applied with a pulse width corresponding to the recording signal. ON. 0FFL An ion flow control gradation recording method characterized in that recording is performed by modulating the ion beam diameter of the ion flow.