JPS6183094A - Thermal transfer recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve transferrability and to prevent the glaring of a blank part, by providing a coating material coating part to a transfer film for thermal transfer recording and transferring a coating material to part to be transferred prior to transfer. CONSTITUTION:A transfer film 7 formed by arranging a while part W, a yellow part Y, a magenta part M and a cyan part C to an ink sheet in a transfer color order and the white part W has a function as a coating material for bringing the surface state of paper to be transferred to a state easy to transfer. The image picked up by an image reading apparatus is transferred to the transfer film 7 in the order of the white part W, the yellow part Y, the magenta part M and the cyan part C but, in this case, the white part W is transferred only to the region of the part where a laterly transferred image is present. Furthermore, the transfer region of the white part W may be set to the min. square region Q externally contacted with an image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to thermal transfer recording technology, and particularly relates to a technology that is effective when applied to a technology for improving the transfer performance on recording paper.

The three-color transfer portion of the transfer film of a conventional thermal transfer recording device is a yellow portion and a magenta portion.
A ta section and a cyan section are provided, and each is used to print yellow, macenta, and cyan. Furthermore, if a yellow part is used for transfer printing and then a magenta part is used for transfer printing on the same area, red printing becomes possible. Similarly, if you use the magenta and cyan parts together, you can print blue, if you use the cyan part and part yellow, you can print green, and if you use the yellow parts, magenta, and cyan parts together, you can print blue. Black printing is possible. As described above, when performing color transfer printing, there is a problem in that the transfer performance becomes poor depending on the surface condition of the paper to be transferred.

Therefore, in order to solve this problem, for example.

As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 59-109393,
A coating material application area is added to the color thermal transfer recording transfer film to make the surface condition of the transfer paper easy to transfer, and before transfer printing, the coating material application area is applied to the transfer paper. After transferring the material,
A thermal transfer recording method using transfer printing has been proposed.

However, in such a thermal transfer recording method, since the coating material is visible on the plain portion of the transfer paper, there is a problem in that printing on plain paper gives an unnatural feeling due to glare and differences in brightness.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technology that can eliminate the discomfort caused by glare and differences in brightness in plain areas of the transfer paper when transfer recording is performed even if a coating material is applied to the transfer paper. There is a particular thing.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

The present invention provides a transfer film for color or monochrome thermal transfer recording in order to achieve the above object.

Add a coating material application area to make the surface condition of the transfer paper easy to transfer, and before performing transfer recording,
It is characterized in that the coating material in the coating material application area is transferred onto the transfer paper only in the image area to be transferred or recorded or the smallest quadrilateral part circumscribing the image area, and then the transfer recording is performed. be.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

In addition, in all the episodes, parts having the same functions are given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof will be omitted.

Example I FIGS. 1 to 4 are diagrams for explaining the thermal transfer recording method of Example I of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer film used in this embodiment; FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the process of the thermal transfer recording method of Example 2; FIG. @ is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control circuit of the implementation device.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a platen, which is rotated by a transmission belt 3 in response to the rotation of a platen driving motor 2. As shown in FIG. Reference numeral 4 denotes a sheet of paper to be transferred, which is wound around the platen 1. 5 and 6 are pressing rollers that press the transfer paper 4 against the platen l. 7 is a transfer film wound into a roll, and the ink sheet has a white part W, a yellow part Y, a magenta part M, and a cyan part C, as shown in FIG.
They are arranged in order of transfer color. The white portion W also has a function as a coating material. This transfer film 7 is
Transcription! After being set at the transfer position of the platen 1 by the roll winding roller 8, it can be wound. The transfer film winding roller 8 is rotated by a winding roller driving motor IO via a transmission belt 9. 11 is the transfer paper 4 and the transfer film 7
This is a transfer film separation member for separating the

12 is a thermal head, and a heat element 13 is provided at a predetermined position of the thermal head. This thermal head 1
2 is supported by a support member 14.

One end of this support member 14 is rotatably supported, and the other end is connected to a rotating body 16 via a link 15, so that the supporting member 14 moves up and down as the rotating body 16 rotates. The rotating body 16 is rotated by a thermal head driving motor 18 via a transmission belt 17. Reference numeral 19 denotes a color discrimination sensor for the transfer film 7, and its output is input to the control section 31.

In FIG. 2, W is a white, Y is a yellow, M is a magenta, and C is a cyan transfer film.

In FIG. 3, solid lines indicate portions of the transfer film 7 to which colors are transferred. (A) is the image area where the white part W of the transfer film 7 is transferred to the transfer paper 4, (B) is the yellow part Y
(C) is the image portion where the magenta portion M is transferred to the transfer sheet 4, and (D) is the image portion where the cyan portion C is transferred to the transfer sheet 4. be.

In FIG. 4, 20 is a video signal input terminal.

21 is a KGB converter that converts the red, green, and blue video signals into yellow, magenta, and cyan signals, respectively.
MMC converter, 22 is an amplifier, 23 is an analog/digital (hereinafter abbreviated as A/D) converter, 24Y, 24M
and 24G is an image memory. The image memory 24Y is a memory for storing the yellow signal, and the image memory 24M
is a memory for storing magenta signals, image memory 2
4C is a memory for storing the cyan signal.

25 is a synchronization signal (CYNC) input terminal, and 26 is an adder for superimposing the synchronization signal on the video signal. A main/sub-scanning signal generator 27 is used to generate main-scanning signals and sub-scanning signals for controlling writing of signals into the image memories 24Y, 24M, and 24G. 28 is a controller, image memory 24Y,
It controls writing and reading of 24M and 24C, and controls the thermal head. Reference numeral 29 denotes an OR gate circuit for detecting whether or not there is an image signal of yellow, magenta, or cyan. 3
0 is a multiplexer, and the white part W of the transfer film 7
, yellow part Y, magenta part M, and cyan part C to be transferred. Reference numeral 31 is a control section consisting of a computer or the like. S is a color selection signal commanded from the control section 31, and is used to control output switching of the multiplexer 30. This color selection signal is, for example, a white selection signal that selects white transfer.
”, a yellow select signal for selecting yellow transfer is roIJ, and a magenta select signal for selecting magenta transfer is rlOJ.

Set the cyan select signal to select cyan transfer to "11"
shall be.

Next, the thermal transfer recording method of Example I will be explained.

In FIG. 1, the platen 1 is connected to the platen drive motor 2.
The platen 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow to wrap the transfer paper 4 around the platen 1 and sent in the direction of the arrow to set the transfer paper 4 at the transfer position. At the same time, the transfer film 7 is wound and set in the direction of the arrow by the transfer film drive motor IO so that it comes into contact with the transfer paper 4 at the transfer position. next.

The thermal head 12 is set at the transfer position by the thermal head driving drive motor 18. When this set is completed, control is performed according to the procedure described below.

The image captured by a video camera or image reading device (not shown) is shown in (a) of FIG.

As shown in (b), (c), and (d), the transfer film 7
(a) White part W, (b) Yellow part Y.

(c) Magenta portion M and (d) cyan portion C are transferred in this order. At this time, the white part W is the yellow part Y to be transferred later.
, magenta portion M, and cyan portion C are transferred only to a certain area, that is, only to a certain area of the image.

In this transfer control, a video signal from a video camera is input to a video input terminal 20, as shown in FIG. Red signal of this input video signal.

The green signal and the blue signal are converted into a yellow signal, a magenta signal, and a cyan signal, respectively, by an RGB-YMC converter 21, amplified by an amplifier 22, and input to an A/D converter 23. A yellow signal input to the A/D converter 23,
The magenta signal and the cyan signal are converted into digital signals and stored in predetermined image memories 24Y, 24M, and 24C, respectively, by the controller 28 according to the main scanning signal and sub-scanning signal from the main/sub-scanning signal generator 27.

The image data stored in the image memories 24Y, 24M, and 24G are read out and connected to the multiplexer 30. This multiplexer 30 receives a color selection signal from the computer 31 (for example, as described above, the selection signals for white, yellow, magenta, and cyan are designated as roo'', rOIJ, and rl(N, rll)). , as shown in (a), (b), (c), and (d) in Figure 3, the connections are sequentially switched to white, yellow, magenta, and cyan, and the image data of each colored part is changed. is sent to the thermal head 12.

A predetermined heat element 13 is heated. As a result, the color of the transfer film 4 is transferred and recorded onto the transfer paper 4.
- As can be seen from the above description, according to the present embodiment (■), by first transferring the white portion W of the transfer film only to the portion of the image to be transferred, it is possible to determine what the surface of the transfer paper is like. Even under such conditions, it is possible to improve the transfer rate. Also, since no white coating material is applied to the plain areas of the transfer paper, for example, even if the image is recorded on plain paper.

It is possible to eliminate the discomfort caused by glare and differences in brightness.

x] U pull Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8 (A) and Figure 8 (B
) is a diagram for explaining the thermal transfer recording method of Example 2 of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of its control circuit, and FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining the principle of Example 2 Figure 7 shows the transfer order of the transfer film, and Figure 8 (A) and Figure 8 (B) show the routine flow for determining the area to which white is to be transferred by the control unit 31. be.

In FIG. 5, 40 and 41 are AND gate circuits, 42 is an inverter, and 43 is an OR gate circuit.
It is a gate circuit, and WS is a white output signal.

That is, the data stored in the one-image memories 24Y, 24M, and 24G is read out and inputted to one input terminal of the AND gate circuit 40, and the color selection signal S from the control section 31 is inputted to the other input terminal. Reversing inverter 42
It is now inverted and input. Further, one input terminal of the AND gate circuit 41 is connected to the control section 3.
The color selection signal S from 1 is inputted to the terminal, and the white output signal WS is inputted to the other terminal.

The output signals of the AND gate circuits 40 and 41 are
The signal is configured to be input to the thermal head 12 via an OR gate circuit 43.

In FIG. 6, P is the entire area of one frame to be transferred, Ql is the area to which white is transferred, Q2 is the image area, and A (
x+y) is a point at one corner of the area Qt, B(x,y)
is a point on the opposite corner of region Q1 from A (x+y).

In FIG. 7, the solid lines indicate the parts of the transfer film 7 where the colors are transferred. (A) shows the image part where the white or transparent part W is transferred to the transfer paper 4, and (B) shows the yellow part Y. (c) An image portion in which the magenta portion M is transferred to the transfer sheet 4; and (d) an image portion in which the cyan portion C is transferred to the transfer sheet 4.

In the thermal transfer recording method of this embodiment (2), the area to which the white color of the above embodiment is transferred is set within the smallest quadrilateral circumscribing the image area to be transferred.

The area within this quadrilateral is Fig. 8 (A) and Fig. 8 CB)
It is determined by the control unit 31 according to the flow routine shown in FIG.

That is, the processing operation according to this flow starts from the image memory 24Y. And image memories 24M and 24
For G, start from ■ in the flow 5 above,
Perform subsequent processing operations.

The processing operation according to the flow described above initializes the X and Y address counters of the controller 28 shown in FIG. 5 to set the X address count to O and the Y address count to 0 (10
0). Next, increase the count of the X address counter 28 by 1.
and determine whether there is image data (101).
If there is no image data, add 1 to the X address count (
102) This +1 operation is repeated until there is image data (103). Then, when the address value of A x r B x is found and the X address count is completed, the
04), this +1 operation is repeated until there is image data (105).

In the initial state, Ax, Ay, Bx + By are each 0
If there is one image data, the address count value X can be replaced with the values of Ax and Bx (106). Then, the address count value X at this time is the next step (1
At step 07), it is determined whether or not there is image data, and at step (1
08), it is determined that X<AX. In the example of FIG. 6, since the initial Ax is O, X is larger than that, so the answer is No. Therefore, the address count value is sent to the next step (110), and a determination of Y<Ay is made. Since this is also no, the next step (L
12), and a determination of X)Bx is made. The address count value X is larger than the initial Bx=O.

The result is YES, and it is set as the value of Bx (
113). This processing operation is continued until the main and sub-scanning of the X address counter is completed to obtain the values of Ax and Bx.

When all the main and sub-scans of the X address counter are completed (116
), the X address counter is set to 0, the Y address counter is incremented by 1 in the same manner as the X address counter, and the processing operations after step (107) are repeated, A) shown in FIG. ' Find the address value of +By. Similarly, the address values of Ax, BX, Ay, and By are determined for the image memories 24M and 24C, and the final A.sub.X+A.sub.y+B.sub.xrB.sub.V is obtained. From the Ax, Ay, Bx, By values of these A(XI' y) + B (x+ y) points, calculate C(BX
, Ay).

The value of the point o (A x r B y ) can be easily obtained.

As a result, a white transfer area Q is set.

Then, inside this white transfer area Q, for example, "1
", and other areas are "0" signals.

Note that if there is no one image data in step (107), the processing operations in steps (118) to (121) are repeated.

Next, the thermal transfer recording method of Example 1 will be explained.

In FIG. 5, one image memory 24Y, 24M.

The process up to storing the image signal in 24C is as shown in Example I.
is the same as Image memory 24Y, 24M.

The image signal read from 24C is sent to the AND gate circuit 4.
0 is input to one input terminal of the AND gate circuit 40, and the other input terminal of the AND gate circuit 40 is input to the control unit 31 during white transfer.
The signal rlJ is inputted as the white selection signal S, and when transferring other colors, the signal "0" is inverted by the inverter 42 and inputted.

Further, the - input terminal of the AND gate circuit 41 Also, the color selection signal S from the control section 31 is input to one input terminal of the AND gate circuit 41, and the white transfer signal WS is input to the other terminal. It is inputted. White transfer signal WS
For example, set the signal to transfer white to the obtained white transfer area Q as "1", and set the signal to transfer other colors as "0".
Now, when transferring white to the white transfer area Q1, the color select signal S is "1", and this "1"
Since the "0" signal inverted by the inverter 42 is always input to the input terminal of the AND gate circuit 40, the image memory 24Y.

Even if the image signals read from 24M and 24C are input, the output of the AND gate circuit 40 is "0". On the other hand, the one-color select signal S at the input terminal of the AND gate circuit 41 is "1", and the white color of the white transfer signal WS obtained by the flow routine shown in FIGS. 8(A) and 8(B) is Since the signal corresponding to the area Q1 to be transferred is "1", the signal rlJ is input to both input terminals, so the output is rlJ. The output signal of "1" for white transfer is input to the thermal head 12 via the OR gate circuit 43, a predetermined heat element 13 is heated, and white is transferred to the entire white transfer area Q1.

Further, when transferring a color other than white, the color selection signal from the control unit 31 is "0" when transferring a color other than white;
Since it is "1" when it is white, the image memory 24Y, 24
When the image signals read out from M and 24G in the order of (b), (c), and (d) in FIG. 7 are input to the AND gate circuit 40, the "0" signal is input to the other input terminals. Since the "1" signal inverted by the inverter 42 is always input, the output of the AND gate circuit 40 becomes the "1" signal. The AND gate circuit 41 has “0”.

Since a "0" signal is input, the output is a "0" signal. The [IJ output signal of the AND gate circuit 40 is
The light is input to the thermal head 12 via the OR gate circuit 43, heats a predetermined heat element 13, and transfers a predetermined color to a predetermined area.

As can be seen from the above description, according to the first embodiment (2), the area Q within the smallest circumscribed rectangle of one image.

By transferring white and then transferring a color other than white, it is possible to improve the transfer performance no matter what condition the surface of the transfer paper 4 is. Furthermore, since most of the plain color of the transfer paper 4 is not coated with a white coating material, for example, even when transfer recording is performed on plain paper, it is possible to eliminate the discomfort caused by glare and differences in brightness.

The present invention has been specifically explained above using examples, but
It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, in the above embodiment, a white coating material was used, but the same effect can be obtained by using a transparent coating material.

Further, in the above embodiment (2), the circumscribed area of the image to be transferred is a quadrilateral, but it may be a triangle or a polygon.

It may be circular.

■ As explained above, according to the present invention, a white or transparent coating material is transferred only to the area of the image to be transferred or the area within the smallest quadrilateral circumscribing the image area, and then,
By sequentially transferring predetermined colors, good transfer performance can be achieved regardless of the condition of the surface of the paper to be transferred.

Furthermore, since most of the plain color of the transfer paper is not coated with a white coating material, for example, even when transfer recording is performed on plain paper, it is possible to eliminate the discomfort caused by glare and differences in brightness.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 are examples of the present invention! FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the thermal transfer recording method of FIG.
1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an apparatus for implementing a thermal transfer recording method. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a transfer film used in this embodiment, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the process of the thermal transfer recording method of the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a diagram of the control circuit of the embodiment. Block diagrams showing the configuration, Figures 5, 6, 7, 8 (A) and 8 (B)
) is a diagram for explaining the thermal transfer recording method of the practical example (■) of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of its control circuit, and FIG. 6 is a diagram explaining the principle of the present embodiment (■) FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the transfer order of the transfer film. FIGS. 8(A) and 8(B) are a flowchart of a routine in which the control unit determines the area to which white color should be transferred. In the figure, 20...video signal input terminal, 21...RG
B-YMC converter, 22... amplifier, 23...A
/D converter, 24Y, 24M, 24G... image memory. 25... Synchronization signal input terminal, 26... Adder, 27
... Main/sub-scanning signal generator, 28... Controller, 29.43... OR gate circuit, 40 and 41...
・And-category circuit, 42...This is an inverter for inversion.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A coating material application area is added to the transfer film for color or monochrome thermal transfer recording to make it easier to transfer the surface condition of the transfer paper, and before transfer recording, the transfer paper is coated with the coating material. A thermal transfer recording method characterized in that transfer recording is performed after the coating material in the material application area is transferred only to the image area to be transferred and recorded. (2) A coating material application area is added to the transfer film for color or monochrome thermal transfer recording to make it easier to transfer the surface condition of the transfer paper, and before transfer recording, the transfer paper is coated with the coating material. 1. A thermal transfer recording method, characterized in that the coating material of the material application part is transferred only to the smallest quadrilateral part circumscribing the image area to be transferred and recorded, and then transfer recording is performed.