JPS62142676A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the property of responding to a demand for replacing an ink donor film (IDF), by automatically performing the discrimination of the kind of the IDF and the setting of a control sequence for printing by the IDF thus discriminated. CONSTITUTION:Marks M1, M2 for discriminating the kind of an IDF 61 are provided, and a means is provided for discriminating the kind of the fitted IDF from a detection output generated by a sensor 9 which detects the marks as the IDF is fed after being fitted in position and for setting a control sequence according to the kind of the IDF thus discriminated. By this, the discrimination of the kind of the IDF selectively fitted and the setting of the control sequence according to the kind of the IDF thus discriminated are automatically performed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device, and particularly to recognition of the type of loaded ink donor film and proper printing on the recognized ink donor film. Thermal transfer recording enables printing by selectively using many types of ink donor films by automatically setting control sequences, and enables printing to proceed accurately and smoothly. Regarding equipment.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, in a thermal transfer recording device, an ink donor film, which is made by coating a heat-melting or heat-sublimating ink on an ultra-thin film substrate such as polyester, is conveyed in close contact with a recording paper. A thermal head that is in contact with the non-ink coated side of the donor film is driven to generate heat according to an image signal, and the ink of the ink donor film that has been melted or sublimated at the heat generating portion is transferred onto the recording paper. It forms an image according to the image signal, and has various advantages such as low noise, simple structure, and low running cost, and is therefore used in various printers.

As shown in Fig. 6, a typical ink donor film used in this type of conventional thermal transfer recording device is a monochrome ink donor film [Fig. Ink donor film exclusively for black and white printing.

Three-color ink donor film [Figure 6(b)]: Y (yellow), 9M (magenta), and C (cyan).
An ink donor film for color printing that has colored ink layers arranged in a continuous pattern.

Four-color ink donor film [FIG. 6(C)]: An ink donor film for color printing in which a B (black) ink layer is added as a black printing area to the three-color ink donor film.

etc., and it has generally been implemented in a dedicated machine having a printing control sequence corresponding to each ink donor film, and used for printing control as described in (a) above. By the way, when performing printing using such a dedicated machine, it may not necessarily be optimal to use a dedicated ink donor film for a specific printing operation. For example, when black prints occur continuously in a recording device using the three-color ink donor film,
It is more economical to use a monochrome ink donor film than to obtain the black print by mixing fused inks of Y, M, C ink layers. In addition, when black prints and color prints are mixed and the printing quality of the black prints is to be improved, it is preferable to use the four-color ink donor film having the area exclusively for black printing, rather than using the three-color ink donor film. It is more advantageous to use From this point of view, some conventional thermal transfer recording devices have been devised so that different types of ink donor films can be exchanged and loaded in the same recording device as needed to obtain desired printing results. Specifically, at each exchange, the operator manually sets a new control sequence corresponding to printing on the ink donor film loaded in the recording device, and after the setting, printing is started based on this control sequence. The real part is expressed in a certain way.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In this way, in the conventional thermal transfer recording device described above, a specific ink donor film can only be used in a dedicated machine that has a print control sequence set for that ink donor film, or even if it can be used. However, before loading this ink donor film and starting printing, the operator must identify the type of ink donor film and set a new control sequence for printing with the identified type of ink donor film. Moreover, there is a problem in that it is difficult to accurately and smoothly carry out printing operations to obtain the above-mentioned effective printing results.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] Therefore, in the present invention, a mark is formed on each ink donor film to identify the type of each ink donor film, and after the ink donor film is loaded, a sensor for detecting the mark as the ink donor film is conveyed, and a means for identifying the type of the loaded ink donor film from the detection output of the sensor and setting a control sequence corresponding to the identified type of ink donor film. The above problem can be solved by automatically identifying the type of ink donor film to be selectively loaded and setting a control sequence corresponding to the identified type of ink donor film. This is what I tried to solve.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a recording section of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention, in which a paper feed cassette 2 in which recording paper 1 is placed, and the loaded recording paper 1 are separated one by one. a separate roller 3 which feeds out the recording paper 1 from the paper feed cassette 2; a platen roller 4 which carries the fed recording paper 1 in rotation while holding it on its circumferential surface; and a thermal head 5 which is pressed onto the circumferential surface of the platen roller 4. , an ink donor film 6 interposed between the thermal head 5 and the platen row 54, a supply roller 7 that winds and supports the ink donor film 6 at both ends and applies appropriate tension to the ink donor film 6, and a take-up roller. A roller 8 and a transmission type mark detection sensor 9 for detecting a type identification mark, which will be described later, formed on the ink donor film 6 are provided.

Moreover, FIGS. 2(a), (b), and (c) show various ink donor films (ID) used in this thermal transfer recording apparatus.
F) conceptually shows a configuration example, for example, monochrome IDF 60.3 colors color IDE 61.4 colors color I
At the right end of the ink application area Ai in the DF 62, in a portion not directly related to printing, marking areas Am each having a considerable width are continuously provided in the sub-scanning direction, and the monochrome IDF 60 is provided at a predetermined position of the marking area Am. A mark is formed to identify the type of the .3-color color 1[)Fe2°4-color IDF62. That is, FIG. 3 shows an enlarged detailed view of the surface of, for example, the three-color IDF 61 mentioned above.
(magenta).

On the marking area Am on the three-color IDF 61, where each C (cyan) color ink layer is repeated as one stroke, a portion of the marker M is formed for each first ink layer (for example, Y ink layer) of the stroke. In addition, this marker part M is formed continuously from the tip of the ink layer (Y ink layer), and includes a start mark M1 that is sufficient for detection by the above-mentioned transmissive mark detection sensor 9, and the three colors. It consists of a color r[) and an identification mark M2 indicating the type of Fe2.

This configuration is monochrome IDF60.4 color [DF62
The same applies to the recording medium, and the recording medium can be selectively loaded into the recording section of the thermal transfer recording apparatus as required. The IDFs 60, 61 and 62 are loaded by, for example, releasing the interlock of the housing of the thermal transfer recording apparatus.

The operation of this thermal transfer recording apparatus will be described in detail below with reference to the control block diagram in FIG. First, based on the printing start operation performed after loading the ink donor film 6 described above, the CPU 11
A control signal is sent to the ink donor film transport circuit 15, and the winding roller 8 driven by the ink donor film transport circuit 15 starts winding and transporting the ink donor film 6 at a predetermined speed.

When a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the start of conveyance of the ink donor film 6, the first start mark M1 among the marker portions M provided on the marking area Am of the ink donor film 6 is detected by the mark detection sensor 9. be done. The detection output of the nuclear mark detection sensor 9 is transmitted to the CPU 1 through the input/output interface 10.
1, the CPU 11 sends a control signal to the ink donor film transport circuit 15 through the input/output interface 10 in the same manner as described above, and thereafter transports the ink donor film 6 at a constant speed. . For this reason, the mark detection sensor 9 reads and detects the identification mark M2 following the start mark M of the marker portion M at regular time intervals immediately after the start of the constant speed conveyance of the ink donor film 6 described above. When the detection output of the mark detection sensor 9 at this time is input to the CPLll through the input/output interface 10, the CPL
The PU 11 identifies the type of the ink donor film 6 from the detection output, and sets a control sequence for a printing operation corresponding to the identified type of the ink donor film 6. This setting can be performed, for example, by selecting a control sequence corresponding to the identified ink donor film 6 from among the control sequences preprogrammed in the program ROM 12.

Thereafter, the CPU 11 controls the uniform speed transport by issuing control commands to the thermal head drive circuit 14 and the recording paper transport circuit 16 through the input/output interface 10 based on the control sequence set by the method described above. Ink donor film 6
This will cause the printing operation to be executed for. That is,
When a control signal is sent from the CPU 11 to the recording paper transport circuit 16 through the input/output interface 10 at a predetermined timing based on the control sequence set as described above, first the separation roller 3 is rotated, and the The recording paper 1 placed in the paper feed cassette 2 is separated and sent out one by one, and when the recording paper 1 reaches the circumferential surface of the platen roller 4 after a predetermined time, the gripper of the platen roller 4 40 grips the leading end of the recording paper 1, and the recording paper 1 is conveyed in a circular direction as the platen roller 4 starts rotating at the same time. Note that the circular conveyance of the recording paper 1 here is controlled to be synchronized with the conveyance speed of the ink donor film 6.

Through such control, when the leading edge of the recording paper 1 conveyed in close contact with the ink-coated surface of the ink donor film 6 is about to pass through the lower part of the recording section of the thermal head 5, the thermal head 5 starts printing. The ink donor film 6 is driven to generate heat in response to a signal, and the ink is transferred to the ink donor film 6 which is melted at the heat-generating portion, thereby forming the recording paper 1.
An image corresponding to the image signal is formed thereon. The above-mentioned image signal is once taken into the RAM 13 from an image signal processing circuit (not shown) through the input/output interface 10, and is then read out from the RAM 13 under the control of the CPU 11 at a predetermined print timing based on the above-mentioned control sequence. The signal is supplied to the thermal head 5 through the input/output interface circuit 10 and the single head drive circuit 14, and drives the thermal head 5.

By the way, when considering the printing operation when using different types of ink donor films in this type of thermal transfer recording device, for example, when using monochrome IDF60, and when using 3.
When using color IDF 61 or 4-color IDF 62, the recording paper 1 is used in the printing sequence.
Specific differences have emerged, such as whether the platen roller 4 rotates once or continuously three or four times to convey the recording paper 1 and each [ The transport timing of 0F60.61.62 also differs. In this respect, in the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, it goes without saying that basic control sequences can be set for each IDF 60, 61, and 62 as described above.
2 and when black printing is required, complicated control such as whether to achieve this black printing using the Y, M, and C ink layers or to perform black printing with the B ink layer alone. The sequence is also automatically set based on the detection result of the identification mark M2 by the mark detection sensor 9, so that the printing work can always be performed in an optimal state.

However, in the method of configuring the identification mark M2 described above,
It is quite conceivable that errors in detection by the mark detection sensor 9 may occur due to external requirements, etc., and especially when the above-mentioned erroneous detection occurs when the three-color IDF 61 and the four-color IDF 62 are used, the print result will be affected. will cause major obstacles. Therefore, the start mark M is placed on the marker IM on the marking area Am in each of the IDEs 60, 61, and 62 configured as shown in FIG.
In addition to the R-specific mark M2, an error detection mark M3 as shown in FIG. Obstacles can be avoided. Furthermore, depending on the configuration of the error detection mark M3, the erroneous detection can be corrected, thereby making it possible to further improve the reliability of printing control. Furthermore, on the upper side, the control sequence set based on the detection output of the mark detection sensor 9 is configured to be lost when the power is turned off, but with this method, the marker detection output by the mark detection sensor 9 is Department M
It is necessary to perform the detection operation from the beginning and set the control sequence described above, resulting in an inconvenience that the waste of the IDF increases. Therefore, when the power is turned off, backup is performed using a battery power source, etc., and the once-set control sequence is stored, for example, in the program ROM 12, thereby reducing the waste of IDF each time the power is turned on. However, it is quite conceivable that the IDF will be replaced even when the power is turned off, so in such a case, for example, the interlock detection sensor 17 (fourth
(see figure), and checks the open/closed state of the interlock when the power is turned off. If the interlock is detected to be open during this time, it is determined that the IDF has been replaced, and when the power is turned on, the above-mentioned It is sufficient to invalidate the control sequence held by the method described above.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention, since the type of IDF is automatically identified and the control sequence for printing the identified IDF is automatically set, it is possible to perform low-cost printing, for example. From 3-color IDE to monochrome IDF or 4-color ID when you want to achieve high print quality in black print areas, etc.
It becomes possible to easily respond to requests for replacement of F, etc., and has the excellent effect of being able to carry out extremely effective and diverse printing operations accurately and smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a recording section of a thermal transfer recording device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of various ink donor films used in the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of one of the main parts of the ink donor film shown in FIG. 2, FIG. This figure is a conceptual diagram showing an improved example of the main structure shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of a typical ink donor film used in a conventional thermal transfer recording device. 1... Recording paper, 2... Paper feed cassette, 3... Separate roller, 4... Platen roller, 40...
Gripper, 5... Thermal head, 6... Ink donor film (IDF), 7... Supply roller, 8...
・Wind-up 〇-ra, 9... mark detection sensor, 10...
・Input/output interface, 11...CPU, 12.
...Program ROM, 13...RAM, 14...
Thermal head drive circuit, 15... Ink donor film transport circuit, 16... Recording paper transport circuit, 17...
・Interlock detection sensor, 60...monochrome iD
F, 61...3 color IDF, 62...4 color IDF. Ai...Ink application area, Am...Marking area, M...Part of marker, Ml...Start mark, M...Identification mark, M3...Error detection mark. Figure 1 (a) (b)
(c) Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) An ink donor film in which type identification marks for identifying the type are formed at specific intervals on a marking area formed along the sub-scanning direction; A mark detection sensor detects the type identification mark formed on the marking area, and identifies the type of the loaded ink donor film from the detection output of the mark detection sensor, and detects the type of the ink donor film of the identified type. 1. A thermal transfer recording apparatus, comprising a setting means for setting a corresponding print control sequence. (2) The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim (1), wherein an error detection mark for determining erroneous detection is added to the type identification mark. (3) The thermal transfer recording device according to claims (1) and (2), wherein an error correction mark for correcting erroneous detection is added to the type identification mark. . (4) The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim (1), wherein the print control sequence is maintained even when power is turned off. (5) The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claims (1) and (4), wherein the printing control sequence is invalidated when an interlock is established.