JPS63267563A - Thermal recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable both recording operation and correction operation to be carried out, by a method wherein a thermal head is equipped with at least two lines of heating resistors almost parallel to each other, and any one of the heating resistor lines is selected to be driven according to kinds of thermal transfer media. CONSTITUTION:In the case of recording by, for instance, an osmotic type ink ribbon and a first ink layer 66 of multi-color multi-layer ink as given in Figures 6A and C, a heating resistor 4 is heated. An ink ribbon 70 of 105 is heated thereby to be fused. Though the ink ribbon 105 is peeled off from a recording sheet 21 with movement in an arrow A direction of a thermal head 104, the ink ribbon 70 is cooled since there is a distance thereto, transferred onto a surface of a recording sheet 21 and recording is carried out. In the same way, by heating the heating resistor 4, lift off erase can be carried out with a non- osmotic type ink ribbon. Further, by heating the heating resistor 3, image recording with the non-osmotic ink ribbon can be carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal recording device that performs recording on a recording sheet using an ink sheet for thermal transfer.

[Prior Art] As a recording device such as a printer, facsimile, or typewriter, a recording head is mounted on a carriage that moves along a platen, and the recording head scans a recording sheet (recording medium) while recording. Serial types are widely used.

In addition, various σ recording methods have been put into practical use, including inkjet, wire dot, and thermal recording methods.
Thermal recording devices include thermal transfer recording devices that use an ordinary sheet and press a recording head (thermal head) through an ink ribbon to adhere molten ink, and thermal transfer recording devices that use a heat-sensitive sheet (a sheet that develops color when heated). There is a thermal recording method in which the head is pressed against the head and directly heated to record.

Furthermore, there are two types of ink ribbons; one is a penetrating type that allows heat-melted ink to penetrate into the recording sheet, and the other is an adhesive type that fixes the ink to the surface of the recording sheet mainly by the adhesive force when it is heated and melted. Corrections can be made by removing the transferred ink (S) (lift-off).

In addition, multi-layer, multi-color ink ribbons have recently been developed in which different ink layers are recorded depending on the peeling temperature, and a single ink ribbon can record a plurality of colors.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since the conventional thermal head has only one heating element for recording, it is difficult to use penetrating ink ribbons, non-penetrating ink ribbons, and multilayer multicolor ink. When using a ribbon, etc., it is impossible to control the peeling temperature with a single heating element for recording, so special methods such as mechanically changing the peeling position of the ink ribbon or changing the feed speed of the ink ribbon are required. It was not possible to satisfy both requirements of record lift-off without proper operation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal recording device that can perform a recording operation and a correction operation (lift-off operation) using a thermal transfer medium.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the thermal head of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, in a thermal recording device that performs recording by transferring onto a recording medium using a thermal transfer medium, there is provided a thermal head having at least two rows of heat-generating resistors arranged substantially parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and the thermal head and the recording medium are placed relative to each other. a scanning means for scanning and recording, a specifying means for specifying the type of the thermal transfer medium, and a driving means for selecting and driving one of the heating resistor arrays in accordance with the type of the thermal transfer medium. Equipped with.

[Function] In the above configuration, when recording is performed by relatively scanning a recording medium with a thermal head having at least two rows of heating resistors arranged substantially in parallel at a predetermined interval, the thermal transfer medium specified by the specifying means It operates to select and drive one of the heating resistor rows according to the type of the heating resistor.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of the thermal transfer printer (Fig. 1)] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of the thermal transfer printer equipped with the thermal head of the embodiment. Applies to the Department.

In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a control unit that controls the entire printer, and includes, for example, an MPU such as a microprocessor, a ROM1 that stores control programs and data for the MPU, and a RAM as a work area. Control operations such as printing. Reference numeral 101 denotes a ribbon specifying section that manually selects the type of thermal transfer ink ribbon 105 to be used for one print.

A carriage 103 carries a thermal head 104, an ink ribbon 105, etc., and scans the recording sheet.

106 is a motor control unit that drives a carriage motor 107 which is a scanning motor for the carriage 103;
According to the control signal from 00, the carriage motor 107
Rotation control is performed. Reference numeral 108 denotes a motor control unit that drives a sheet feed motor 109 that feeds the recording sheet according to a control signal from the control unit 100.

[Description of the main parts of the printing section (Fig. 2)] Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts of the printing part of the thermal transfer printer according to the embodiment, and parts common to those in Fig. 1 are indicated by the same symbols.

In the figure, an ink ribbon 105 is heated on a recording sheet 21 backed up on a platen 20 by a thermal head 104 in accordance with image information.
The printer is configured to perform printing by transferring the ink of the recording sheet 21 onto the recording sheet 21.

The carriage 103 is mounted so as to be movable along a guide shaft 22 installed substantially parallel to the platen 20. Carriage motor 107 such as a stepping motor,
A driving pulley 23, a driven pulley 24, and a belt 2 wound around these pulleys and coupled to the carriage 103.
It is scanned and reciprocated in the direction of arrow R by a drive system consisting of 5. When the carriage 103 scans one line and prints one line, the sheet feed motor 109 rotationally drives the platen 20 to move the recording sheet 21 by one line in the direction of arrow P.

The thermal head 104 has a plurality of electrothermal transducers (for example, 40 heating resistors arranged in two vertical rows), and is driven in an oscillating manner between a down position where it is in pressure contact with the recording sheet 21 and an up position where it is separated from the recording sheet 21. It is installed so that

A ribbon cassette 26 for supplying an ink ribbon 105 to the front surface of the thermal head 104 is removably set on the carriage 103. ribbon cassette 2
During recording, the ink ribbon 105 wound around the supply shaft 27 in the carriage 103 is sequentially moved to the take-up shaft 28 in a predetermined direction in synchronization with the movement of the thermal head 104 by a ribbon drive shaft (not shown) provided on the carriage 103. It is driven to wind.

[Description of Thermal Head (Figs. 3 to 5)] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the g+[ surface of the thermal head to4 of the embodiment.

In the figure, the thermal head 104 is connected to the ceramic substrate 2.
It is constituted by a dot forming means having rows of heating resistors 3 and 4 for image recording on the surface of the dot forming means. Each heating resistor row 3.
4 are heating resistors 3-1 to 3-N and 4-1 to 4-, respectively.
It is composed of N heat generating resistors, and each heat generating resistor is connected to the common electrode 5. Power supply control of each heating resistor is performed by a common electrode 5 and individual electrodes connected to each heating resistor. The heating resistor rows 3.4 are each formed on a glass glaze 6.7, and the glass glaze 6.7 has almost the same width and height, but there is no problem even if they are different. The heating resistor array 3 is provided at the upstream end of the ceramic substrate 2 in the recording direction.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a shift register having a bit amount of at least 2N bits, into which serial image data recorded from the outside is input together with a synchronization clock.

The output of the shift register 8 is supplied to the bases of the corresponding NPN transistors 9-1 to 9-N and 10-1 to 10-N. During a recording operation, when a predetermined voltage is applied to the common electrode 5 at the recording timing, the NPNI-transistor corresponding to the output of the shift register 8 that is at a high level is turned on, and the corresponding heating resistor is turned on. Common electrode 5
When a current flows to the transistor side, it is energized and heated, and recording is performed.

Figure 4 shows thermal head 1 from line IV-IV in Figure 3.
04, the thermal head 104 is indicated by arrow A.
Print by moving in the direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how the thermal head 104 is used.

In FIG. 5, the thermal head 104 is provided opposite the recording sheet 21 backed up by a platen, and during recording, the ink ribbon 1.5 moves in synchronization with the 8 movements of the thermal head 104 as shown in the figure. It is supplied in direction B, and after passing through the heating resistor rows 3 and 4, it is peeled off from the trailing edge at a peeling angle β. Note that when recording is performed using only one heating resistor array of the thermal head 104, the recording is performed with all output data of the resistor array that is not being recorded set to "0°."

[Description of Ink Ribbon (Fig. 6)] Figs. 6 (A) to (C) are diagrams schematically showing cross-sectional structures of various ink ribbons for thermal transfer.

FIG. 6(A) is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a penetrating ink ribbon.

60 is a base film made of polyester etc., about 3
．． It has a thickness of 5 μm. 61 is an ink layer containing a color rejuvenator, a pigment or dye such as carbon black, and oil as a softening agent, and is adhered to the base film 60 with a binder containing carnauba wax or ester wax. There is. The thickness of this ink layer 61 is preferably about 4 μm.

This permeable ink ribbon has a characteristic that the ink in the ink layer 61 melted by heating has a low viscosity, so that it easily permeates into the recording sheet. Therefore, there is a tendency that the print quality will be better if the ink ribbon is peeled off from the recording sheet during printing after the ink temperature has decreased.

FIG. 6(B) is a diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a non-penetrating ink ribbon that can be lifted off.

This non-penetrating ink ribbon has an ff1lllolt layer 63 that is easy to melt and has a low viscosity when heated between a base film 62 made of polyester or the like and an ink layer 64.
is formed. The ink layer 64 is an adhesive layer that has a high viscosity of ink that melts when heated and has little penetration into the recording sheet. They are sometimes composed of materials mixed with carbon black or other dyes in a medium that produces adhesion.

The 1ttat layer 63 is made of a material that melts and has a low viscosity when heated, such as wax, low molecular weight polyethylene, or polyamide. The thickness of each layer of the ink ribbon in FIG. 6 CB) is, for example, the base film 6.
The thickness of the ink layer 64 can be approximately 4 μm.

Also, in this non-penetrating ink ribbon, while the heated release layer 63 and ink layer 64 are at a high temperature, the base film 62! IJ By hatching, record sheet 21
The image is transferred to the original image, and good printing can be performed. on the other hand,
When the ink layer 64 is heated and peeled off after the temperature drops, the adhesive force between the base 62, the peeling layer 63, and the ink layer 64 is stronger than the adhesive force between the ink layer 64 and the recording sheet, so the ink layer 64 is not transferred to the recording sheet. It has the property that it returns to the base film 62 side without any problems.

FIG. 6(C) is a diagram showing the cross-sectional structure of a multilayer, multicolor ink ribbon. 65 is a base film made of polyester, etc., and 66 is a first film containing a highly adhesive coloring pigment or dye such as carbon black. The ink layer 67 is a second ink layer that has lower adhesive strength than the first ink layer 66 and contains a different coloring pigment or dye than the first ink layer 66, and the thickness of each layer is, for example, 3 times the base film 65. .5μm1 first ink layer 66
The thickness of the second ink layer 67 can be made approximately 3 μm.

In this multilayer multicolor ink ribbon, if it is heated and peeled off while the temperature is high, the adhesive force between the second ink layer 67 and the first ink layer 66 will weaken, and only the second ink layer 67 will be on the recording sheet side. transcribed into. Furthermore, when the adhesive force between the second ink layer 67 and the first ink layer 66, which had weakened once, is peeled off after being cooled after heating, the adhesive force between the recording sheet and the second ink layer 67 becomes stronger than the base film 65. , the adhesive force between the first ink layer 66 is stronger than that of the second ink layer 67.
, both of the first ink layer 66 are transferred to the recording sheet, and since the first ink layer 66 is on top, the color of the first ink layer 66 is recorded.

For these various ribbons, it is common to apply a coating agent such as silicone to the side of the base film opposite to the ink layer in order to prevent thermal and mechanical damage to the base film during heating. known to.

[Explanation of usage status of thermal head (Figure 7.8) Figures 7 and 8 are diagrams for explaining usage status of the thermal head 104, and parts common to Figure 5 are indicated by the same symbols. .

FIG. 7(A) is a diagram showing a case where an ink ribbon with a low peeling temperature is used. For example, FIG. 6(A) and FIG. 6(C)
When recording with the first ink layer 66 of the penetrating ink ribbon and multicolor multilayer ink shown in FIG. 1, the heating resistor 4 is heated. As a result, 70 of the ink ribbon 105 is heated and melted. As shown in Figure (B), as the thermal head 104 moves in the direction of arrow A, the ink ribbon 105 is peeled off from the recording sheet 21, but since there is a gap (time) until then, the ink ribbon 105 is cooled down and is transferred onto the surface of the recording sheet 21 and recording is performed.

Furthermore, when using an ink ribbon with a high peeling temperature, for example, when recording the second ink layer 67 of a non-penetrating ink ribbon shown in FIGS. 6(B) and (C) or a multicolor multilayer ink,
In B), when the second heating resistor 3 is heated, the ink ribbon 105 71 is heated and melted. At this time, since the distance IIIt (time) until the ink ribbon 105 is peeled off from the recording sheet 21 is short, the ink ribbon 105 is not cooled and is peeled off while still having a high viscosity. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7(B), 71 is transferred onto the surface of the recording sheet 21, and recording is performed.

FIGS. 8(A) and 8(B) are diagrams showing the case where the recorded data on the recording sheet 21 is lifted off and erased.

At the position of the dot 72 on the recording sheet 21 in FIG. 8(A), the heating resistor 4 is heated via the non-penetrating ink ribbon shown in FIG. 6(B). The heated dots 72 are bonded to the ink layer 64 of the ink ribbon 105 in a molten state. Thereafter, when the thermal head 104 moves in the direction of arrow A and reaches the state shown in FIG. 8(B), the ink layer 64 is cooled and the interface between the dots 72 and the ink layer 64 is solidified in an adhesive state. As a result, when the ink ribbon 105 is peeled off from the recording sheet 21, the dots 72 are peeled off from the recording sheet 21 together with the ribbon 105, and lift-off erasure is performed.

As explained above, by generating heat from the heating resistor 4, it is possible to perform image recording using a penetrating ink ribbon or performing off-erasing in the case of a non-penetrating ink ribbon. Furthermore, by causing the heating resistor 3 to generate heat,
Image recording can be performed using a non-penetrating ink ribbon. In addition, in the case of a multilayer multicolor ink ribbon, by generating heat from either the first or second heating resistor,
Can be recorded in different colors.

[Description of Print and Lift-off Operations (FIGS. 9 to 13)] FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the print process of the embodiment, and this program is stored in the ROM of the control unit 100.

Ink ribbon 1 is selected from the ribbon specifying section 101 in step S1.
When the type of ink ribbon 105 is input, the process advances to step s2, and the input type of the ink ribbon 105 is stored in the RAM of the control unit 100.
to be memorized. The type of ink ribbon 105 refers to the types of ink ribbon shown in FIGS. 6(A) to 6(C), for example.

In step S3, the heating resistor array to be used by the thermal head 104 is determined in accordance with the type of ink ribbon 105, and the thermal head 104 is moved in the recording direction or the opposite direction by the distance of the resistor array 3.4. Make sure that the print start position does not shift depending on the row of heating resistors used. In step S4, print data is output to the heating resistor array used for recording, and print data "0" is output to the other heating resistor arrays.

In step S5, the thermal head 104 is energized for a predetermined time to generate heat to perform recording. In step S6, the carriage motor 107 is rotated by a predetermined amount at a speed corresponding to the type of ink ribbon 105 to move the carriage 103. In step S7, it is checked whether printing for one line has been completed, and when printing for one line is completed, the process advances to step S8, where carriage return, sheet feeding, etc. are performed, and the process advances to step S9, until printing of all data is completed. Repeat the above operation.

FIG. 12 is a diagram explaining the recording operation, and FIG. 12(A) shows a pattern of letters r A J as an example of a recording pattern. FIG. 12(B) shows the drive signals applied to each heating resistor when recording the letter "A".

The numbers on the left side of Fig. 12 (A) and (B) are heating resistor 3-1.
-3-N or 4-1 to 4-N, respectively.

FIG. 12(C) is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing for performing slip-off correction using a non-penetrating ink ribbon.

Reference numeral 90 indicates a pulse train to be applied to the odd-numbered resistor in the heat-generating resistor array 4, and 91 indicates a pulse train to be applied to the even-numbered resistor in the heat-generating resistor array 4. As a result, Figure 8 (A)
As shown in (B), the dots on the recording sheet are on the recording sheet 21.
It is of course possible to output the same data as the recorded data to be erased to the heating resistor array 4 during lift-off erasing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the lift-off operation.

In step S10, the carriage 103 is moved to the print position to be erased, and in step Sll, the print data of the heating resistor row 3 is set to "O", and data corresponding to the data to be erased or solid black data is output to the heating resistor row 4. Then, in step S12, the thermal head 104 is driven. At this time, as described above, the odd-numbered resistors and the even-numbered resistors may be driven separately. In step S13, the carriage 103 is moved by a predetermined amount, and in step S14, it is checked whether erasure of the designated data section is completed. If it is not completed, return to step Sit again and perform the above operation,
Performs lift-off deletion of recorded data such as the specified characters.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing temperature changes due to energization of the thermal head.

In the figure, reference numeral 130 indicates the temperature change from heating the ink ribbon to cooling it and peeling it off to record an image or perform lift-off erasing. This is the penetrating ribbon shown in Figure 6 (A).
It shows temperature changes during recording with the first layer ink of a multilayer multicolor ink ribbon or during lift-off correction using a non-penetrating ink ribbon.

On the other hand, 131 is recorded from the first sheet y, +, after heating the ink ribbon but before it is cooled, such as when recording with the second layer ink of a non-penetrating type or multicolor multilayer ink ribbon.
+ it shows the temperature transition when recording.

In addition, although FIG. 13 shows how the ink ribbon is cooled from heating by the heating resistor array 4 to the time of peeling, since the state of cooling depends on time, the temperature changes over time as shown at 130. It is obvious that the moving speed of the carriage 103, the distance between the heating resistor array 4 and the thermal head end 132, or the moving speed of the carriage 103 may be determined.

In addition, when recording (erasing) is finished, move the thermal head 104 an additional 8 times over the distance between the heating resistor used to perform step i and the end portion 132 of the thermal head so that it can be peeled off without adhesion. Therefore, when recording (erasing) is completed for each ribbon, the thermal head 104
The amount of movement may change.

Further, 133 indicates a temperature change when the heating resistor array 4 is preheated with a shorter pulse width than usual.

At this time, even if the heating resistor array 3 is heated to a level below normal temperature, the temperature estimate B shown at 131 can be obtained.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a recording operation for preheating.

First, in step S20, print data is output to the heat-generating recording resistor array 4, and in step S21, the thermal head is driven for a shorter time than during normal recording. In step S22, the carriage 103 is moved 8 times by the interval of the heating resistor row 3.4, in step 323 print data is output to the heating resistor row 3, and in step S24 the thermal head is driven in a shorter time than during normal recording. I do.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the structure of a thermal head according to another embodiment, and by providing four rows of heating resistors, more detailed temperature setting and recording control are possible.

In this embodiment, the case of a so-called serial printer in which the thermal head works eight times along the printing line has been explained, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, a thermal line head such as that used in a facsimile machine Even in a thermal printer that records one line at a time and sends the recording paper in the direction perpendicular to the thermal head, if multiple heating elements for recording are provided in the row direction, recording sheets with different peeling temperatures can be printed in the same way. It is clear that it can be used.

As described above, this embodiment has the advantage that printing can be performed using various ink ribbons.

Furthermore, although the heating resistor rows are energized at the same timing by the common electrode 5, they may be driven at different timings by providing a common electrode for each heating resistor row. In addition, by changing the heat generation temperature of each heating resistor array, it can be applied to preheating and to ink ribbons for higher or lower temperatures.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that recording operations and correction operations can be performed using various thermal transfer media.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 shows the schematic configuration of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts of the thermal transfer printer of the embodiment, Fig. 3 shows the structure of the thermal head of the embodiment, and Fig. 4 is a top view of the thermal head in FIG. 3 when viewed from line IV-IV, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the usage state of the thermal head of this embodiment, and FIGS. 6 (A) to (C) are ink A schematic cross-sectional view showing the type and structure of the ribbon. Figures 7 (A) and (B) and Figures 8 (A) and (B) are diagrams illustrating how the thermal head of the example is used. A flowchart of the printing process using the example thermal head, FIG. 10 is a flowchart of lift erase processing, FIG. 11 is a flowchart of preheating process, and FIG. 12 (
A) to (C) are diagrams showing the pattern of the letter "A" and the dot energization waveform, Figure 13 is a diagram showing the temperature transition as the thermal head is driven, and Figure 14 is a diagram showing the four rows of heating resistors. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of a thermal head according to another embodiment, as seen from the recording surface. In the figure, 2... board, 3.4... heating resistor array, 3-
1 to 3-N, 4-1 to 4-N... heating resistor, 5...
- Common electrode, 6.7... Glaze layer, 8... Shift register, 20... Platen, 21... Recording sheet, 26... Ribbon cassette, 100... Control unit, 1
01... Ribbon specification section, 102... Input section, 103
... Carriage, 104 ... Thermal head, 10
5... Ink ribbon, 106... Motor drive unit, 107... Carriage motor, 109... Sheet feed motor. Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 1O Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a thermal recording device that performs recording by transferring onto a recording medium using a thermal transfer medium, a thermal head having at least two rows of heating resistors arranged substantially parallel to each other at a predetermined interval, and the thermal head and the recording medium are placed relative to each other. a scanning means for scanning and recording, a specifying means for specifying the type of the thermal transfer medium, and a driving means for selecting and driving one of the heating resistor arrays in accordance with the type of the thermal transfer medium. A thermal recording device comprising: (2) The thermal recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving means is configured to eliminate a shift in the recording start position due to a change in the heat generating resistor array used for recording. (3) At least one heating resistor row among the plurality of heating resistor rows of the thermal head is provided at an upstream end of the base in the recording direction. The thermal recording device described.