JPS63315264A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove unevenness in density at a boundary between adjacent resistance heating element groups, by a method wherein the adjacent resistance heating elements at the boundary between divided blocks are shifted in an image receiving paper feeding direction to a line of other resistance heating elements to be provided on a base material. CONSTITUTION:A resistance heating element R2.1 contained in a divided block R2 in which current application control is successively performed in two resistance heating elements provided near a boundary between adjacent divided blocks R1, R2 is installed on a base material 1 shifting by L in an image receiving paper feeding direction from a line of the other resistance heating elements R2.2-R2.N contained in the same group R2. Thereby, when current application control is applied to the divided block R1, a transfer sheet and an image receiving paper are fed and then, current application control is applied to the divided block R2, a recording dot P2.1 by the element R2.1 is not so shifted as a distance L0 how the image receiving paper is fed. Therefore, a gap G between the dot P1.N and the dot P2.1 which is generated since ink material is not transferred is small, a boundary between the adjacent divided blocks R1 and R2 is not seen as a white line, and an image of good quality can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is limited to a divided thermal recording device that performs thermal recording on a receiver paper for each group of resistive heating elements using a thermal head including a plurality of resistive heating elements, and in particular, This invention relates to improving density unevenness at the boundary between adjacent resistance heating element groups.

Conventional technology A thermal head including a plurality of resistive heating elements arranged on the same straight line on a substrate is used to move the thermal head and image receiving paper relative to each other, and to control energization of the resistive heating elements to generate heat on the receiving paper. When performing recording, if power is controlled to all the resistance heating elements at once, the instantaneous power increases as the number of resistance heating elements increases. Therefore, in order to suppress this instantaneous power and control the energization of all the resistance heating elements, a plurality of adjacent resistance heating elements in a thermal head including a plurality of resistance heating elements on the base are grouped into one group. Sequentially, for each resistive heating element group (hereinafter referred to as "divided block j"), energization is controlled for each of the resistive heating elements at once, and all of the resistive heating elements included in the thermal head are supplied with electricity. Thermal recording method for controlling energization (hereinafter referred to as
This is called "r block division recording". ) has been practiced for a long time.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In this block divided recording, if the receiving paper is sent after controlling the energization of all the heat generating resistor elements, there is only one divided block that performs thermal recording while feeding this receiving paper. However, the transfer recording characteristics differ from those of other divided blocks. Therefore, at least the image receiving paper must be fed for each block division recording so that the same recording density can be obtained under the same energization control in all the resistive heating element sections.

An example of the arrangement of resistance heating elements (rl, ]-r2.N) for recording divided into two blocks in a conventional thermal head is shown in Fig. 4. Using this thermal head, a transfer sheet is placed between the image receiving paper and the thermal head. FIG. 5 shows an example of two-block divided recording in which energization control is performed with the same pulse width Pw in a thermal transfer recording method in which the ink material is melted and transferred by pressing to melt the ink material and lower its viscosity.

In this two-block divided recording, first, the resistance heating elements rl, 1-rl, and N included in the divided block r1 are energized to perform thermal transfer recording, and then the image receiving paper and the transfer sheet are
After sending the resistive heating elements r2.1-r2. contained in the divided block r2. Thermal transfer recording is performed by controlling the current supply to N. Therefore, rl,N is r2,1, r2,1 is rl,
Since it is not affected by the thermal influence of N, as shown in Figure 4, rl
, 1-rl, N and r2, 1-r2. Transfer recording dots (p 1.1-p 2.N) by N resistance heating elements are
Even if they are connected due to the thermal influence of adjacent resistance heating elements, the transferred recording dots (pl, N = p2.1) by the two resistance heating elements rl,1 and r2,1 are not connected, and the recorded image is divided into divided blocks. A gap g was created at the boundary between the two, which appeared as a white line and greatly reduced the image quality.

Means for Solving the Problems A thermal head including a plurality of resistance heating elements on a substrate is used, the thermal head is moved relative to the image receiving paper, and a plurality of adjacent resistance heating elements are grouped into one group. In a recording apparatus that performs thermal recording by sequentially controlling the energization of each resistive heating element for each group of 3 resistive heating elements, a plurality of adjacent resistive heating elements included in a thermal head are combined into one. Among a plurality of resistive heating elements arranged in the vicinity of the boundary between two adjacent resistive heating element groups, one or more resistive heating elements included in the resistive heating element group to which energization control is subsequently performed. A resistive heating element is placed on the base body so as to be shifted in a direction opposite to a direction in which the thermal head moves relative to the image receiving paper from a row of the plurality of resistive heating elements included in the same group.

According to the present invention, even when the thermal head moves relative to the image receiving paper and performs thermal recording every time the energization is controlled in the divided blocks, the adjacent resistance heating elements at the boundaries of the divided blocks are not activated. Since the resistive heating elements are disposed on the base body 2 offset in the direction in which the image receiving paper is fed with respect to the row of resistive heating elements, even if the thermal influence between the resistive heating elements adjacent to the boundary between the divided blocks is small, The recording dots sandwiching this boundary are obtained by performing divided recording using a conventional thermal head, and the recording dots are not far apart, and gaps are difficult to form at the boundaries of divided blocks, and the recording dots on the surface of the receiving paper that are generated due to current control Since the shape of the driver I~ does not become significantly irregular at the boundary between divided blocks, good recording image quality can be obtained.

Example An embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIG.

A thermal head 2 is constructed by disposing at least a heating resistor element R on a substrate 1, and a transfer sheet 6 in which an ink material layer 4 is disposed on a film-like substrate 5 is placed between the thermal head 2 and an image receiving paper 3 on a platen. 7, and the image receiving paper 3 and transfer sheet 6 are moved in the direction of the arrow 1 according to the rotating direction 10 of the platen 7.
1. While being sent in the 12-direction, the recording signal source 8 performs selective energization control on the heating resistive element R by, for example, pulse width control. Corresponding to this energization control, the ink material layer 4 in contact with the image receiving paper 3 melts and becomes less viscous, resulting in transferability on the image receiving paper 3. After this energization control, the transfer sheet 6 is transferred to the image receiving paper 3.
A recorded image 9 is obtained on the receiving paper by peeling it off.

FIG. 2 shows a resistive heating element (R) of a thermal head used in a recording apparatus according to the present invention when divided into two blocks.
1-R, 2, N) arrangement example is shown.

In this example, among the plurality of resistance heating elements installed near the boundary between adjacent divided blocks (R1 and R2), a single resistance heating element included in the divided block (R2) to which energization control is subsequently performed (R2,1) in the same group (R2
) included in the other plurality of resistance heating elements (R2, 2-R2
, N), the substrate 1 is shifted by L in the receiving paper feeding direction.
A thermal head 2 is configured by installing it on top.

FIG. 3 shows thermal transfer by block division recording using a thermal head not shown in FIG. An example of recording dots (Pl, 1.-R2, N) on the surface of the receiving paper when recording is performed is shown. R first
Energization control is performed for one divided block, and energization control with the same pulse width PW is performed for each of the resistive heating elements (R, 1, 1-1, N) at once.

At this time, the resistance heating element (R
1,2-R1,N-1> (for example, the resistive heating elements on both sides of R1,2 are R1,]).

Since energization control is performed on R1, 3) with the same pulse width PAW, the temperature easily increases due to heat conduction between these resistance heating elements, and the recording dots are also
There is a thin connection between L and N. However, Pl, N, R
Between 2 and 1, R2 and 1 are not energized, so
Difficult to connect. However, the R1 divided block is energized, the transfer sheet and image receiving paper are sent, and then the R2
When the divided block is energized, in this example, the resistance heating element (R2, 1) is replaced by a plurality of other resistance heating elements (R2, 2 - R2, N>) included in the same group (R2). Since the image receiving paper is set on the base 1 with a shift L in the direction in which the image receiving paper is sent, the recording 1 head P2,1 due to R2,1 does not slip as far as the distance LO that the image receiving paper is sent, so PL, N - R2,1
The gap G that occurs when the ink material is not transferred is small,
The boundaries between adjacent divided blocks (R1 and R2) do not appear as white lines, and good image quality can be obtained.

The distance iL by which the resistive heating element (R2,1,) is shifted in the receiving paper feeding direction from the arrangement of the other plurality of resistive heating elements (R2,2-R2,N) included in the same group (R2) is The transfer sheet and image receiving paper are selected to be less than or equal to the moving distance LO of the image receiving paper being fed for each block division recording.

In this example, a case has been described in which there is one resistive heating element among the resistive heating elements in each divided block, which is installed on the base 1 shifted in the receiving paper feeding direction, but it is also possible to shift two or more resistive heating elements. The distance by which the plurality of resistive heating elements are shifted may be different for each heating resistive element, for example, such that the further away from the boundary of the dividing block, the smaller the shifting distance is, and the distance to which the plurality of resistive heating elements are shifted may be different for each heating resistive element. The number of resistive heating elements may be different.

Furthermore, although the present example has been described with respect to the 2-block divided recording method, it goes without saying that the same method can be applied to the case of a 3-block or more divided recording method.

Furthermore, in this example, the case of thermal melt transfer recording is explained, but it can be similarly used in the case of thermal sublimation transfer recording in which a coloring material is sublimated, and thermal recording in which a heat-sensitive image receiving paper is used.

Advantages of the Invention According to the invention, the white lines which were a drawback in block division recording disappear, and a recorded image of high quality can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a partial configuration of a recording device in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of resistive heating elements of a thermal head in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. A plan view showing an example of thermal transfer recording by a recording device in one embodiment, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a resistive heating element of a conventional thermal head, and FIG. 5 is a thermal head having the configuration of the resistive heating element of FIG. 4. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an example of thermal transfer recording when using the following. 1...Base body, 2...Thermal head, 3
... Receiving paper, 4. Ink material layer, 5...
Film-like substrate, 6... Transfer sheet, 7... Platen, 8... Recording signal source, 9... Recording image, R, rl, 1-r2. N, 'R1,1-R2,N-resistance heating element, rl, r2, R1, R2-...divided block, g...
Gap between divided blocks, G... Gap between divided blocks, pl, 1-p2. N, PL, 1-R2, N... Recording dot, 10, LO... Receiving paper feeding distance, L... Distance by which the resistance heating element R2,1 is shifted. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao

Claims (1)

[Claims] It includes an image receiving paper and a thermal head including a plurality of resistance heating elements on a base, and the thermal head and the image receiving paper are moved relatively, and the plurality of adjacent resistance heating elements are made into one group, and the resistance heating elements are sequentially moved. In a recording apparatus that performs thermal recording by collectively controlling the energization of each of the resistive heating elements for each heating element group, the energization control is performed subsequently on the two adjacent resistive heating element groups. One or more of the resistive heating elements included in the resistive heating element group and located near the boundary with the other resistive element group are selected from the array of the other plurality of resistive heating elements included in the same group. A recording apparatus characterized in that a thermal head is installed on the substrate with a displacement in a direction opposite to a direction in which the thermal head moves relative to the image receiving paper.