KR19980066454U - Color ink ribbons for sublimation thermal transfer color printing - Google Patents

Abstract

end. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

A color ink ribbon used in a sublimation thermal transfer color printer.

I. The technical problem the invention seeks to solve

It offers color ink ribbons that improve printing speed and minimize waste.

All. Summary of solution of design

The color ink ribbon is equally divided in the width direction by the number of primary colors required for color printing, and each of the divided color patches is correspondingly coated with one color ink of the primary colors.

la. Important uses of the devise

Used for sublimation thermal transfer color printers.

Description

Color ink ribbons for sublimation thermal transfer color printing

The present invention relates to a color ink ribbon used in a color printer, and more particularly to a color ink ribbon used in a sublimation thermal transfer color printer.

Typically, a sublimation thermal transfer color printer records an image on a recording medium by a thermal transfer method using a thermal print head (hereinafter referred to as TPH) and a color ink ribbon. As the color ink ribbon, a color ink ribbon coated with a sublimated color ink of three primary colors or four primary colors is used. Typically, the three primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. In contrast, the four primary colors use cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

The sublimation type thermal transfer color printer prints by subliming the color ink coated on the color ink ribbon selectively by heat generation of TPH according to the image data and attaching it to the recording paper. At this time, various colors are expressed by a combination and shade of three primary colors or four primary colors.

1 is a structural diagram of a color ink ribbon that has been used for sublimation thermal transfer color printing as described above, and shows an example of a four primary color ink ribbon. In the color ink ribbon of FIG. 1, color patches, that is, yellow (100), magenta (102), cyan (104), and black (106) are continuously connected in the printing direction. These color patches 100-106 continue to repeat repeatedly. The length W of each of the color patches 100 to 106 is set to correspond to a recording paper width of a predetermined standard, and the corresponding color ink is coated on the color patches 100 to 106, respectively.

An example of color printing using the color ink ribbon shown in FIG. 1 will be described. After printing from yellow (100) while moving TPH from side to side on one sheet of paper, print the next color in the order of magenta (102), cyan (104), and black (106) by running the color ink ribbon. do. Then, the recording paper is transported by the width of the color ink ribbon and the above printing is repeated. In this way, a total of four printings are performed on one sheet of recording paper to realize various colors. At this time, the color patch once used as the printing progress is not used again.

On the other hand, when the width of the recording paper is smaller than the color patch length W shown in Fig. 1, the color ink ribbon is not used in the color patches 100 to 106 by the difference between the recording paper width and the color patch length W, respectively. Accordingly, the color ink ribbon is wasted by the difference between the recording paper width and the color patch length W. FIG. Considering that the sublimation thermal transfer color ink ribbon is very expensive, this waste is very disadvantageous for the consumer. If this part is to be saved, a problem arises in that the color patch length W must be changed to match the recording paper width. On the other hand, when the color patch length is small compared to the recording paper width, only one color patch for each of the primary colors is insufficient. That is, since only the color patch length W can be printed at a time, the difference between the recording paper width and the color patch length W is not printed. Accordingly, the color ink ribbon should be further traveled in the direction opposite to the printing progress direction, and the remaining printing should be performed when the next same color color patch comes out. This takes more time to print, and the color ink ribbon in the intermediate portion may be consumed without being used.

As described above, the conventional color ink ribbon has a problem in that the printing speed decreases according to the recording paper width and the ribbon is wasted because the color patches are arranged consecutively along the printing progress direction.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a color ink ribbon which can improve printing speed and minimize waste regardless of recording paper width.

The color ink ribbon of the present invention for achieving the above object is characterized in that the color ink of the primary colors are coated one by one on each of the color regions evenly divided in the width direction by the number of primary colors required for color printing.

1 is a structural diagram of a conventional color ink ribbon,

2 is a structural diagram of a color ink ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In the following description and the accompanying drawings, detailed descriptions of well-known functions and structures that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

2 is a structural diagram of a color ink ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention, and shows an example of four primary color ink ribbons as in FIG. 1. The color ink ribbon of FIG. 2 is equally divided into two bands in the width direction, and each of the bands is equally divided into color patches by the number of primary colors. At this time, the color patches 200 to 206 coated on the band 1 and the color patches 208 to 214 coated on the band 2 are arranged in the same order of yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Therefore, the color patches 200 to 214 are arranged in parallel with respect to the printing progress direction unlike the conventional FIG. 1. Here, the areas where the colors cross each other are not coated.

2 shows an example of applying the present invention to a four primary color ink ribbon, but the same applies to a three primary color ink ribbon. And although the example of dividing the color ink ribbon into two bands, only four color patches may be coated or divided into a larger number of bands without band dividing.

An example of color printing using the color ink ribbon of FIG. 2 as described above is as follows. Yellow (200) is printed while moving TPH from side to side on one sheet of paper, the recording paper is transported by the width of yellow (200), and then magenta (202) is printed. Do Then, the above-described printing is repeated after running the color ink ribbon by the printed width. Therefore, every time you print, you only have to print as long as the color ink ribbon is used. At this time, since the color patches 200 to 214 are used consecutively by the width of the recording paper, waste can be minimized even when the recording paper width is changed. In addition, since the color patches are arranged in the same direction as the printing progress direction, the time required for printing is shortened because there is no need to find the same color patches by skipping between the color patches.

As described above, the present invention has an advantage of improving printing speed and minimizing waste regardless of recording paper width.

Claims (8)

A color ink ribbon for sublimation thermal transfer color printing, And a color ink of the primary colors correspondingly coated on each of the color patches evenly divided in the width direction by the number of primary colors required for the color printing. The color ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein the color patches are arranged in parallel with respect to the printing progress direction. 3. The color ink ribbon according to claim 2, wherein the primary colors are yellow, magenta, and cyan. 3. The color ink ribbon according to claim 2, wherein the primary colors are yellow, magenta, cyan and black. A color ink ribbon for sublimation thermal transfer color printing, Bands divided equally into at least two or more in the width direction, Color ribbons, characterized in that for each of the bands is divided equally by the number of primary colors required for the color printing and the color patches of the color inks of the primary colors correspondingly coated one by one. 6. The color ink ribbon according to claim 5, wherein the color patches are arranged in parallel with respect to the printing progress direction. 7. The color ink ribbon according to claim 6, wherein the primary colors are yellow, magenta, and cyan. 7. The color ink ribbon according to claim 6, wherein the primary colors are yellow, magenta, cyan and black.