EP0729848B1 - Bildaufzeichnungssystem und Bildlöschungssystem für thermoreversibeles Aufzeichnungsmaterial - Google Patents

Bildaufzeichnungssystem und Bildlöschungssystem für thermoreversibeles Aufzeichnungsmaterial Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0729848B1
EP0729848B1 EP96105217A EP96105217A EP0729848B1 EP 0729848 B1 EP0729848 B1 EP 0729848B1 EP 96105217 A EP96105217 A EP 96105217A EP 96105217 A EP96105217 A EP 96105217A EP 0729848 B1 EP0729848 B1 EP 0729848B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
recording
recording medium
image
erasing
thermoreversible
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP96105217A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0729848A1 (de
Inventor
Keiki C/O Mitsubishi Denki K.K. Yamada
Masaru c/o Mitsubishi Denki K.K. Ohnishi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Original Assignee
Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from JP2257392A external-priority patent/JP2828823B2/ja
Priority claimed from JP9278092A external-priority patent/JPH05286207A/ja
Priority claimed from JP5012697A external-priority patent/JPH05301418A/ja
Application filed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp filed Critical Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Priority claimed from EP93903328A external-priority patent/EP0583483B1/de
Publication of EP0729848A1 publication Critical patent/EP0729848A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0729848B1 publication Critical patent/EP0729848B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/325—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads by selective transfer of ink from ink carrier, e.g. from ink ribbon or sheet
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
    • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
    • B41M5/26—Thermography ; Marking by high energetic means, e.g. laser otherwise than by burning, and characterised by the material used
    • B41M5/30—Thermography ; Marking by high energetic means, e.g. laser otherwise than by burning, and characterised by the material used using chemical colour formers
    • B41M5/305—Thermography ; Marking by high energetic means, e.g. laser otherwise than by burning, and characterised by the material used using chemical colour formers with reversible electron-donor electron-acceptor compositions

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a recording and erasing system which records an image on a thermoreversible recording medium and erases such a recorded image therefrom by controlling a quantity of energy applied thereto.
  • EP 0 461 606 A2 and EP 0 468 237 A2 refer to a recording and erasing system for repeatedly recording and erasing an image on and from a thermoreversible medium by applying a predetermined quantity of energy to desired areas of said medium via a heating means.
  • Said systems comprise energy varying means so as to erase an image on the recording medium.
  • the heating means applies a first quantity of energy to areas where an image is to be erased and a second quantity of energy to areas where an image is to be formed.
  • thermoreversible recording medium which becomes black, or transparent and colorless depending upon quantities of thermal energy applied thereto.
  • thermographic materials for such a recording medium.
  • thermoreversible recording medium comprising layers of thermoreversible material of a whitening group applied on the surface of a glass or plastic substrate.
  • This material inserts its state at two transition temperatures t 1 and t 2 (t 1 ⁇ t 2 ).
  • t 1 and t 2 transition temperatures
  • the material becomes white.
  • t 1 but below t 2 for a second given period of time the material becomes transparent and colorless. Therefore, heating elements of a thermal head associated with an image to be recorded are heated above t 2 , while heating elements associated with an image to be erased are heated above t 1 but under t 2 .
  • thermoreversible medium including a thermoreversible material of a dye group.
  • the recording medium contains a dye whose transparency or color changes with temperatures, the medium can be repeatedly used for recording and erasing images such as letters and symbols thereon and therefrom, respectively, similarly to the foregoing thermoreversible medium of the whitening group.
  • thermoreversible material When a first energy (h 1 ) is applied from a dynamic heat source such as a thermal head, the thermoreversible material is developed to form a first dark image (in black). The image is maintained as it is in a normal environment (temperature and humidity), but is erasable when a second energy (h 2 ) is applied thereto. When the first energy (h 1 ) is applied again, a second image can be formed. Thus, the recording and erasing can be performed repeatedly.
  • a dynamic heat source such as a thermal head
  • Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic view showing the configuration of the foregoing recording medium 1, which comprises a protective film 14, a recording layer 15 including materials such as a dye, an agent for making an image visible/invisible and a binder, and a substrate 16.
  • a black image is formed on the recording medium 1, for example.
  • the second small energy (h 2 ) of 80 - 160°C is applied to the recording medium 1 for a relatively long period of time, e.g. 5 ms to 2 sec, in the direction of the arrow A, the image is erased from the recording medium.
  • the recording layer 15 includes an agent for making the image visible/invisible which becomes acid and salt in response to an applied energy, and a leuco dye whose color changes with variations of acidity.
  • Fig. 2 shows phenyl carbonate and organic amine salt as an example of the agent for making the image visible/invisible.
  • Fig. 3 (a) shows a colorless leuco compound and Fig. 3 (b) shows a colored leuco compound.
  • the agent for making the image visible/invisible becomes acid when it is heated above the temperature t 2 , so that lactone rings of the leuco dye are opened.
  • the leuco dye becomes colored.
  • the agent for making the image visible/invisible changes to alkaline, so that the opened lactone rings are closed. Therefore, the leuco dye becomes colorless.
  • This recording medium has characteristics as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.
  • the abscissa represents a period of time for voltage supply, and the ordinate represents a recording density. From Fig. 4, it can be seen that the recording medium has the maximum recording density of 1.2 when the recording medium is applied with a voltage for approximately 3 ms.
  • the abscissa denotes an erasing temperature and the ordinate a recording density after erasure.
  • the recording medium is applied with the voltage for 3 ms (i.e. the state where the recording medium has a recording density of 1.2) and is then heated by a heat roller, a thermal head or the like.
  • Fig. 5 shows that the recording medium is completely free from an image near 120°C to 150°C (i.e. the state where the recording medium is similar to that having the density 0.15 prior to the recording).
  • Figs. 6 and 7 show the erasing characteristics of Figs. 6 and 7, which are obtained in a different manner.
  • Fig. 6 shows a completely black pattern 41 formed by the thermal head on the recording medium 1.
  • Fig. 7 shows the erasing characteristic of the recording system which erases the black pattern of Fig. 6.
  • An energy of 1.0 mJ/dot and an energy of 0.6 mj/dot are applied to the recording medium in the direction shown by an arrow B for the recording and erasing, respectively.
  • the erasing is not complete at the beginning of the erasing process (i.e. about the first to 30th lines in the black image) and substantially after the 300th and succeeding lines of the black image.
  • the head portion of the recorded image is not erased because the thermal head does not reach its effective temperature. This is because heating elements of the thermal head take a certain period of time to become effective even when thermal head is left at room temperature (without applying a voltage thereto for a while) and is heated under such a condition.
  • the thermal head is not elevated to its effective temperature until the tenth line is being erased. In other words, the thermal head is unstable in its operation until it is sufficiently activated.
  • the reason why the image is not erased in a portion following a 300th line is that the heating elements become too hot in the heated thermal head.
  • Two kinds of energy are reserved in the thermal head. One is a part of the energy generated by the heating elements and the other is the energy which is used to erase a previous line and both energies remain accumulated around the heating elements. Both of these energies raise the temperature of the heating elements which are repeatedly heated for every line. Thus, the thermal head becomes too hot to erase the recorded image.
  • Fig. 8 shows a comparison of erasing characteristics on a large recording medium of A4 size and a small recording medium of a card size.
  • the ordinate represents the numerical order of a line to be erased
  • the abscissa represents an erasing temperature. The larger the recording medium, the more incomplete the erasure.
  • thermoreversible recording medium adopts a method in which energies are applied to the recorded image so as to make it invisible.
  • the recorded image to be erased is heated at the temperature which is above t 1 but under t 2 as mentioned above.
  • thermoreversible recording medium tends to vary its reflectance and recording density somewhat depending upon its recording and erasing history.
  • the recording medium shows different degress of reflectance and recording densities at the recorded and erased areas and at the areas which have never been recorded and erased. Therefore, incompletely erased images sometimes remain vaguely on the recording medium in a manner such that they are faintly visible.
  • Prior art recording and erasing systems suffer from the problem that erasure is somewhat incomplete.
  • the recording medium there are few recording mediums which are completely thermoreversible. Usually, the more often they are used, the poorer they become, and finally they will become unusable. During repeated use, the recording medium extensively undergoes physical and chemical changes so that it may become worn out. Furthermore, the recording medium may have its protective film and thermoreversible film damaged by heat and pressure applied thereto via the thermal head as a heating means. Therefore, the user has to determine whether or not the recording medium in use is still usable, and remove the unusable recording medium. If such a unusable recording medium is continuously used since the user is not aware of its reduced performance, either recording or erasing cannot be carried out thereon, which will be inconvenient to the user.
  • This invention is intended to overcome the foregoing Problems encountered with prior art systems. It is an object of the invention to provide a recording and erasing system which can erase a previous image from a recording medium so that it is remarkably indistinct, and which can identify a used-up recording medium.
  • the recording and erasing system of the invention has the structure as shown in Fig. 9.
  • the recording and erasing system is applicable to devices such as an information display, an electronic board and a message board used in a railway station.
  • a thermoreversible recording medium 1 is repeatedly used for the recording and erasing processes, and is in the shape of a film in this embodiment.
  • the recording medium 1 extends around supports 2 and 4 in a manner such that one image area thereof is visible in the direction shown by an arrow C.
  • the supports 2 and 4 are made of material like rubber, and are rotated either clockwise or counterclockwise by a drive source such as a motor, not shown.
  • a heating means 3 comes into contact with the support 2 so as to heat the recording medium 1, thereby perform the recording or erasing thereon.
  • the heating means 3 comprises a thermal head, and has a size substantially equal to the width of the recording medium 1. For instance, when a visible area of the recording medium 1 is approximately of A4 size, the heating means 3 includes approximately 2,500 heating elements (not shown).
  • a control means 62 controls the recording and erasing operations.
  • the recording and erasing system records an image based on data which are read by a word processor, a scanner or the like, and are transferred to the control means 62.
  • the invention relates to a device for obscuring a residual image which is left on the recording medium when the dye in the recording layer is not completely reversible.
  • an image is input from an external data input unit 61 such as a keyboard.
  • a recording control unit 62 controls a heating unit 63 for heating the heating elements associated with an image to be recorded.
  • the recording medium 64 is heated above the temperature t 2 (called “high-temperature heating"), and develops the image at the heated portions thereof.
  • the heating unit 63 heats heating elements according to the image to be recorded, under control of the recording control unit 62, so that the image is recorded on the recording medium.
  • the background pattern comprises characters, symbols and so on, which preferably makes the main images unidentifiable.
  • a switch 66 is operated to connect a background pattern generating unit 67 to the recording control unit 62, which controls the heating unit 63 according to the background pattern.
  • the heating unit 63 performs the high-temperature heating so as to record the background pattern over the entire area of the recording medium 64 which is fed by a roller 5.
  • the main image which is already present on the recording medium is merged into the background pattern and becomes indistinct. This is because the background patterns has substantially the same color and density as the main image.
  • the heating unit 63 heats the whole area of the recording medium 64 to the temperature higher than t 1 but below t 2 (called “low temperature heating”).
  • Both the main image and the background pattern undergo the erasing process.
  • the main image and the background patterns are not always erased completely, and may be vaguely left on the recording medium as mentioned above. Thus, the residual background pattern makes the main image indistinct. Therefore, when
  • the recording medium of the present invention is applicable as a parking card, a prepaid card, a commuter ticket and so forth. Repeated use of such cards is very effective in the conservation of natural resources. Further, contents of previous recording will not be revealed when the recording medium is reused.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Heat Sensitive Colour Forming Recording (AREA)

Claims (1)

  1. Aufzeichnungs- und Löschsystem zur wiederholten Aufzeichnung und Löschung eines Bilds auf einem thermoreversiblen Aufzeichnungsträger (64) durch Zufuhr einer vorbestimmten Energiemenge zu dessen gewünschten Bereichen über eine Heizeinrichtung (63), wobei das Aufzeichnungs- und Löschssystem
    dadurch gekennzeichnet ist, daß es
    eine Hintergrundmustererzeugungseinrichtung (67) zur Erzeugung eines Hintergrundmusters auf einen bestimmten Bereich des Aufzeichnungsträgers,
    eine externe Dateneingabeeinrichtung (61) zur Eingabe aufzuzeichnender Bilddaten,
    eine Aufzeichnungssteuereinrichtung (62) zur Steuerung der Heizeinrichtung und
    eine Schalteinrichtung (66) zum wahlweisen Anschluß der externen Dateneingabeeinrichtung und der Hintergrundmustererzeugungseinrichtung an die Aufzeichnungssteuereinrichtung aufweist,
    wobei die Löschung ausgeführt wird, nachdem das Hintergrundmuster auf den Aufzeichnungsträger aufgezeichnet ist.
EP96105217A 1992-02-07 1993-02-08 Bildaufzeichnungssystem und Bildlöschungssystem für thermoreversibeles Aufzeichnungsmaterial Expired - Lifetime EP0729848B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (9)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP22573/92 1992-02-07
JP2257392A JP2828823B2 (ja) 1992-02-07 1992-02-07 リライタブル記録表示装置
JP26964/92 1992-02-13
JP2696492 1992-02-13
JP9278092A JPH05286207A (ja) 1992-04-13 1992-04-13 リライタブル記録表示装置
JP92780/92 1992-04-13
JP12697/93 1993-01-28
JP5012697A JPH05301418A (ja) 1992-02-13 1993-01-28 リライタブル記録表示装置
EP93903328A EP0583483B1 (de) 1992-02-07 1993-02-08 Aufzeichnungs- und Löschverfahren für ein thermoreversibles Aufzeichnungsmaterial

Related Parent Applications (2)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP93903328.8 Division 1993-02-08
EP93903328A Division EP0583483B1 (de) 1992-02-07 1993-02-08 Aufzeichnungs- und Löschverfahren für ein thermoreversibles Aufzeichnungsmaterial

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0729848A1 EP0729848A1 (de) 1996-09-04
EP0729848B1 true EP0729848B1 (de) 1999-05-12

Family

ID=27514101

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP96105217A Expired - Lifetime EP0729848B1 (de) 1992-02-07 1993-02-08 Bildaufzeichnungssystem und Bildlöschungssystem für thermoreversibeles Aufzeichnungsmaterial

Country Status (1)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0729848B1 (de)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7494414B2 (en) 2003-09-12 2009-02-24 Igt Gaming device having a card management system for the management of circulating data cards
US8057296B2 (en) 2003-09-12 2011-11-15 Igt Gaming device including a card processing assembly having vertically-stacked card holders operable with thermally-printable data cards and portable card changeover machines
US8061913B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2011-11-22 Igt Machine having a card processing assembly
US8197334B2 (en) 2007-10-29 2012-06-12 Igt Circulating data card apparatus and management system

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
AT405468B (de) * 1996-12-02 1999-08-25 Ulrich Ewald Ing Vorrichtung zum thermischen einbringen von informationen und informationsträger
US20040169713A1 (en) * 2001-05-10 2004-09-02 Koji Niino Rewritable printing method and its printer
CN113135051B (zh) * 2021-04-25 2022-11-22 威海新北洋技术服务有限公司 一种擦除头检测方法及打印机

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS6423245A (en) * 1987-07-18 1989-01-25 Ricoh Kk Overhead projector
JPH02188294A (ja) 1989-01-18 1990-07-24 Toppan Printing Co Ltd 可逆性感熱記録媒体
EP0461606B1 (de) 1990-06-14 1997-12-10 Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha Wiedereinschreibbares Aufzeichnungsgerät/Anzeigevorrichtung und Verfahren zum Löschen der Aufzeichnung
CA2046048C (en) * 1990-07-04 1996-11-05 Keiki Yamada Method of and apparatus for rewritable recording and erasing and rewritable recording film

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8061913B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2011-11-22 Igt Machine having a card processing assembly
US8210759B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2012-07-03 Igt Machine having a card processing assembly
US8500349B2 (en) 2003-09-02 2013-08-06 Igt Machine having a card processing assembly
US7494414B2 (en) 2003-09-12 2009-02-24 Igt Gaming device having a card management system for the management of circulating data cards
US8057296B2 (en) 2003-09-12 2011-11-15 Igt Gaming device including a card processing assembly having vertically-stacked card holders operable with thermally-printable data cards and portable card changeover machines
US8523664B2 (en) 2003-09-12 2013-09-03 Igt Machine having a card processing assembly
US8197334B2 (en) 2007-10-29 2012-06-12 Igt Circulating data card apparatus and management system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0729848A1 (de) 1996-09-04

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