JPH04329189A - Image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form an image accurately at a specified position on the rear of a postcard without forming a specific detection mark on the front of the postcard by providing a sensor which determines the presence of the postcard and also a position at the plate side of a printer and detects a printed part on the front of the postcard with the checking of a position for the postcard to form an image. CONSTITUTION:A position sensor consisting of a lift projector 3 and a light receiver 5 is provided at the platen 6 side of a printer. A position of a postcard 1 is confirmed at a point where a detection light emitted from the light projector 3 hits a printed part on the front of the postcard 1, for example, a mail number entry frame 2 and a reflected light does not reach the light as the detection light is absorbed in the frame, when the postcard 1 is fed to an area between the platen 6 and a thermal head 7. A signal of the point detection is transmitted to the thermal head 7 and a transferable film 8 transport device and an image begins to be formed. Thus it is possible to form an image accurately at a specified position on the rear of the postcard without formation of any particular detection mark on the front of the postcard.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming method, and more particularly to a thermal transfer image forming method capable of accurately forming a desired image on the back side of a postcard.

0002

[Prior Art] Various thermal transfer methods are conventionally known, and among them, a sublimable dye is used as a recording agent, and this is supported on a base film such as paper or plastic film to form a thermal transfer film, and a dye-receiving method is used. Various methods have been proposed for forming a full-color image on a layered transfer material such as paper or plastic film. In this case, the printer's thermal head is used as a heating means, and a large number of three or four color dots are transferred to the transfer material by extremely short heating, and the multicolor dots create a full-color image of the original. It is intended to reproduce. Transfer materials on which images can be formed using the above method are limited to plastic sheets that can be dyed or paper that has a dye-receiving layer in advance, and images cannot be directly formed on general plain paper. There's a problem. Of course, it is possible to form images on ordinary plain paper by forming a receptive layer on its surface, but this is generally expensive, and is useful for printing postcards, memos, stationery, etc.
It is difficult to apply this method to general ready-made transfer materials such as report paper.

[0003] As a method to solve such problems, when an image is to be formed on a ready-made transfer material such as plain paper, a dye-receiving layer can be easily formed only in the necessary areas. Layer transfer films are known. Furthermore, in order to improve the durability of the dye image formed as described above, a protective layer transfer film made of a transparent resin has been proposed on the dye image surface. As a way to further simplify the operation,
Each dye layer of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black if necessary is formed in sequence on the surface of a long base film,
Furthermore, a transferable dye-receiving layer and/or a transferable protective layer are provided on the same base film surface, and the receiving layer is first transferred to a transfer material, and then the dyes of each color are transferred to the receiving layer to form a full-color image. Composite thermal transfer films have also been proposed in which a protective layer is transferred onto the image surface.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] According to the method described above, beautiful images can be easily formed on various types of plain paper, but the size is significantly smaller than normal sizes such as A4 size and B5 size. In the case of postcards, the presence or absence and positioning of the postcard are important; for example, conventionally, as shown in FIG. A method has been adopted in which light 4 emitted from a light emitter 3 of a positioning sensor installed in the printer is applied to the black mark 2, and the presence or absence of reflected light is detected by the light receiver 5 to start image formation. There is. However, in the above case, there is a problem in that the detection mark remains on the surface of the postcard even after the image is formed, making the postcard look bad. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to be able to accurately form an image at a predetermined position on the back side of a postcard without forming any special detection marks on the front side of the postcard. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer image forming method.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The above object is achieved by the following present invention. That is, the present invention provides an image forming method for forming a dye image from a sublimation dye transfer film on the back side of a postcard fed to a printer, in which a postcard presence/absence and positioning sensor is provided on the platen side of the printer. This image forming method is characterized in that an image is formed by detecting the printed portion of the front and confirming the position of the postcard.

[0006]

[Operation] By using the printed part on the front of the postcard as a detection mark, an image can be accurately formed at a predetermined position on the back of the postcard without forming any special detection mark on the front of the postcard. I can do it.

[0007]

Preferred Embodiments The image forming method of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. In the method of the present invention, as schematically shown in FIG.
Detection light 4 emitted from the projector 3 when feeding paper between the
The position of the postcard 1 is confirmed when the point where the reflected light hits the printed part of the front of the postcard, for example, the postal code entry frame 2, and is absorbed and the reflected light does not reach the receiver 5 is detected, and the signal is sent to the thermal head 7 and the transfer It is characterized in that the information is transmitted to the film transporting device 8, and image formation is started. At this time, if a dye-receiving layer is previously formed on the back of the postcard, an image is immediately formed using the dye transfer film, but if a dye-receiving layer is not formed on the back of the postcard, the same procedure as above is applied. The dye-receiving layer can be accurately transferred using the postal code entry field as a detection mark, and then a desired dye image can be formed in the same manner as described above.

[0008] The postcard used in the present invention may be either a government-made postcard or a privately-made postcard, as long as the front side (the side where the addressee is written) has a postal code entry space, a stamp affixation space, etc. printed. Any postcard will do. Further, these postcards may or may not have a dye-receiving layer provided on the back side thereof. Further, the printer used in the present invention may be any conventional thermal transfer device such as a conventionally known video printer, and if the position sensor of these printers is provided on the thermal head side, the position sensor may be installed on the platen side. All you have to do is reinstall it.

If the postcard used in the present invention is not provided with a dye-receiving layer, the dye-receiving layer is first provided. The dye-receiving layer may be provided by coating a resin solution as described below, but a preferred method is to use a receptor layer transfer film. As the cross section of the receptor layer transfer film is schematically shown in FIG. 3, a polyester resin, a polyester resin,
A dye-receiving layer 32 made of a sublimable dye-dyeable resin such as epoxy resin, vinyl chloride resin, vinyl acetate resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, styrene resin, etc. is formed, and if necessary, a dye-receiving layer 32 is formed thereon. For the purpose of imparting adhesion, etc.
An adhesive layer 33 made of an adhesive such as vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, acrylic resin, polyamide resin, polyester resin, polyurethane resin, etc. is formed, and this adhesive layer 3
3 may contain pigments, fillers, foaming agents, etc. for the purpose of imparting cushioning properties, hiding properties, whiteness, etc. Further, a heat-resistant slipping layer 34 can be formed on the opposite surface as necessary. As shown in FIG. 6, the dye-receiving layer 62 is transferred to the required area of the transfer material 61 by overlapping it on the back side of an arbitrary postcard 61 and applying heat and pressure from the back side with a thermal head, hot roll, hot stamper, etc. I can do it. Such receptive layer transfer films themselves are described in detail in the applicant's prior application specifications. The dye-receiving layer formed as described above may have any thickness, but generally has a thickness of 1 to 10 μm.

In the image forming method of the present invention, a dye receiving layer is formed on the back side of a postcard by the method described above, and then a dye image is formed on the receiving layer by a thermal transfer method. As shown in FIG. 4, the sublimation dye transfer film used here has yellow 42, magenta 43 and cyan 44 on one side of the base film 41.
, a binder is further supported with a black (not shown) sublimable dye as required, and a heat-resistant slipping layer 45 is provided on the back side as required. By printing with a thermal head of a printer, the image shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, a full-color image 63 with arbitrary gradation and shading is formed in the receiving layer 62. Such a sublimation transfer film itself is conventionally known,
Any can be used in the present invention.

Further, the protective layer transfer film used as necessary in the present invention has a base film 51 such as a polyester film or a polyimide film on one side, as shown schematically in cross section in FIG. A highly transparent and durable protective layer 52 made of vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer or the like is formed on polyester resin, epoxy resin, or acrylic resin, and if necessary, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer is applied thereon. , an adhesive layer 53 made of an adhesive such as acrylic resin or polyamide is formed, and a heat-resistant slipping layer 5 is formed on the opposite side as required.
4 was formed. As shown in FIG. 6, this is superimposed on the image 63 surface formed on the back side of the postcard 61, and the protective layer 64 is accurately transferred to the required area of the image by applying heat and pressure from the back side using a thermal head using the above method. I can do it. Such a protective layer transfer film itself is described in detail in the applicant's prior application specification. Further, instead of the above-mentioned protective layer, a protective laminate sheet such as a polyester film or a vinyl chloride resin film may be attached to the image surface via a hot roll or hot press, if necessary, via an adhesive layer. In this case, the above-mentioned protective layer and laminate sheet may have an ultraviolet blocking effect. Furthermore, in the present invention, as schematically shown in FIG. 7, at least two types of layers among the dye-receiving layer 72, dye layers Y, M, and C of each color, and a protective layer 73 are provided on the surface of the base film 71. Image formation may be performed as described above using a composite transfer film provided in a field-sequential manner.

0012

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples. In the text, parts or percentages are based on weight unless otherwise specified. Example 1 Polyethylene terephthalate film (#2) with a heat-resistant slippery layer formed on the back surface
5. Apply a coating solution for forming a receptive layer with the following composition on the surface of the (manufactured by Toray Industries) using a bar coater at a dry rate of 5.0 g/m2, and then apply the following coating for forming an adhesive layer on top of it. The solution was applied in the same manner at a dry rate of 2.0 g/m 2 and dried to obtain a dye-receiving layer transfer film. Coating liquid composition for receptor layer: Vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer (manufactured by Denki Kagaku Kogyo, 1000A) 100 parts Epoxy-modified silicone (KF-393, made by Shin-Etsu Chemical)
5 parts Amino-modified silicone (KS-343, manufactured by Shin-Etsu Chemical)
5 parts methyl ethyl ketone/toluene (weight ratio 1/1)
500 parts Coating liquid composition for adhesive layer: Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer resin heat sealing agent (manufactured by Toyo Morton, AD-3 7P295)


100 parts pure water

100 copies

Next, the following yellow, magenta, and cyan inks were applied repeatedly to a width of 30 cm in the same manner as above so that the dry coating amount was about 3 g/m2, and dried. A sublimation dye transfer film was prepared by forming a color sublimation dye layer. Yellow ink disperse dye (Macrolex Yellow 6G
, manufactured by Bayer AG, C. I. Disperse Ye
low 201) 5.5 parts Polyvinyl butyral resin (S-LEC BX-1,
Sekisui Chemical) 4.5 parts Methyl ethyl ketone/toluene (weight ratio 1/1)
89.0 parts Magenta disperse dye (C.I.Dispers) as magenta ink dye
Same as yellow ink except that e Red 60) was used. Cyan disperse dye (C.I.Solvent) is used as cyan ink dye.
Same as yellow ink except that Blue 63) was used.

Next, a protective layer forming ink having the following composition was applied to the same polyester film surface at a rate of 5 g/m2 based on the solid content.
A protective layer was formed by coating and drying using a gravure coating method at a ratio of 100 to 100% to obtain a protective layer transfer film. Coating liquid composition for protective layer: Acrylic resin (BR-83, manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon)
20 parts polyethylene wax

1 part methyl ethyl ketone/toluene (weight ratio 1
/1)
80 copies

Example 2 A government postcard is attached to a video printer (P-10 manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric) that has a position sensor on the platen side, and the sensor uses the postal code column on the front of the postcard as a detection mark to determine the position. Then, the dye-receiving layer was transferred to a predetermined position using the dye-receiving layer transfer film described above. Next, positioning was performed in the same manner using a dye transfer film to form a full-color photograph of the face on the receiving layer. This image was accurately formed at a predetermined position on the postcard, and was clear and had high resolution. Furthermore, when a protective layer of the same size as the image was transferred onto the image surface by positioning in the same manner using a protective layer transfer film, the protective layer was completely aligned with the receiving layer and the image.

Example 3 The above-mentioned coating solution for forming a receptive layer was first applied to the surface of a polyethylene terephthalate film (#25, manufactured by Toray Industries, Ltd.) on which a heat-resistant slipping layer was formed on the back surface by using a bar coater when drying. Width 30cm and 120cm at a rate of 0g/m2
Further, the coating solution for forming an adhesive layer was similarly applied thereon at a dry rate of 2.0 g/m 2 and dried to form a dye-receiving layer. Next, a dry coating amount of approximately 3 g was applied to the non-coated area of the polyester film.
The above yellow, magenta and cyan inks were repeatedly coated and dried at intervals of 30 cm in order to form three color sublimable dye layers. Next, the ink for forming a protective layer having the above composition was applied to the non-coated surface of the same polyester film at a rate of 5 g/m2 based on solid content at a width of 30 cm at intervals of 120 cm using a gravure coating method and dried. Further, the above adhesive layer ink was applied thereon at a rate of 1 g/m2 based on solid content, and dried to form a protective layer, and a receiving layer, a dye layer, and a protective layer were sequentially formed in a composite transfer. created a film. When the above composite transfer film was used to form an image on the back side of a privately made postcard in the same manner as in Example 1, the same effect was obtained.

[0017]

[Effect] According to the present invention as described above, by using the printed part on the front side of the postcard as a detection mark, a predetermined position on the back side of the postcard can be detected without forming any special detection mark on the front side of the postcard. It is possible to form an image accurately.

[0018]

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method of the prior art.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically explaining the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a cross section of a receptor layer transfer film.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a cross section of a dye transfer film.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a cross section of a protective layer transfer film.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically explaining an image forming method and a printed matter.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a cross section of a composite transfer film.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 61: Postcard 2: Detection mark 3: Emitter 4: Light 5: Receiver 6: Platen 7: Thermal head 8: Dye transfer film 31, 41, 51, 71: Base film 32, 62, 7
2: Dye-receiving layer 33, 53: Adhesive layer 34, 45, 54, 74: Heat-resistant slip layer 42, Y: Yellow dye layer 43, M: Magenta dye layer 44, C: Cyan dye layer 52, 64, 73: Protective layer 63: image

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In an image forming method in which a dye image is formed from a sublimation dye transfer film on the back side of a postcard fed to a printer, a postcard presence/absence and positioning sensor is provided on the platen side of the printer. An image forming method characterized in that an image is formed by detecting the printed portion of a postcard and confirming the position of the postcard. 2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the printed portion of the front of the postcard is a postal code entry field or a stamp pasting field. 3. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein a dye-receiving layer is previously provided on the back side of the postcard.