JPH05193165A - Transfer color recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Objective] To provide a transfer color recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording at a relatively low cost. [Structure] A color ink sheet capable of multiple-time transfer recording in which a plurality of n-color inks are repeatedly applied separately in a length required for recording one page along the longitudinal direction, and arranged in parallel at substantially equal intervals. A plurality of (n + 1) line-shaped transfer recording means, a boundary detection sensor for detecting a color boundary of the inks separately applied to the color ink sheets, and print data to be added to each line-shaped transfer recording means according to the output of the boundary detection sensor. A recording data switching circuit for sequentially switching is provided, and a recording pause period is provided before and after switching of the recording data applied to each row-shaped transfer recording means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer color recording apparatus, and more specifically, inks of a plurality of colors are repeatedly applied separately in the lengthwise direction in a length required for recording one page. The present invention relates to improvement of continuous recording in a transfer color recording apparatus using a color ink sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 10 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of a conventional transfer color recording apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a color ink sheet, and as shown in FIG. 11, cyan (C),
Four color thermal transfer color inks having magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (B) heat-melting properties are repeatedly applied separately with a length L ₁ required for recording one page.
This color ink sheet 1 is fed from a roll 2 on the feeding side, and a buffer loop composed of a plurality of thermal transfer portions A to D in which a line thermal head 4 and a transfer roller 5 are arranged to face each other as a line transfer recording means and a roller 6. It is wound around the winding roll 7 by alternately passing through E to G. Reference numeral 8 denotes a recording paper to which the ink of the color ink sheet 1 is selectively transferred, which is fed from a feeding-side roller 9 and cut into a length of one page by an auto cutter 10 to apply the ink of the color ink sheet 1. The sheets are sequentially passed through the thermal transfer portions A to D in a state of being superposed on the surface and discharged to the outside. In addition,
The recording paper 8 is not limited to the roll paper as in the embodiment, but may be a cut paper preliminarily cut into a predetermined length.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of the configuration of a transport system for the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8. Assuming that the length of the recording paper 8 in the feed direction is L ₁ and the thermal transfer portions A to D are arranged at equal intervals L ₂ along the feed direction of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8, upstream of the feed direction. Thermal transfer part a
From the color ink sheet 1 from the inlet b, the peak c, the outlet d of the buffer loop to the thermal transfer portion e on the downstream side
The length L of the path is set to L = L ₁ + L ₂ .

In such a structure, the thermal transfer section A transfers and records yellow, the thermal transfer section B transfers and records magenta, the thermal transfer section C transfers and records cyan, and the thermal transfer section D transfers and records black. , Are fixedly assigned according to the order of the colors of the color ink sheet 1. When the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer part A, the yellow area of the color ink sheet 1 reaches the thermal transfer part A, and when the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer part B, the color ink sheet When the magenta area of No. 1 reaches the thermal transfer section B and the recording start position of the recording paper 8 reaches the thermal transfer section C, the cyan area of the color ink sheet 1 also reaches the thermal transfer section C and the recording start position of the recording paper 8 is reached. The black area of the color ink sheet 1 reaches the thermal transfer section D when the thermal transfer section D reaches the thermal transfer section D. Then, these thermal transfer portions A to D synchronize with the arrival of the respective ink areas of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording start position of the recording paper 8,
That is, based on the thermal transfer portion A, the thermal transfer portion B has a distance L.
Only ₂ of the moving time is delayed, the thermal transfer unit C is delayed by the travel time of the distance L ₂ × 2, the thermal transfer unit D based on the recording data of each color at a distance L ₂ × movement time only delayed by the time relationship of 3 Driven selectively.

[0005]

However, according to such a conventional configuration, the color ink sheet 1 is moved by a predetermined amount each time thermal transfer recording of four colors on one page of the recording paper 8 is completed, and the next recording is performed. Color ink sheet 1 for performing
It is necessary to adjust the positional relationship between each color area and the thermal transfer portions A to D. That is, in the case of FIG.
While the start end of the recording area reaches the thermal transfer portion A and the end end passes through the thermal transfer portion D, the color ink sheet 1 is changed to 3
To move to the next recording start state, the color ink sheet 1 needs to be further extended by about 2 × L ₁ and wound up by merely moving the length of × L ₂ + L ₁ .

Therefore, there is a problem that continuous recording cannot be performed at high speed. The present invention solves such conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide a transfer color recording apparatus capable of high-speed recording at a relatively low cost.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a color capable of being transferred and recorded a plurality of times by repeatedly applying a plurality of inks of n colors in a lengthwise direction in a length necessary for recording one page. A plurality of (n + 1) line-shaped transfer recording means arranged in parallel with the ink sheet at substantially equal intervals, a boundary detection sensor for detecting a boundary between colors of inks separately applied to the color ink sheets, and each line-shaped transfer recording means. A recording data switching circuit for sequentially switching the recording data to be added in accordance with the output of the boundary detection sensor, and a recording pause period is provided before and after the switching of the recording data to be applied to each of the columnar transfer recording means.

[0008]

Since the recording pause period is provided before and after the switching of the recording data to be applied to each row-shaped transfer recording means, n pieces of each row-shaped transfer recording means at any time are arranged in the opposite color ink sheets. Transfer recording of inks of different colors is performed, and since one of them faces the color boundary portion, the recording is stopped. Then, as the color boundary portion of the color ink sheet moves, the columnar transfer recording means facing the color boundary portion sequentially stops recording.

As a result, the conventional blank feeding of the color ink sheet is unnecessary, and high-speed continuous recording becomes possible.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram, and the portions common to FIG. In the figure, the line thermal head 4
Are provided along the feeding direction of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8. Reference numeral 11 denotes a color boundary detection sensor that detects the boundary between the colors of the inks separately applied to the color ink sheet 1, and is provided on the upstream side of the line thermal head H1. The output signal of the color boundary detection sensor 11 is applied to the recording data switching circuit 12 as a data switching pulse. Here, the length per color of the color ink sheet 1 is L _c (m
m), the stroke of the color ink sheet 1 between the adjacent line thermal heads 4 is L _f (mm), and the stroke of the recording paper 8 between the adjacent line thermal heads 4 is L _p (mm), these are L _It is assumed that the relationship of _c = (5/4) L _p and L _f = 4L _p holds. And the color ink sheet 1
And the recording paper 8 are fed at the same speed.

In the present invention, the color ink sheet 1 is used.
A heat-melting type or sublimation type capable of performing thermal transfer recording a plurality of times is used as. Further, in detecting the color boundary of the color ink sheet 1, a combination of a magnetic sensor and a thin film magnetic tape attached as a boundary marking, and a sensor for measuring the transmittance or reflectance of the color ink sheet 1 are used.

The print data switching circuit 12 prints data corresponding to each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, which is added from a memory (not shown) every time the output signal of the color boundary detection sensor 11 is added, and non-data of non-printing. Are supplied to each of the line thermal heads H1 to H5 either directly or through the delay circuit 13 while being sequentially switched. In FIG. 2, the output data of the recording data switching circuit 12 is directly input to the line thermal head H1 without passing through the delay circuit, and the line thermal head H2 is passed through one stage of the delay circuit 13 for delaying a unit time. Input,
The line thermal head H3 is input with a delay circuit 13 for delaying a unit time via two stages, and the line thermal head H4 is input with a delay circuit 13 for delaying a unit time via three stages. A delay circuit 13 for delaying a unit time is input to each of the four stages.

The recording data switching circuit 12 outputs, for example, a counter that counts output pulses of the color boundary detection sensor 11, five ROMs that output 3-bit data using the count data of this counter as an address, and each ROM. It is composed of five data selectors for selectively outputting either the recording data corresponding to each color or the non-recording non-data by using the 3-bit data as a selection signal.
Further, the delay circuit 13 uses, for example, a RAM.

FIG. 3 shows each line thermal head H1 of FIG.
7 is a timing chart for explaining the operations of H5 to H5. As shown in FIG. 3, the color recording data applied to each of the line thermal heads H1 to H5 is recorded on the color ink sheet 1 every time a detection signal is output from the color boundary detection sensor 11 so as to sandwich a recording pause period before and after. The colors are sequentially switched according to the order of the colors of the applied inks (yellow → black → cyan → magenta → yellow → ...). Here, when the feed speed of the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 is V, the switching cycle t ₁ of each color is t ₁ = L _c / V
(Sec) and the actual recording time for each color is (4 /
5). (L _c / V) (sec), and the recording pause period t ₂
Is t ₂ = (1/5) · (L _c / V) (sec). As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, ± (1/10) · L _c before and after the color boundary of the color ink sheet 1 becomes an unused area.

Since a series of recordings with such a structure is carried out by passing through the five line thermal heads H1 to H5 in a state where the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are superposed on each other, the respective colors are superposed. Depending on the facing positional relationship between the line thermal head H1 and the color ink sheet 1, as shown in FIG.
Get on the street. For example, at a certain time the line thermal head H
When 1 is yellow, the line thermal head H2 is not used, the line thermal head H3 is magenta, the line thermal head H4 is cyan, and the line thermal head H5 is black.
Focusing on the yellow recording line facing 1
As shown in the combination 1, first, the line thermal head H1 records yellow, then the line thermal head H2 is moved to the position to record magenta, and then the line thermal head H3 is moved to the position to record black. Then, when the line thermal head H4 is moved to the position, recording is stopped, and the line thermal head H5 is moved to the position where cyan is recorded.
Line recording is complete.

When these relationships are focused on the time axis,
Of the five line thermal heads H1 to H5, four line thermal heads face different color areas for recording, and the remaining one line thermal head faces an unused area on the color boundary. Therefore, the recording is stopped, and the combination of these is 20 as shown in FIG.
Get on the street.

With this configuration, every time the color boundary detection sensor 11 detects a color boundary, the five line thermal heads H1 to H5 are provided with recording data corresponding to the color of the color ink sheet 1 facing the five line thermal heads H1 to H5. Since the color ink sheet is added, it is not necessary to idle the color ink sheet every time recording of one page is completed and perform the initial setting as in the prior art, and the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are moved in one direction while the color ink sheet is moved. High-speed continuous recording can be performed without being affected by the 1 color boundary. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the relative speed between the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 is 0, so that the recording paper 8 is free from scumming and clear and high quality recording results are obtained.

Since the color ink sheet can be used a plurality of times, the running cost can be reduced. Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which a line thermal head and a plurality of thermal transfer portions in which the transfer roller is opposed to each other is used as the line-shaped transfer recording means has been described, but impact recording means for transferring and recording ink with a hammer or the like, discharge breakdown It may be discharge breakdown recording means for transferring and recording ink, or laser recording means for transferring and recording ink by irradiation of a laser beam. As the color ink sheet, a carbon sheet, a discharge sheet, a heat-meltable sheet, a heat-sublimable dye sheet, or the like may be used depending on the configuration of the row recording unit.

Although the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are fed at the same speed in the above embodiment, the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 are fed at arbitrary speeds. By making the feeding speed of 1 less than that of the recording paper 8, the buffer loop of the color ink sheet 1 as shown in FIG. 1 becomes unnecessary, and the usage amount of the ink sheet 1 can be reduced.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the configuration showing such an embodiment, and the portions common to FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In FIG. 7, a spacer 13 for reducing friction and making it slippery is inserted and arranged between the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 between the adjacent line thermal heads 4. Further, the cutter 10 is arranged on the upstream side. The definitive stroke of the color ink sheet 1 L _f (m
m), the moving path of the recording paper 8 between adjacent line thermal heads is L _p (mm), the moving speed of the color ink sheet 1 is V _f (mm / sec), and the moving speed of the recording paper 8 is V _p (mm). / Sec), the length of one page of the recording paper 8 is P (mm), and the length of each color area of the color ink sheet 1 is L _c (mm). And the color ink sheet 1
_Is set to V _f <V _p in order to reduce the usage amount of V _f . The color ink sheet 1 was surface-treated so that the ink transfer recording would not occur only by the speed difference between the color ink sheet 1 and the recording paper 8 and the mechanical pressing by the line thermal head 4 and the transfer roller 5. It is desirable to use one.

Here, so that the recording results by the respective line thermal heads 4 coincide with the same line on the recording paper 8,
Each of the heads H2 to H5 is given a delay time similar to that of FIG. 2 with respect to the head H1. FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an example of switching the colors assigned to the heads H1 to H5. Also in the configuration of FIG. 7, each head H is the same as in FIG.
Colors _{1 to} H5 are sequentially switched at each time t1, and recording is performed by four heads out of five heads, and the remaining one head portion passes the color boundary portion to continuously perform recording. Has been realized. The switching cycle t ₁ of each color in FIG. 8 is represented by t ₁ = L _f / V _f , the recording pause period t ₂ is represented by t ₂ = (1/5) t ₁ , and Δt ₁ is Δt ₁ = ( 1/1
0) represented by t ₁ . Further, since (16/5) L _c = L _f and there are four colors, L _p / V _p = (4/5) · (L
_c / V _f ). If L _p = L _f is set in order to reduce the amount of color ink sheet 1 used and simplify the configuration, V _p : V _f = 4: 1.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a modified configuration of FIG. 7, in which the spacer 13 is movable in the vertical direction and the feed speed of the color ink sheet 1 is changed according to the amount of movement. .. With this configuration, the amount of ink used can be freely changed within a limited range. For example, high density recording such as solid coating and low density recording such as waveform recording can be performed. You can switch to an appropriate feed rate with.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, an example in which the color ink sheets separately coated in four colors are used and five line thermal heads are used has been described, but the number may be increased or decreased depending on the application. ..

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since it has a single-pass configuration and no inconvenience due to the color boundary of the color ink sheet occurs, high-speed continuous color recording is possible. Then, by performing the shift recording in which the feeding speed of the color ink sheet is slower than the feeding speed of the recording paper, the usage amount of the color ink sheet can be reduced and the feeding stroke of the color ink sheet is shortened. The amount of elongation is also small, and stable recording operation can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart explaining the operation of each of the line thermal heads H1 to H5 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a color ink sheet used in FIG.

5 is a combination diagram of the order of superimposing each color in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing each line thermal head H1 to H in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a view showing a combination of No. 5 and each color of the color ink sheet in a facing manner.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of each of the line thermal heads H1 to H5 in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a structural explanatory view showing an example of a conventional transfer color recording apparatus.

11 is an explanatory diagram of a color ink sheet used in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a transport system for the color ink sheet and the recording paper in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Color Ink Sheet 4 Line Thermal Head 5 Transfer Roller 11 Color Boundary Detection Sensor 12 Recording Data Switching Circuit 13 Spacer

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of inks of n colors are arranged along the longitudinal direction.
A color ink sheet that can be transferred and recorded a plurality of times by repeatedly applying different colors to each other for recording pages, a plurality of n + 1 line-shaped transfer recording means arranged in parallel at substantially equal intervals, and a color ink sheet Each column-shaped transfer is provided with a boundary detection sensor for detecting the boundary of the color of the ink that is separately applied to each line, and a recording data switching circuit for sequentially switching the recording data applied to each column-shaped transfer recording means according to the output of the boundary detection sensor. A transfer color recording apparatus, wherein a recording pause period is provided before and after switching of recording data applied to a recording unit.