JPH111009A - Recording method and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing an appropriate base processing in accordance with the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet. A platen (2), a ribbon cassette (5) reciprocally movable along the platen (2) and containing a heat sublimable ink ribbon (17), and an ink ribbon (17) for base treatment.
and a thermal head 7 in which a plurality of heating elements arranged on the carriage 4 and capable of coming into contact with and separating from the platen 2 are arranged. When recording is performed on a sheet P, a base processing unit 35 that forms a rectangular base processing area S including at least the recording part R in accordance with the position and size of the recording part R to be recorded on the paper P is characterized in that the base processing unit 35 .

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording method and a recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a method of transferring an undercoating ink onto a sheet, applying an undercoating on the sheet, and then applying an undercoating treatment on the heat sublimable ink. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording method and a recording apparatus suitable for recording a desired image on a sheet by transferring the image onto the sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a thermal transfer printer, which is a kind of recording apparatus, is frequently used as an output device of a computer, a word processor or the like because of high recording quality, low noise, low cost, and ease of maintenance.

In such a conventional thermal transfer printer, a carriage is formed so as to be able to reciprocate along a platen, and a thermal head formed by arranging a plurality of heating elements on the carriage is mounted on the carriage. It is configured such that a ribbon cassette containing color ink ribbons is detachably mounted.

[0004] Then, the ink ribbon and paper fed from the ribbon cassette are sandwiched between the platen and the thermal head, and the thermal head is reciprocated along the platen together with the carriage, and the ink ribbon is wound up. Meanwhile, by selectively energizing the heating elements of the thermal head based on the recording information to generate heat, the ink of the ink ribbon is partially transferred to the paper to record an image such as a desired character on the paper. It is supposed to do it.

When a color image is recorded on a sheet, three ribbon cassettes containing at least ink ribbons formed of three color inks of yellow, magenta and cyan are arranged, and each of the ribbon cassettes is mounted on a carriage. It is automatically exchanged between and is provided for recording.

In such a conventional thermal transfer printer, recording is performed on paper using a hot-melt ink ribbon in which hot-melt ink is applied to a base made of a resin film made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or the like. Is well known. In recent years, however, there has been known a method of performing recording on paper using a thermosublimable ink ribbon having a substrate coated with a thermosublimable ink.

[0007] Of these, when recording is performed on paper using a hot-melt ink ribbon, it can be recorded on various types of paper such as plain paper, cardboard, and postcards, and is excellent in usability. When performing gradation recording using this heat-meltable ink ribbon, a dither method or the like is used because density gradation of one dot cannot be performed.

On the other hand, when recording is performed on paper using a thermal sublimation ink ribbon, the amount of sublimation of the thermal sublimation ink is adjusted and transferred to the paper by controlling the energy applied to the thermal head. Since the amount of ink can be controlled and the density of the image recorded on the paper can be adjusted, it is possible to obtain a high-quality image comparable to a silver halide photograph by using a special paper that has been subjected to surface treatment as the paper. You can do it. For this reason, a thermal transfer printer using a thermal sublimation ink ribbon has been widely used in recent years as a high-quality video printer or the like. In recent years, recording is performed on paper using a thermal sublimation ink ribbon in order to obtain high-quality images using thermal sublimation ink even on various types of paper such as plain paper, cardboard, and postcards. At this time, the ink for base treatment is transferred to various types of paper such as plain paper, cardboard, and postcards using the ink ribbon for base treatment, and the base treatment is performed on the paper. There has been proposed a recording method and a recording apparatus for recording a desired image on a sheet by transferring a hydrophilic ink onto a sheet on which a base treatment has been performed.

In a recording apparatus for performing a base treatment on such paper, at least two ribbon cassettes containing a base treatment ink ribbon and a heat sublimation ink ribbon are arranged, and each of the ribbon cassettes is automatically moved between a carriage and a carriage. They are exchanged and provided for recording.

[0010]

However, in a recording apparatus to which the above-mentioned conventional recording method is applied, when performing recording on a sheet, regardless of the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on the sheet, The size of the base processing area to be processed in accordance with the size is set in advance to a size slightly larger than the maximum recording area of the sheet. In this case, there is a problem that the undercoating process is also performed on the portion, and the ink ribbon for the undercoating process is wastefully consumed, and that the undercoating process requires useless time.

Therefore, there is a demand for a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing an appropriate base processing in accordance with the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of these points, and provides a recording method and a recording apparatus capable of performing an appropriate base processing in accordance with the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet. With the goal.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method according to the present invention, in which a base treatment ink of a base treatment ink ribbon is transferred to paper. A recording method for recording a desired image on a sheet by transferring a thermosublimable ink of a thermosublimable ink ribbon onto the sheet on which the sublimation processing has been performed after performing a base treatment on the sheet. When performing recording on a sheet, a rectangular base processing area including at least the recording part is formed in accordance with the position and size of the recording part to be recorded on the sheet, and the base processing is performed only on the base processing area. . Then, by adopting such a configuration, it is possible to easily perform an appropriate base processing in accordance with the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet. Further, by forming the base processing area into a square shape, a strong base processing can be performed on the paper.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording method according to the first aspect, wherein when a plurality of recording portions are to be recorded on a sheet, the plurality of recording portions are close to each other. In the case where a rectangular base processing area including all of the plurality of recording parts is formed, the base processing is performed only on the base processing area, and when the plurality of recording parts are located at intervals, The feature is that a rectangular base processing area is formed in each of a plurality of recording sites, and the base processing is performed on each of the base processing areas. Further, by adopting such a configuration, it is possible to form an appropriate base processing area in accordance with a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet, so that a more appropriate base processing area can be formed in accordance with the position and size of the recording portion to be recorded on the sheet. It is possible to easily perform a proper base treatment.

[0015] The recording apparatus of the present invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that a platen, a ribbon cassette reciprocally movable along the platen and containing a heat sublimable ink ribbon, and a substrate. A carriage on which a ribbon cassette accommodating a processing ink ribbon can be mounted, a thermal head in which a plurality of heating elements arranged on the carriage and capable of coming into contact with and separating from the platen are arranged, and A recording apparatus for recording a desired image on a sheet by transferring a base treatment ink and applying a base treatment, and then superimposing and transferring the thermal sublimation ink onto the base-treated paper. Is performed, a base processing unit that forms a rectangular base processing area including at least the recording part according to the position and size of the recording part to be recorded on the sheet is provided. By adopting such a configuration, the recording method according to claim 1, that is, when performing recording on a sheet, includes at least a recording portion according to the position and size of the recording portion to be recorded on the sheet. It is possible to easily perform a recording method in which a square-shaped base processing area is formed and the base processing is performed only on the base processing area. The undercoating process can be easily performed, and by forming the undercoating processing region into a square shape, a strong undercoating process can be performed on the paper.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein the undercoating processing section is provided when a plurality of recording portions are recorded on a sheet. When the recording portions are close to each other, a rectangular base processing area including all of the recording portions is formed, and when the recording portions are located at intervals, The point is that each of them is configured to form a square-shaped base processing region. By adopting such a configuration, the recording method according to claim 2, that is, when a plurality of recording portions are to be recorded on a sheet, and when a plurality of recording portions are close to each other, a plurality of recording portions are provided. A base processing area of a rectangular shape including all the recording parts is formed, and the base processing is performed only on the base processing area. When a plurality of recording parts are located at intervals, each of the plurality of recording parts is In this case, it is possible to easily perform a recording method in which a square-shaped base processing area is formed and the base processing is performed on each of the base processing areas. Can be formed, so that a more appropriate base processing can be easily performed according to the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein the ribbon cassette is provided at a predetermined position and contains a heat-sublimable ink ribbon. And a ribbon cassette accommodating a base treatment ink ribbon. Each of the ribbon cassettes is automatically replaced, mounted on a carriage, and transferred to a sheet of paper for base treatment ink to perform base treatment. The sublimation ink is formed so that a desired image is recorded on the sheet by transferring the sublimation ink on the sheet subjected to the base treatment. By employing such a configuration, a recording operation including a base processing operation can be efficiently performed.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

1 to 5 show an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the recording method according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the main part. And
FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the carriage, FIG. 4 is a structural diagram showing a configuration of the ink ribbon for base treatment, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing a control unit.

The recording apparatus according to the present embodiment has an ink ribbon made of three sublimable inks of yellow, magenta and cyan used for recording and an ink ribbon for undercoating made of transparent ink for undercoating used for undercoating. Is used to record a color image on a sheet using a total of four ribbon cassettes.

As shown in FIG. 1, a thermal transfer printer 1 as a recording apparatus according to the present embodiment has a flat platen 2 disposed at a predetermined position of a printer frame (not shown) so that a recording surface 2a is substantially vertical. A guide shaft 3 is disposed below and in front of the platen 2 in parallel with the platen 2. A vertically divided carriage 4 is attached to the guide shaft 3, and the lower side of the carriage 4 is attached to the guide shaft 3.
The upper part of the carriage 4 is an upper carriage 4b on which a ribbon cassette 5 is mounted and which can be vertically moved toward and away from the lower carriage 4a. This carriage 4
The drive belt 6 is fixed to a part of a drive belt 6 wound around a pair of pulleys (not shown), and the drive belt 6 is driven by a drive means (not shown) such as a stepping motor, whereby the drive belt 6 is driven. The carriage 4 is connected to the guide shaft 3
To reciprocate along.

The carriage 4 is opposed to the platen 2 and can be freely moved toward and away from the platen 2.
Thermal head 7 for recording on upper paper (not shown)
The thermal head 7 selectively generates heat based on desired recording information input by a suitable input device (not shown) such as a host computer, an image reader, or a keyboard. A plurality of heating elements (not shown) are arranged in a direction perpendicular to a recording direction along a moving direction of the carriage 4 called a printing direction or a scanning direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, a pair of parallel crank mechanisms 8 (only one is shown) are provided on both left and right sides of the carriage 4. The upper carriage 4b is configured to be movable parallel to and away from the lower carriage 4a to be attached thereto. Each of the parallel crank mechanisms 8 includes:
It has a pair of links 9a and 9b that cross each other in an X shape.
0a, and the ends of the links 9a, 9b are connected by pins 10b, 10c, 10d, 10e.
The lower carriage 4a is slidably engaged with long holes (not shown) formed on the left and right side upper surfaces of the lower carriage 4a and the left and right side lower surfaces of the upper carriage 4b, respectively.

A rotary crank mechanism 11 is disposed on the lower carriage 4a.
1 has a rotating plate 12 supported so as to be rotatable by the lower carriage 4a. One end of a connecting link 14 is pivotally connected to the eccentric position of the rotary plate 12 by a pin 13a, and the other end of the connecting link 14 is pivotally connected to the upper carriage 4b by a pin 13b. The rotating plate 12 is driven to rotate by driving means (not shown) such as a motor. By the rotation of the rotating plate 12, the upper carriage 4b is connected to the lower carriage 4a via the connection link 14. It is designed to move in parallel with respect to it.

Returning to FIG. 1, a pair of plate-like arms 15 gently curved inward from each other are spaced apart from each other on the upper surface of the left and right sides of the upper carriage 4b by a distance substantially equal to the width of the ribbon cassette 5. Each of the arms 15
At the front end, an engaging portion 15a (only a part is shown) formed of a projection for holding the ribbon cassette 5 is formed so as to face each other. In the center of the upper carriage 4b, a pair of bobbins 16 are rotatably arranged at a predetermined distance from each other. One of the bobbins 16 shown in the left side of FIG. 17
The other side shown in the right side of FIG. 1 is a delivery bobbin 16b for delivering the ink ribbon 17. During recording, the ink ribbon 17 is caused to travel in a predetermined direction by rotating the winding bobbin 16a.

An optical sensor 18 for detecting the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the ribbon cassette 5 is provided on the upper surface of the end of the carriage 4 farther from the platen 2. Is connected to a control unit 25, which is disposed at a desired position of the thermal transfer printer 1 and controls a recording operation, a base processing operation, and the like of the thermal transfer printer 1, which will be described later.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, above the carriage 4, a substantially plate-shaped canopy 1 is supported by the frame so as to be openable and closable as shown by a double-headed arrow A in FIG.
Reference numeral 9 is provided at a predetermined distance from the carriage 4. The canopy 19 functions as a paper presser on the exit side of a paper feed mechanism (not shown) in the closed state, and has a length substantially equal to the moving area of the carriage 4 so as to face the carriage 4. Have been.

A plurality of cassette holders (not shown) for holding the ribbon cassette 5 are provided at predetermined positions on the lower surface of the canopy 19 facing the carriage 4, and a color image is recorded by each cassette holder. Ink ribbons 17a, 17b, which are made of at least three color sublimation inks of yellow, magenta and cyan for performing
17c, and ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d each containing a base processing ink ribbon 17d made of transparent base processing ink used for performing the base processing are arranged in a line along the moving direction of the carriage 4. They are arranged. In the ribbon cassette 5a, an ink ribbon 17a made of yellow sublimable ink is provided.
The ribbon cassette 5b has an ink ribbon 17b made of magenta thermosublimable ink, and the ribbon cassette 5c has an ink ribbon 17 made of cyan thermosublimable ink.
c, and a base processing ink ribbon 17d made of transparent base processing ink is stored in the ribbon cassette 5d.

Then, each of the ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, 5
c and 5d are the canopy 1 as shown by the double-headed arrow B in FIG.
9 and the upper carriage 4b are selectively transferred.

As shown in FIG. 4, the base treatment ink ribbon 17d of this embodiment has a base (substrate) 4 made of a polyester resin film having a thickness of about 1 to 10 μm.
6, the lower surface shown in FIG.
A heat-resistant resin layer 47 such as a polyurethane resin or a cellulose resin is formed on the surface facing the surface of the base material 46, and the surface of the base material 46 shown in the upper part of FIG. A release layer 48 composed of a material having excellent releasability such as silicone wax, silicone resin or fluororesin having a thickness of about 1 to 5 μm, or a resin layer in which a heat release resin such as wax is contained in cellulose resin or acrylic resin. And a receptor layer 4 formed on the surface of the release layer 48 and having a thickness of about 0.1 to 10 μm and made of a resin such as a vinyl resin, a polyester resin, or a vinyl acetate copolymer.
9 and a thickness of 0.1 to 0.1
It has a structure in which an adhesive layer 50 of about 10 μm made of polyamide resin, acrylic resin, vinyl chloride resin, or the like is applied.

Further, in order to form a color image on a sheet, a black ink ribbon or the like may be combined as necessary, in addition to the three color ink ribbons 17a, 17b, and 17c of yellow, magenta, and cyan. May be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the case main bodies 20 of the ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d are all formed in the same shape and the same size regardless of the type of the ink ribbon 17 housed therein. A take-up reel 21 for winding the portion of the ink ribbon 17 around which the ink ribbon 17 is wound and used for recording is provided inside the case body 20.
a and a delivery reel 2 for delivering the ink ribbon 17
1b is rotatably accommodated. The platen 2 is mounted on the carriage 4 of the ribbon cassette 5.
A concave portion 22 facing the thermal head 7 is formed on a surface facing the ink ribbon 17, and an intermediate portion of the ink ribbon 17 is led out to the outside inside the concave portion 22. Further, a pair of rotatably supported ribbon feed rollers (not shown) and a plurality of guide rollers (not shown) are provided inside the case body 20 and in the middle of the travel path of the ink ribbon 17. Are arranged.

On the rear surface of the ribbon cassette 5 extending parallel to the surface on which the concave portion 22 is formed, the type (ink color, etc.) of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 is determined. Mark 23 is formed by a reflective seal 24 having a different number of striped non-reflective portions 24a depending on the type of the ink ribbon 17 housed therein. In the present embodiment, the ribbon cassette 5a shown at the left end in FIG.
24A is attached as the identification mark 23, and in the following order, the ribbon cassette 5b
A reflective seal 24B having two non-reflective portions 24a is attached as an identification mark 23, and a reflective seal 24C having two non-reflective portions 24a is attached as an identification mark 23 to the ribbon cassette 5c. , The ribbon cassette 5d has a reflective seal 2 having one non-reflective portion 24a.
4D is attached as the identification mark 23. further,
The left end of the rear surface of each ribbon cassette 5 is a reference position BP for detecting the identification mark 23, and the distance L to the right end of the non-reflection portion 24a located at the right end of the identification mark 23 in FIG. The identification mark 23 is the same, and a desired non-reflective portion 24a for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 17 is formed within the distance L.

Then, the identification mark 23 is detected by the optical sensor 18 provided on the carriage 4, and a detection signal is output to a control unit 25, which will be described later. By counting the number of the non-reflecting portions 24a, the ribbon cassette 5
The type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the printer is determined. Further, the type of the ink ribbon 17 to be used and the corresponding identification mark 23 are determined by the optical sensor 1.
When the carriage 4 is stopped, the ribbon cassette 5 provided in the cassette holder of the canopy 19 is automatically transferred to the upper carriage 4b when the carriage 4 is stopped. It has become.

As shown in FIG. 5, the control unit 25 includes at least a CPU 31, a memory 32 formed of a ROM, a RAM, or the like having an appropriate capacity, and a controller 33 for driving each unit such as the thermal head 7. have.

The memory 32 stores desired recording information input by a suitable input device (not shown) such as a host computer, an image reader, or a keyboard at least in three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan. It is designed to be separated into colors and stored as recording data for each color, and during actual recording,
The recording data of the colors corresponding to the three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan of the ink ribbons 17a, 17b, and 17c used for recording are output to the controller 33, and the controller 33 controls the plurality of heating elements of the thermal head 7 to record the recording data. And is selectively driven in accordance with the temperature to generate heat.

In the memory 32, at the time of recording on a sheet, a rectangular base processing area including at least the recording portion is formed based on the recording data in accordance with the position and size of the recording portion to be recorded on the sheet. In addition, it is determined whether there are a plurality of recording parts to be recorded on the sheet, and if there are a plurality of recording parts to be recorded on the sheet, it is further determined whether or not a plurality of recording parts are close to each other. If it is determined that the recording portions are close to each other, a rectangular base processing area including all of the recording portions is formed, and the recording portions are not close to each other. When it is determined that the parts are located at intervals, a base processing unit 35 storing a program for forming a rectangular base processing area is provided for each of the plurality of recording parts.

The memory 32 stores a program for controlling the operation of each part such as the operation of moving the thermal head 7 toward and away from the platen 2 and the operation of transporting the paper by a paper feed mechanism (not shown), based on the recording information, and the carriage. 4, the presence or absence of the ribbon cassette 5, the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the ribbon cassette 5, the moving distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position, the open / close state of the canopy 19, A program for determining or detecting the distance or the like between a pair of ribbon cassettes 5 positioned apart or apart from each other;
Various programs such as a program for automatically exchanging are also stored.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described together with the method of the present invention.

FIGS. 6 to 8 show a base processing area formed by the recording apparatus according to the present invention to which the recording method according to the present invention is applied. FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where there are a plurality of recording portions to be recorded on a sheet in close proximity, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a case where there are a plurality of recording portions to be recorded on a sheet at intervals. FIG.

In the present embodiment, recording information input from a not-shown host computer or image reader to the control unit 25 of the thermal transfer printer 1 is separated into three colors of yellow, magenta and cyan to be used. The data is stored in the memory 32 as recording data for each color.

Next, the base processing unit 35 of the control unit 25
Based on the recording data stored in the memory 32, a rectangular base processing area S including at least the recording portion R is formed in accordance with the position and size of a recording portion R to be recorded on a sheet P described later. At this time, the base processing unit 35 determines whether there are a plurality of recording portions R to be recorded on the sheet P, and as shown in FIG. In the case where the portion R is single, a base processing region S is formed which surrounds the recording portion R in a rectangular shape with a size slightly larger than the size of the recording portion R. Further, when there are a plurality of recording portions R to be recorded on the paper P, it is further determined whether or not the plurality of recording portions R are close to each other,
If it is determined that the plurality of recording portions R are close to each other, a rectangular base processing region S having a size slightly larger than the size including all of the plurality of recording portions R is formed as shown in FIG. If it is determined that the plurality of recording sites R are not close to each other, that is, if the plurality of recording sites R are located at intervals, as shown in FIG. A base processing area S is formed which surrounds each recording region R in a rectangular shape with a size slightly larger than the size of the recording region R.

Note that the base processing in the present embodiment is as follows.
Base treatment ink ribbon 1 made of transparent base treatment ink for base treatment stored in ribbon cassette 5d
7d.

The underlayer processing operation of the sheet will be described more specifically.

The undercoating operation of the paper P is started by detecting the ribbon cassette 5d that stores the undercoating ink ribbon 17d made of the undercoating ink used for undercoating. The detection operation of the ribbon cassette 5d is performed, for example, by the control command from the control unit 25, for example, by moving the carriage 4 located at the home position provided at the left end in FIG. By moving it to the right,
The detection is performed by the optical sensor 18 disposed on the carriage 4 detecting the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5. Then, the optical sensor 18 sends a unique detection signal of each identification mark 23 based on the arrangement and pitch of the non-reflecting portions 24a to the control unit 25, and the control unit 25 identifies the ribbon cassette 5d corresponding to the control command. Mark 23
Is determined, and the ribbon cassette 5 corresponding to the control command is determined.
In the case of the identification mark 23 of d, the movement of the carriage 4 is stopped, and when the identification mark 23 is not the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5d corresponding to the control command, the detection is performed until the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5d corresponding to the command is detected. Carriage 4
Continue to move. Then, the corresponding ribbon cassette 5
The carriage 4 is stopped at the position opposing the position d, the parallel crank mechanism 8 and the rotary crank mechanism 11 are driven to raise the upper carriage 4b, and the base processing ink ribbon 17d held by the cassette holder of the canopy 19 is stored. The transferred ribbon cassette 5d is transferred to the upper carriage 4b. Then, the parallel crank mechanism 8 and the rotary crank mechanism 11 are driven again to lower the upper carriage 4b so as to contact the lower carriage 4a. As a result, the carriage 4 is in a mounted state in which the ribbon cassette 5d containing the base processing ink ribbon 17d is mounted.

Next, a predetermined sheet P is provided between the thermal head 7 and the platen 2 by a known sheet feeding mechanism (not shown).
Is transported to the position of the first row for recording the base, and the cue for the base processing is performed. Then, the thermal head 7 is moved to the recording surface 2a of the platen 2 via the base processing ink ribbon 17d and the paper P. In this state, the head 4 is brought into contact with the head, and the carriage 4 is moved along the platen 2 in this state. By doing so, the base processing ink of the base processing ink ribbon 17d is transferred to the paper P, the transparent recording is performed on the paper P, and the base processing of the first base row is performed.

Next, a predetermined paper P is conveyed to a predetermined position by a known paper feed mechanism (not shown) to perform a line feed operation.
Thereafter, the base processing is performed on the next base row.

In the following, a line feed operation and a base processing in line units are sequentially performed, and the transparent base processing ink of the base processing ink ribbon 17d is transferred to the entire base processing area S of the sheet P to form a square base. By forming the processing area S, the base processing ends.

Next, when the undercoating process is completed, the heat sublimation ink is transferred onto the undercoat in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan by using the ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, and 5c in the same manner as in the conventional case. A desired color image is recorded.

In general, the surface of the thermal head 7 is cleaned by a well-known cleaning mechanism (not shown) every time printing of each color is performed or at a predetermined use time.

As described above, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 to which the recording method of the present embodiment is applied, it is possible to easily form the base processing area S of an appropriate size according to the recording portion R to be recorded on the paper P. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the disadvantage that the conventional ink ribbon for undercoating is wasted and waste the time required for undercoating, so that the undercoating operation can be performed efficiently. The recording operation can be performed efficiently.

Further, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 to which the recording method of the present embodiment is applied, since the base processing area S can be formed in a square shape, it is possible to easily perform a strong base processing on the paper P. Can be.

Further, according to the thermal transfer printer 1 to which the recording method of the present embodiment is applied, the respective ribbon cassettes 5 are automatically exchanged, and the base processing operation and the recording operation can be continuously and automatically performed. Therefore, the recording operation including the base processing operation can be performed efficiently.

Although the thermal transfer printer 1 to which the recording method of the present embodiment is applied has been described by exemplifying the thermal transfer printer 1 capable of forming a color image, the thermal transfer printer 1 capable of forming a color image has been described. A recording area composed of a total of at least three heat-sublimable inks of at least three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan used for recording on one ink ribbon called a multi-color ink ribbon is used in the longitudinal direction. Cassette ribbon 5 containing an ink ribbon in which different colors are repeatedly arranged adjacent to each other, and a base treatment ink ribbon 17
Alternatively, two ribbon cassettes 5 may be used, including a ribbon cassette 5d that stores d.

Further, the recording apparatus may be an apparatus which transfers a single-color heat sublimable ink to the paper P during recording. In this case, the recording information for recording is stored in the memory 32 of the control unit 25 as recording data corresponding to the head resolution without performing color separation, and the recording data is output to the controller 33 during actual recording. Then, the controller 33 may selectively drive any one of the plurality of heating elements of the thermal head 7 according to the print data to generate heat.

Further, when performing the base processing operation, the user manually replaces the ribbon cassette 5d containing the base processing ink ribbon 17d with respect to the carriage 4, that is, the base processing ink ribbon 17d. The automatic replacement of the ribbon cassette 5 may not be performed, for example, the ribbon cassette 5d in which the ribbon cassette 5 is stored may not be held in the cassette holder in advance. In this case, it is not necessary to store a program for automatically replacing the ribbon cassette 5 in the memory 32 of the control unit 25.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as required.

[0058]

As described above, according to the recording method and the recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to form an appropriate base processing area in accordance with the recording region to be recorded on the sheet, and thus the recording region to be recorded on the sheet In addition to being able to easily perform more appropriate undercoating processing according to the position and size of the sheet, the extremely excellent effect that a strong undercoating treatment can be performed on paper by forming the undercoating processing area into a square shape. To play.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing an example of an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention to which a recording method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of a main part of the recording apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a carriage of the printing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a structural diagram showing a configuration of a base treatment ink ribbon.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a control unit of the printing apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a base processing area in a case where a recording portion to be recorded on a sheet formed by the recording apparatus according to the present invention to which the recording method according to the present invention is applied is single;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, showing a base processing area in a case where there are a plurality of recording portions close to each other on a sheet formed by the recording apparatus according to the present invention to which the recording method according to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing a base processing area in a case where a plurality of recording portions to be recorded on a sheet formed by the recording apparatus according to the present invention to which the recording method according to the present invention is applied are provided at a plurality of intervals;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer printer 2 Platen 4 Carriage 4a Lower carriage 4b Upper carriage 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d Ribbon cassette 7 Thermal head 17 Ink ribbon 17a Ink ribbon 17b (made of yellow heat sublimation ink) Ink ribbon 17b (Magenta heat sublimation Ink ribbon 17c (made of cyan heat sublimation ink) Ink ribbon 17d (made of transparent sublimation ink) Ink ribbon for base treatment 18 Optical sensor 19 Canopy 23 Identification mark 24 Reflective seal 24a Non-reflective part 25 Control unit 31 CPU 32 Memory 33 Controller 35 Base processing unit P Paper R Recording site S Base processing area

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. After transferring the undercoating ink of the undercoating ink ribbon onto a sheet and performing the undercoating on the sheet,
A recording method for transferring a thermal sublimation ink of a thermal sublimation ink ribbon onto a substrate-treated paper and recording a desired image on the paper, wherein recording is performed on the paper when recording is performed on the paper. A recording method comprising: forming a rectangular base processing area including at least a recording part according to the position and size of a part; and performing the base processing only on the base processing area. 2. When a plurality of recording portions are recorded on a sheet, and when a plurality of recording portions are close to each other, a rectangular base processing region including all of the plurality of recording portions is formed to form the base portion. The base processing is performed only on the processing area, and when a plurality of recording parts are located at intervals, a rectangular base processing area is formed in each of the plurality of recording parts, and the base processing area is formed on each of the base processing areas. 2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein each of the base processing is performed. 3. A carriage capable of mounting a platen, a ribbon cassette capable of reciprocating along the platen and containing a heat-sublimable ink ribbon and a ribbon cassette containing a base treatment ink ribbon, and a carriage arranged on the carriage. A thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged and arranged to be able to contact and separate from the platen, and a base sublimation ink after transferring the base treatment ink onto the paper and subjecting the base to the sublimation ink. A recording device that records a desired image on a sheet by transferring the image on a sheet that has been subjected to processing, and when recording on the sheet, at least according to the position and size of a recording portion to be recorded on the sheet. A recording apparatus having a base processing unit for forming a square base processing area including a recording part. 4. A base processing area having a rectangular shape including all of the plurality of recording parts when the plurality of recording parts are close to each other when the plurality of recording parts are to be recorded on a sheet. 4. When a plurality of recording parts are located at intervals, a plurality of recording parts are formed so as to form a rectangular base processing area in each of the plurality of recording parts. The recording device according to claim 1. 5. A ribbon cassette provided at a predetermined position and containing a heat sublimable ink ribbon and a ribbon cassette containing a base treatment ink ribbon, wherein each of the ribbon cassettes is automatically replaced and mounted on a carriage. Then, the base processing ink is transferred onto the paper, and the base processing is performed. Then, the thermal sublimation ink is transferred onto the paper on which the base processing has been performed, and is transferred so that a desired image is recorded on the paper. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein