JPH08197815A - Ink sheet raw material, ink sheet and thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an ink sheet raw material not lowering mark detection accuracy even when an error is generated in a cutting position when the ink sheet raw material constituted by parallelly arranging two or more rows of ink sheets each having marks provided to both side end parts thereof is cut. CONSTITUTION: An ink sheet raw material 300 is constituted by parallelly arranging three rows of ink sheets 14. Color marks 2 are provided to one side end part of each of the ink sheets 14 and kind marks 6 are provided to the other side end part of each of them. The color marks 2 and the kind marks 6 are formed to the ink sheets 14 adjacent to each other in a mirror reversal state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink sheet for obtaining an ink sheet in which a set of color frames coated with a plurality of heat-meltable or heat-sublimable color inks is continuously and cyclically formed. The present invention relates to an original sheet, an ink sheet obtained from the original sheet, and a thermal transfer printer for performing thermal transfer recording using the ink sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thermal transfer printer for performing thermal transfer recording using an ink sheet in which a set of color frames coated with a plurality of color inks having a heat melting property or a heat sublimation property are formed continuously and cyclically. Is used. It is well known in this type of thermal transfer printer that it is necessary to identify the color of the ink in the color frame.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional ink sheet. In FIG. 4, the ink sheet 1 is one in which color frames coated with Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and Bk (black) inks are formed continuously and cyclically in the longitudinal direction. Is. A color mark 2 for identifying the color of ink in each color frame is provided on one side end of the ink sheet 1. In this example, Y, M, C, Bk
There are four, three, two, and one light-shielding portions 3 that shield light corresponding to the positions of the respective color frames. The light emitted from the light emitting portion 5a passes through the light transmitting portion 4 and reaches the light receiving portion 5b, and does not pass through the light shielding portion 3 and therefore does not reach the light receiving portion 5b. The number of times the light emitted from the light emitting portion 5a is transmitted and blocked by the light transmitting portion 4 and the light shielding portion 3 as the ink film 1 is transferred at a constant speed in the direction of the number of the light transmitting portion 4 and the light shielding portion 3. Corresponding to.
Therefore, it is possible to identify the color of the ink in the color frame by detecting the number of times the light is transmitted and blocked.

By the way, when such an ink sheet 1 is produced, one or two rows of ink sheets 1 are usually obtained instead of directly producing one row of ink sheet 1 as shown in FIG. The original ink sheet 100 is produced first, and then the original ink sheet 100 is cut to produce the ink sheet 1. FIG. 5 shows an example of the original ink sheet 100. In this example, the portions indicated by a, b, and c in the original ink sheet 100 are cut by a slitter in the longitudinal direction, so that two rows of A and B ink sheets 1 are produced. Each ink sheet 1 is wound on a bobbin (reel) to be a product.

When the original sheet 100 of ink sheet is cut by a slitter, a slight error (about 1 mm) occurs at the cutting position.
Occurs. When the ink sheet 1 in which the mark is provided only on one side end portion as shown in FIG. 4 is produced, even if the positions shown by a, b, and c for cutting are slightly shifted, it does not cause a problem. For example, even if an error occurs in the cutting position at the portion b and a part of the color mark 2 in the row B extends to the row A, in the thermal transfer printer that performs thermal transfer recording using the ink sheet 1, Since only the color mark 2 provided only at the end is detected, no particular problem occurs.

On the other hand, recently, not only the color of ink in the color frame but also the size of the color frame (that is, A
(3, A4 size, etc.), or a thermal transfer printer that can identify the attribute type such as a heat sublimation ink sheet or a heat-melting ink sheet has appeared.
There is an ink sheet provided with both a color mark and a type mark corresponding to this.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of an ink sheet provided with both color marks and type marks. In FIG.
The ink sheet 5 is a color frame to which Y, M, C, and Bk inks are applied and is formed continuously and cyclically in the longitudinal direction. A color mark 2 for identifying the color of the ink in each color frame is provided on one side edge (lower edge in the figure) of the ink sheet 5. In this example, four, three, two, and one light blocking portions 3 that block light are arranged corresponding to the positions of the Y, M, C, and Bk color frames, respectively. Also,
At the other end (upper end in the figure) of the ink sheet 5, a type mark 6 for identifying the attribute type of the ink sheet 5, for example, the size of the color frame is provided. Like the color mark 2, the type mark 6 also has a light-shielding portion 7
And the transparent portion 8. The type mark 6
An example of a specific method of providing the above is, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 6-72526.
No.

In this ink sheet 5, the color mark 2 is detected by a sensor (photointerrupter) including a light emitting portion 5a and a light receiving portion 5b similar to that shown in FIG. It is possible to identify the color of the ink in the color frame and the type of the ink sheet 5 by detecting the sensor with a sensor including another light emitting unit and a light receiving unit.

Also in the case of producing such an ink sheet 5, as described above, the ink sheet original fabric 200 that can obtain the ink sheets 5 of 2 to 3 rows is first produced, and then the ink sheet original fabric 200. The ink sheet 5 is manufactured by cutting. FIG. 7 shows an ink sheet stock 200.
Shows an example. In this example, the ink sheet stock 20
By cutting the portions indicated by a, b, and c in 0 in the longitudinal direction with a slitter, the two rows of the ink sheets A and B are manufactured. Each ink sheet 5 is wound on a bobbin (reel) to be a product. The width of the color mark 2 and the type mark 6 (the length in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction) is defined as 6 to 7 mm, for example.

[0010]

When the ink sheet stock 200 for obtaining the ink sheet 5 provided with the marks 2 and 6 on both side ends is cut with a slitter, for example, a portion b in FIG. 7 is used. Even if there is an error of 1 mm in the cutting position, a part of the color mark 2 in the A row protrudes in the B row, or a part of the type mark 6 in the B row protrudes in the A row. The ink sheet 1 provided with the color mark 2 only on one side end does not cause a problem,
The ink sheet 5 having the marks 2 and 6 at both ends as shown in FIG. 6 has a problem that the detection accuracy of the color mark 2 or the type mark 6 is deteriorated.

In order to solve this problem, a gap may be provided between the respective rows, but the size of the ink sheet stock 200 is limited, and if an extra gap is provided, the product cost will be reduced. However, it is not possible to fabricate the ink sheet original fabric 200 by providing a gap between the respective rows for the reason that it takes a lot of time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when cutting a raw ink sheet formed by arranging a plurality of rows of ink sheets having marks at both end portions in parallel, It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink sheet stock that does not deteriorate the mark detection accuracy even if an error occurs in the position to be set, an ink sheet obtained from the ink sheet stock, and a thermal transfer printer using the ink sheet.

[0013]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides (1) a first mark is provided at one side end and the other side end is provided with the first mark. In an ink sheet material for obtaining a plurality of rows of ink sheets provided with a second mark different from the first mark, the ink sheets are arranged in a plurality of rows in parallel, and the ink sheets adjacent to each other are: An ink sheet material provided with the first and second marks in a mirror-inverted form, and (2) obtained by cutting the ink sheet material described in (1) above. (3) A set of color frames coated with a plurality of heat-meltable or heat-sublimable color inks are continuously and cyclically formed, and one side end of the color frame is formed. Part 1
Mark is provided, and an ink sheet having a second mark different from the first mark at the other side end portion, and the first and second marks are detected and a detection signal is output. In a thermal transfer printer provided with a detection means, an identification means is provided for identifying the meaning of each of the first and second marks based on a detection signal output from the detection means. To provide a thermal transfer printer.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The ink sheet stock, ink sheet and thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink sheet stock of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink sheet of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention. Is. 1 to 3, the same parts as those in FIGS. 4 to 7 are designated by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink sheet stock 300 of the present invention is manufactured so as to obtain three rows of ink sheets 14 of rows A, B, and C in this embodiment. Needless to say, the ink sheets 14 in two rows, A row and B row, may be produced. Here, in the ink sheet original fabric 300 of the present invention, the way of providing the color mark 2 and the type mark 6 provided on both side ends of each ink sheet 14 is different from the conventional ink sheet original fabric 200 shown in FIG. 7. ing.

That is, in the ink sheet 14 of the A row, a type mark 6 for identifying the type of the ink sheet 14, for example, the size of the color frame, is provided at one side end portion (upper end portion in the figure). A color mark 2 for identifying the ink color of each color frame is provided on the other side end (the lower end in the figure). In contrast to the ink sheet 14 in the A row, the ink sheet 14 in the B row is
A color mark 2 for identifying the ink color of each color frame is provided at one side end (upper end in the drawing), and the ink sheet is provided at the other side end (lower end in the drawing). A type mark 6 for identifying the 14 types is provided. Further, in the ink sheet 14 of the row C, as with the ink sheet 14 of the row A, a type mark 6 for identifying the type of the ink sheet 14 is provided at one side end portion (upper end portion in the figure). A color mark 2 for identifying the ink color of each color frame is provided on the other side end (the lower end in the figure).

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the original ink sheet 300 of the present invention is characterized in that the color marks 2 and the type marks 6 are provided in a mirror-inverted manner on the ink sheets 14 adjacent to each other. is there.

In the original sheet 300 of the ink sheet of the present invention having the above-described structure, the portions indicated by a, b, c and d are cut by a slitter in the longitudinal direction, so that the rows A, B and C are formed.
Three rows of ink sheets 14 are produced. FIG. 2 shows the ink sheet 14 of the present invention obtained by cutting the original ink sheet 300 of the present invention. The ink sheets 14 in rows A and C are color sheets 2 and type marks 6 arranged as shown in FIG. 2A, and the ink sheet 14 in row B has color marks 2 and type marks 6. Figure 2
The ink sheet 14 is arranged as shown in FIG.

As described above, in the original ink sheet 300 of the present invention, the color mark 2 and the type mark 6 are provided in the mutually inverted ink sheets 14 in a mirror-inverted manner. Even if a part of the color mark 2 in the A row protrudes into the B row or a part of the color mark 2 in the B row protrudes into the A row due to an error in the cutting position in the part, the width of the color mark 2 Since the (length in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction) is only slightly changed, the problem of degrading the detection accuracy does not occur. Similarly, an error occurs in the cutting position at the portion c in FIG. 1, so that part of the type mark 6 in the B row protrudes in the C row, or part of the type mark 6 in the C row protrudes in the B row. However, since the width of the type mark 6 (the length in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction) is only slightly changed, the problem of degrading the detection accuracy does not occur.

By the way, in the ink sheet 14 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, there are two types of ink sheets 14 in which the positions of the color mark 2 and the type mark 6 are different. Therefore, in the thermal transfer printer using the ink sheet 14 of the present invention, when the ink sheet 14 is newly installed or when the ink sheet 14 is replaced, what meaning each of the detected marks at both end portions has, That is, it is necessary to know in advance which of the marks provided at both ends is the color mark 2 and which is the type mark 6.

FIG. 3 shows the construction of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention corresponding to such two types of ink sheets 14. In FIG. 3, the image receiving paper 10 is fed by the paper feed roller 12 and is fed between the platen roller 13 and the thermal head 17. The front end of the image receiving paper 10 is the image receiving paper clamper 1
It is clamped and held by 1. Between the platen roller 13 and the thermal head 17, the ink sheet 14 of the present invention which is sent out by the ink sending reel 15 and wound by the ink take-up reel 16 is stretched. Therefore, the ink application surface of the ink sheet 14 and the image receiving paper 10 face each other between the platen roller 13 and the thermal head 17.

On the downstream side of the thermal head 17 in the conveying direction of the ink sheet 14, a light emitting portion 5a for detecting a mark (color mark 2 or type mark 6) at one side end of the ink sheet 14. , A photo interrupter including a light receiving portion 5b, and a photo interrupter including a light emitting portion 5c and a light receiving portion 5d for detecting a mark (type mark 6 or color mark 2) on the other side end of the ink sheet 14. A sensor 5 is provided. In FIG. 3, for convenience, the light emitting unit 5a and the light receiving unit 5b are shown.
Although the light emitting section 5c and the light receiving section 5d are provided at different positions in the transport direction of the ink sheet 14, in reality, they are provided at the same position in the transport direction of the ink sheet 14.

When a print command is issued by the host computer 18, the command is sent via the interface 19 to the CPU for controlling the mechanism of the ink feed reel 15, the ink take-up reel 16, the platen roller 13, the thermal head 17, etc. (Mechanical control CPU) 20 is input. Along with the transfer of the ink sheet 14 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2 at a constant speed, the repeat count detection signal output from the sensor (photo interrupter) 5 is input to the mechanical control CPU 20. Then, the mechanical control CPU 20 controls the mechanism according to the detection signal. Although only the ink reel control signals supplied to the reels 15 and 16 are shown here for convenience, the platen roller 13 and
The control signal is also supplied to other parts such as the thermal head 17.

For example, the mechanical control CPU 20 determines whether the mark is the color mark 2 or the type mark 6 depending on whether the number of repetitions of the marks detected by the light emitting unit 5a and the light receiving unit 5b is 1 to 4 or 5. Can be detected. Of course, whether the number of repetitions of the marks detected by the light emitting unit 5c and the light receiving unit 5d is 1 to 4,
Alternatively, depending on whether the mark is 5, the mechanical control CPU 20 can detect whether the mark is the color mark 2 or the type mark 6. In this way, in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, it is possible to know in advance which of the marks provided on both side ends of the ink sheet 14 is the color mark 2 and which is the type mark 6.

Under the control of the mechanical control CPU 20, the heating element is selectively heated while the thermal head 17 is being pressed against the platen roller 13 to rotate the platen roller 13, and the ink take-up reel 16 causes the ink sheet 14 to rotate. By winding the sheet, predetermined printing is performed on the image receiving paper 10.

In this embodiment, the number of repetitions of the color mark 2 is 4, 3, 2, according to the printing order of Y, M, C and Bk.
Therefore, when the ink sheet 14 is attached to the thermal transfer printer with the start side and the end side being mistaken, the number of repetitions of the color mark 2 should be detected in the order 1, 2, 3, 4. become. In this way, when the number of repetitions of the color mark 2 is detected in the order of 1, 2, 3 and 4, the ink sheet 14
Is incorrectly installed. Therefore, even if the ink sheet 14 is attached to the thermal transfer printer by mistakenly for the start end side and the end side, the mechanical control CPU 20 can detect the erroneous attachment of the ink sheet 14. In this case, the mechanical control CPU 20 can display a message on a display unit (not shown) and stop the printing operation.

The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. The number of colors of ink in the color frame is not limited to this embodiment, and the method of providing the color mark 2 and the type mark 6 is not limited to this embodiment. Further, in this embodiment, the color mark 2 for detecting the color of the color frame is provided on one side end portion.
The ink sheet 14 having a structure in which the type mark 6 for identifying the type such as the size of the color frame is provided on the other side end is described as an example. The present invention can be applied to any ink sheet provided with the first mark and the second mark different from the first mark at the other side end portion.

[0028]

As described in detail above, the ink sheet material of the present invention is composed of the ink sheets adjacent to each other.
Since the first and second marks provided on both side end portions are provided in a mirror-inverted form, even if an error occurs in the cutting position when cutting the ink sheet into a plurality of rows, It is possible to obtain an ink sheet with stable detection accuracy without degrading the mark detection accuracy. Therefore, the ink sheet of the present invention has stable detection accuracy. Further, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention includes the first and second
Has a detection means for detecting the mark and outputting a detection signal. The detection signal output from the detection means causes the first
Since the second mark and the second mark are each provided with an identification means for identifying the meaning of the mark,
Good thermal transfer recording can be performed using the ink sheet of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink sheet stock fabric of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an ink sheet of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional ink sheet.

5 is a diagram showing an ink sheet stock for obtaining the ink sheet shown in FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of a conventional ink sheet.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a conventional ink sheet material for obtaining the ink sheet shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Two-color mark 3,7 Light-shielding part 4,8 Light-transmitting part 6 Classification mark 5 Sensors (detection means) 5a, 5c Light-emitting part 5b, 5d Light-receiving part 10 Image-receiving paper 11 Image-receiving paper clamper 12 Paper-feeding roller 13 Platen roller 14 Ink-sheet 15 Ink Sending Reel 16 Ink Take-up Reel 17 Thermal Head 18 Host Computer 19 Interface 20 Mechacon CPU (Identifying Means) 300 Ink Sheet Fabric

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A first mark is provided on one side end,
An ink sheet stock for obtaining a plurality of rows of ink sheets having a second mark different from the first mark at the other side end portion, the ink sheets being arranged in parallel in a plurality of rows and adjacent to each other. An original sheet of ink sheet, wherein the first and second marks are provided in a mirror-inverted manner on the respective ink sheets. 2. An ink sheet obtained by cutting the original fabric of the ink sheet according to claim 1. 3. A set of color frames coated with a plurality of heat-meltable or heat-sublimable color inks are continuously and cyclically formed, and a first mark is provided at one side end. And an ink sheet provided with a second mark different from the first mark on the other side end portion, and a detection unit that detects the first and second marks and outputs a detection signal. In a thermal transfer printer provided with the first transfer device, the first signal is detected by the detection signal output from the detection device.
The thermal transfer printer is characterized in that it is provided with an identification means for identifying the meanings of the second mark and the second mark.