JP2000108331A - Image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: To make an output image glossy irrespective of the characteristics of paper 10 and ink 18 to be used. A surface treatment unit having an OCF supply unit is provided in an inkjet printer. The OCF supply unit 15 supplies an OCF 19 that is pressed to cover the ink 18 ejected on the paper 10. The OCF 19 is made of, for example, a transparent resin, and its surface roughness is set so that the gloss value becomes, for example, 70 or more. The surface of the ink 18 discharged onto the paper 10 is
Before the crimping of
After crimping of OCF19, the above swell is
Is adhered to the surface, whereby irregular reflection on the ink surface is suppressed as much as possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image output apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, which discharges ink in accordance with image data and outputs an image on a recording medium. The present invention relates to an image output device capable of improving glossiness of an image on a medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various image output apparatuses have been proposed which output images recorded by, for example, a digital camera or images created and processed by a personal computer on paper as a recording medium. The recording method in the image output device includes, for example, a thermal method, a thermal transfer method, an ink jet method, a laser printing method, etc. Among them, the ink jet method is a method in which ink is directly ejected onto a recording medium, and the running cost is particularly high. However, there is an advantage that it is inexpensive and has excellent quietness during printing. In addition, due to recent advances in technology, the quality of an image formed by an inkjet method has been sufficiently increased, and its use is gradually expanding.

Here, a conventional ink jet type image output apparatus (ink jet printer) will be described below. The above-described ink jet printers are roughly classified into an on-demand type and a continuous type, and each of these will be described below.

[0006] As shown in FIG. 6, an on-demand type ink jet printer is provided with an ink discharge section 51 for discharging ink in units of one dot of an image. The ink discharge section 51 includes a pressure chamber 52, a piezoelectric element (piezo element) 53, and a vibration partition 54.

In this configuration, when the piezoelectric element 53 vibrates according to an image signal, the vibration is transmitted to the vibration partition 54,
The ink 55 filled in the pressure chamber 52 is pressurized by the vibration of the vibration partition 54. Thus, the ink 55 is ejected from the ink ejection port 52a provided in the pressurized chamber 52 to the recording medium as an ink droplet 55a. That is, the on-demand type ink jet printer discharges the ink droplet 55a when a signal is input. The pressure chamber 52 contains the ink 55,
It communicates with a stored ink tank (not shown), and the ink 55 is supplied from the ink tank as needed.

The above-mentioned ink jet printer is of a so-called piezo type using a piezoelectric element 53. In addition to this, a type called a thermal type (bubble jet type, thermal ink jet type) has also been put to practical use. ing. The thermal method is a method in which a heating plate is disposed in a pressurized chamber and bubbles are generated by heating the heating plate, and ink is ejected from an ejection port by the expansion pressure of the bubbles.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a continuous-type ink jet printer includes an ink discharge section 61 for discharging ink in units of one dot of an image. The ink ejection unit 61 includes a PZT (piezo element) 62, a nozzle 63, a charge control electrode 64, a deflection electrode 65, an ink catcher 66, an ink reservoir 67, and a pump 68.
It has.

In this configuration, the ink stored in the ink reservoir 67 is pressurized by the ink pump 68 and reaches the nozzle 63. The ink that has reached the nozzle 63 is continuously discharged as an ink droplet 69 a from the tip of the nozzle 63 in response to the high frequency vibration of the PZT 62, and passes through the charge control electrode 64. An electric field is applied to the charge control electrode 64 in accordance with an image signal, whereby an electric charge is appropriately applied to the ink droplet 69a passing through the charge control electrode 64.

The ink droplet 69 that has passed through the charge control electrode 64
a passes through the deflection electrode 65. At this time, the ink drop 69
Of the a, the charged one is bent under the influence of the electric field applied to the deflecting electrode 65, and reaches the paper 70. On the other hand, the ink droplet 69a to which no charge is added proceeds straight as it is, and reaches the ink catcher 66. The ink in the ink catcher 66 moves to the ink reservoir 67 through the piping path, and is stored and accumulated.

As described above, the continuous type ink jet printer forms an image by circulating the ink while constantly discharging the ink droplet 69a from the nozzle 63 and controlling the flying direction of the ink in accordance with the image signal. Is what you do.

[0011]

By the way, the glossiness of an image formed on a sheet by discharging ink depends on the matching between the sheet and the ink to be used. For example, the surface roughness of the sheet, It depends on the ink absorption, the size of the particles (molecules) constituting the ink, and the like. That is, as can be seen from a silk-like photograph, for example, the rougher the surface of the paper, the less glossy the paper. Further, as the ink absorption amount of the paper increases, the ink surface approaches flatness (the surface irregularities of the ink decrease) as shown in FIG.
This reduces diffuse reflection and improves gloss. On the other hand, the larger the ink particles (molecules), the worse the amount of ink absorbed by the paper and the swelling of the ink, thereby increasing the irregular reflection on the surface and reducing the gloss.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, in order to improve the glossiness of an image, it is necessary to use paper having a fine surface roughness and good ink absorption, or use ink having a fine particle. The paper and the ink to be used are inadvertently restricted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image output apparatus which can make an output image glossy irrespective of the characteristics of paper and ink used. To provide.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus, comprising: an ink ejection unit for ejecting ink in units of dots constituting an image; The image output apparatus for outputting at least one color image on a recording medium by ejecting the ink is characterized by further comprising glossing means for imparting gloss to the image on the recording medium.

According to the above arrangement, gloss is given to the image on the recording medium formed by the ink ejection from the ink ejection section by the gloss applying means. As the gloss imparting means, for example, a transparent film and a transfer film that can be attached to a recording medium and have a desired gloss,
It can be constituted by means of spraying the same material directly onto an image by spraying or the like. With such a configuration, regardless of the characteristics of the recording medium and the ink used,
The desired gloss is imparted to the image on the recording medium.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to improve the glossiness of an image, for example, a method of using a recording medium having a fine surface roughness and a good ink absorbency, or using an ink having a fine particle has been adopted. However, according to the configuration of the present invention, a desired gloss can be given to a recorded image without limiting the recording medium and the ink used in such a manner.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein:
The gloss applying means is a pressing member that is pressed against the recording medium so as to cover an image on the recording medium.

The surface of the ink forming the image on the recording medium is raised to some extent before the pressure-bonding member is pressed, and in this state, the irregular reflection on the ink surface is large.
However, when the pressure member is put on the recording medium so as to cover the image, the above-mentioned bulge is flattened by the pressure member,
As a result, the irregular reflection on the ink surface is significantly reduced as compared with before the pressing of the pressing member.

As described above, according to the above configuration, the image surface is flattened by the direct contact of the pressure-bonding member with the image on the recording medium, so that irregular reflection on the ink surface is reliably suppressed and the recorded image is reliably formed. Can have a gloss.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an image output apparatus includes:
The gloss applying means is a transfer medium that temporarily receives the ink ejected from the ink ejection section and transfers the received ink to a recording medium.

According to the above arrangement, when the ink is ejected to the transfer medium, the surface of the ink on the transfer medium contact side is formed flat, and the ink on the transfer medium is transferred to the recording medium in this state. Therefore, since the ink surface after the transfer to the recording medium remains flat, irregular reflection on the ink surface is reliably suppressed as in the case of the second aspect. As a result, it is possible to surely impart gloss to the transferred image.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to the second or third aspect, wherein the gloss of the image on the recording medium is adjusted by adjusting a surface roughness of the gloss applying means. It is characterized by being determined according to the degree.

According to the above arrangement, the gloss of the image can be controlled by controlling the surface roughness of the gloss applying means. That is, for example, if the surface roughness of the gloss applying means is made rough, the gloss of the image can be eliminated, and if the surface roughness is made fine, the gloss of the image can be improved.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to the fourth aspect, wherein:
The glossiness imparting means is characterized in that the surface roughness is set so as to obtain a gloss having a gloss value of 70 or more.

According to the above configuration, a gloss of 70 or more in gloss value can be obtained, so that a glossy feeling which is generally not much different from that of a photograph can be obtained. In particular, if the gloss value is 80 or more, glossiness equal to or higher than that of a photograph can be obtained.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to the third aspect, wherein:
The surface of the transfer medium is circulated.

According to the above configuration, the transfer medium can be used semi-permanently.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to the sixth aspect, wherein:
It is characterized by further comprising cleaning means for removing unnecessary ink attached to the surface of the transfer medium.

According to the above arrangement, since the cleaning means is provided, even if the transfer medium is used continuously,
The image transferred to the recording medium is not contaminated by unnecessary ink remaining on the surface of the transfer medium. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image quality from deteriorating due to the continuous use of the transfer medium.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, wherein the ink discharge unit is discharged or transferred to a recording medium. It is characterized in that the amount of ink is controlled for each dot.

According to the above arrangement, gradation control can be performed for each dot by controlling the discharge of the ink discharge unit for each dot. As a result, a unit of gradation expression is compared with the conventional method in which the amount of ink ejection is not changed for each dot, and gradation is expressed in units of a plurality of dots depending on whether or not ink is ejected to each dot. Is smaller, so that the image quality can be improved as compared with the related art.

For example, when the image output apparatus of the present invention is combined with an image processing apparatus or the like to constitute one image output system, the image processing apparatus usually performs at least error diffusion processing in order to improve image quality. Done. However, according to the present invention, the image quality can be improved by adopting a configuration in which the ink ejection amount is controlled for each dot, so that it is no longer necessary to perform the error diffusion processing in the image processing apparatus. Therefore, the image processing time in the image processing apparatus can be significantly reduced, and as a result, the processing time of the entire system can be significantly reduced.

[0033]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Embodiment 1] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of an image output system to which an ink jet printer 1 as an image output device according to the present invention is applied. This image output system includes an image reading device 2, a film scanner 3, an image processing device 4, and a monitor 5, in addition to the inkjet printer 1.

The image reading device 2 reads image data recorded on a compact flash 6 which is a semiconductor memory card and other recording media. The above image data is obtained, for example, by imaging with a digital camera, or by creating an image with a personal computer or the like. Image data read by the image reading device 2 is supplied to the image processing device 4.

The film scanner 3 is a kind of image reading device for reading a negative (positive) image recorded on the film 7, and supplies image data corresponding to the read original image to the image processing device 4.

The image processing device 4 performs various conversion processes (image processing) on the image data supplied from the image reading device 2 or the film scanner 3 so that the image data becomes suitable for supply to the ink jet printer 1. Is what you do. As the above conversion processing, for example, RGB (Red, G
reen, Blue) format image data suitable for ink output
The processing includes conversion to C (Yellow, Magenta, Cyan) format, edge enhancement processing for enhancing the contour of the input image, red color correction processing, and the like. In this image output system,
Although error diffusion processing is not performed in the image processing device 4,
The reason will be described later.

The monitor 5 displays an image that has been converted by the image processing device 4. As a result, the state of the image can be confirmed, and whether or not image processing such as further color correction is necessary can be confirmed.

The ink jet printer 1 forms an image on a recording medium such as paper by ejecting ink based on image data converted by the image processing apparatus 4. Of the recording head.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the ink jet printer 1 includes an ink discharge section 9 in which a plurality of ink discharge ports 8 are arranged in a line corresponding to each dot on a recording medium. Provided corresponding to the color of the ink used. Therefore, the ink jet printer 1 can output not only a monochrome image but also a color image by overprinting ink of each color on predetermined dots.

The ink discharge section 9 is configured to be able to control the density of an output image by changing the ink discharge amount for each dot. Specifically, the amount of ink ejected from each ink ejection port 8 at one time is fixed, and the number of ink ejections for each dot is changed.
That is, the amount of ink ejected to the recording medium is changed by over-strike of the ink on the recording medium. With such a configuration, the print dot size becomes a size corresponding to the number of times of ink ejection, as shown in FIG.

The ink discharge section 9 may of course have a structure capable of changing the amount of ink discharged from each ink discharge port 8 at one time.

Next, the surface treatment mechanism provided in the ink jet printer 1 according to the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink jet printer 1 has a surface processing section 11 for performing a surface treatment for giving gloss to an image formed on a sheet 10 as a recording medium.
It has. In the present embodiment, the paper 10 is in a roll shape, but may be in a sheet shape. The paper 10 is transported while being supported by a guide member (not shown).

The surface treatment section 11 is provided with an ink ejection section 9 (FIG. 3).
Is provided on the downstream side in the paper transport direction with respect to
A heating roller 12 which is a hollow roller;
2 and support rollers 13a and 14b opposed to each other. The transport rollers 14a and 14b are provided further downstream than the heating roller 12 and the support roller 13 in the paper transport direction, and rotate the paper 10 and an overcoat film (hereinafter abbreviated as OCF) 19 to be described later by rotating in opposite directions. Is conveyed to the paper discharge side.

The heating roller 12 is made of, for example, silicone rubber having a hardness of about 70 as measured by a rubber hardness meter specified by JIS standards, and has a diameter of 50 mm and a length in the rotation axis direction of 6 to 15 inches. The heating roller 12
Is arranged opposite to the support roller 13 so that the sheet 10 can be appropriately pressed, and is urged toward the support roller 13 by a spring or the like as necessary.

The material, hardness, diameter, and axial length of the heating roller 12 are not limited to these values. For example, the material of the heating roller 12 can be made of, for example, NBR (acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber) -based rubber, PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) -based rubber, metal, or the like. What is necessary is just to set suitably according to the material of the roller 13, etc. For example, if the heating roller 12 is formed of a hard roller made of metal or the like, the surface of the ink 18 on the paper 10 can be surely flattened by the OCF 19 as compared with the case where the heating roller 12 is formed of a resin. It is possible to ensure that the image has gloss.

A heater (not shown) is provided inside the heating roller 12, and the surface of the heating roller 12 is heated to a normal temperature or more by heating the heater. Therefore, the surface temperature of the heating roller 12 is adjusted to, for example, 80 to 160 by adjusting the amount of electricity supplied to the heater.
It is possible to vary up to ° C. Note that the surface temperature is not limited to this range. To prevent the OCF 19 from being damaged by the heat of the heating roller 12,
The surface temperature of the heating roller 12 is desirably, for example, about 100 ° C., which differs depending on the material of the OCF 19.

The support roller 13 is made of, for example, a metal such as aluminum, and has a diameter of 30 to 50 mm and a length of 6 in the rotation axis direction.
~ 15 inches. The material, diameter, and axial length of the support roller 13 are not limited to these values, and may be appropriately set in consideration of the material of the heating roller 12 and the like.

The above-mentioned heating roller 12 and supporting roller 13
Is that the paper 10 and the OCF 19 on which ink has been ejected can be rotated in opposite directions so that the paper 10 and the OCF 19 can be transported between the transport rollers 14a and 14b while being sandwiched therebetween.

The surface treatment section 11 includes a heating roller 12
The OCF supply unit 15 is provided on the upstream side in the paper transport direction, and the cutter 16 and the transport roller 17 are provided on the downstream side in the paper transport direction from the transport rollers 14a and 14b. The cutter 16 cuts the paper sheet 10 and the OCF 19 adhered to the paper sheet 10. In the present embodiment, the cutter 16 is provided near the transport roller 14a. The installation position of the cutter 16 is not limited to this. The transport roller 17 transports the paper 10 cut by the cutter 16 to the paper discharge side.

The OCF supply unit 15 is an OCF that is pressed against the paper 10 so as to cover the ink 18 ejected on the paper 10.
F19 (gloss applying means, pressure bonding member) is supplied, and the OCF 19 is held in a roll shape.

The OCF 19 is a transparent resin made of, for example, epoxy resin or vinyl resin, and has heat resistance,
Excellent water and color fastness. Note that color fastness refers to how much of the initial color is preserved when photographic prints fade or fade due to sunburn or water exposure (how much discoloration Color retention and discoloration resistance. OCF1
9 (length in the direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction)
The width is set to be equal to or slightly longer than the width of 0. The surface roughness of the OCF 19 is set so that the gloss value when the gloss of the formed image is measured through the OCF 19 using a gloss measuring device is, for example, 70 or more.

Here, the above gloss value is a value based on the ratio of the amount of total reflection light to the amount of specular reflection light on the image surface, and is a kind of index indicating photographic quality. Normally, the gloss value of an ink jet printer is limited to about 50 to 60. In this case, the glossiness is not enough as compared with a photograph, but in the present embodiment, a gloss value of 70 or more is obtained. It is possible to obtain gloss that is not much different from the photograph.

It is to be noted that the OC value is set so that the gloss value becomes 80 or more.
If the surface roughness of F19 is set, glossiness equal to or higher than that of a photograph can be surely obtained.

An OCF 19 having a predetermined surface roughness
Can be prepared in advance, and the OCF 19 can be selectively used according to the intended use or desired gloss. By controlling the surface roughness of the OCF 19 as described above, it is possible to easily obtain a gloss value in a range of, for example, 10 to 90.

Next, the operation of the ink jet printer 1 and the image output system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the above configuration, the image data recorded on the compact flash 6 by, for example, imaging with a digital camera is read by the image reading device 2 and transmitted to the image processing device 4. On the other hand, an original image recorded on film 7 by shooting with an analog camera is scanned by film scanner 3 and converted into image data corresponding to the original image, and the image data is transmitted to image processing device 4. Is done.

In the image processing device 4, various image processing is performed on the above image data so that an appropriate image is output from the ink jet printer 1. At this time,
The operator checks the processed image displayed on the monitor 5 and causes the image processing device 4 to perform image processing until a desired image is obtained. After that, the processed image data is transmitted to the inkjet printer 1.

In the ink jet printer 1, the ink ejection unit 9 ejects the ink 1 ejected onto the paper 10 for each dot constituting the image in accordance with the image data from the image processing device 4.
The ink 18 is ejected while controlling the amount of 8. Thus, a dot having a size corresponding to the ink ejection amount is formed for each dot (see FIG. 3). The paper 10 on which the ejection of the ink 18 has been completed is conveyed to the surface treatment unit 11 at the subsequent stage.

In the surface treatment section 11, the surface of the heating roller 12 is previously heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater.
Then, O is adjusted so as to match the leading end of the conveyed sheet 10 and to cover the ink 18 (image) on the sheet 10.
The OCF 19 is supplied from the CF supply unit 15. continue,
The OCF 19 and the paper 10 are transported and held between the heating roller 12 and the support roller 13, whereby the ink 18 on the paper 10 is heated and pressed.

Thereafter, the paper 10 is transported by the transport rollers 14a
The sheet is conveyed to the sheet discharge side by 14b, separated by a cutter 16 frame by frame, and finally discharged out of the apparatus by a conveying roller 17.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the paper 10 is coated with the OCF 19 having the desired surface roughness.
The surface of the ink raised on the paper 10 is OCF1
9 is flattened according to the surface roughness. Thereby, irregular reflection on the ink surface can be suppressed as much as possible, and the characteristics of the paper 10 to be used (surface roughness of the paper 10, ink absorbency, etc.)
Also, regardless of the characteristics of the ink 18 (such as the size of the ink molecules), the image on the paper 10 can have a desired gloss. Further, since the surface of the paper 10 is coated with the OCF 19, the color resistance and the water resistance of the paper 10 can be reliably improved.

Further, a sheet having good ink absorbency absorbs ink not only in the thickness direction of the sheet but also in the plane direction and the oblique direction. May spread in the horizontal direction. However, according to the present invention, a desired gloss can be obtained without using a sheet having good ink absorbency.
Such an inconvenience can be avoided, and the predetermined image quality can be reliably maintained.

In this embodiment, all the print frame images are overcoated. However, it is of course possible to apply only the desired print frame image to the overcoat process. In this case, only when a desired print frame image is sent, the OCF supply unit 15
9 may be supplied.

In this embodiment, the OCF 19 has been described as an example of a means for imparting gloss to an image on the paper 10. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a spray that sprays a resin component equivalent to the OCF 19 onto the paper 10 May be used to constitute the gloss imparting means. In this case, desired glossiness (gloss value) can be obtained by controlling the size of the resin particles to be sprayed. In this case, as the particles of the sprayed resin are smaller, irregular reflection on the ink surface can be suppressed as much as possible, so that the gloss of the image is improved.

In the present embodiment, the discharge destination of the ink 18 is the paper 10. However, for example, as in the second embodiment described below, the image applying means (OCF 19) may be the discharge destination of the ink 18. Absent. That is, after the ink 18 is ejected to the OCF 19, the OCF 19 may be attached to the paper 10. In this case, OCF19
Functions as a transfer medium for transferring the ink 18 on the OCF 19 to the paper 10.

The configuration of the present invention in which the amount of the ink 18 ejected on the paper 10 is controlled for each dot can be applied to a continuous system. However, in this case,
Since a member corresponding to each nozzle cannot be provided in common among a plurality of nozzles, there is a disadvantage that the price of the apparatus is inevitably very high.

Next, the ink jet printer 1 of the present invention
According to the present invention, since the ink ejecting unit 9 for controlling the amount of the ink 18 ejected to the recording medium for each dot is provided, the image quality of a printed image can be improved, and the processing speed of the system as a whole can be increased. Can be. The reason why such an effect is obtained will be described below.

Conventionally, as a method of expressing the density of a print image, an area consisting of several vertical dots × several horizontal dots is defined as a unit area, and the number of dots in which the ink is ejected in this unit area is used as the unit area. The density (gradation) is determined, and the density of the entire image is expressed by a combination of these unit areas. For example, when the unit area is formed of a square area of 16 dots consisting of 4 dots in the vertical direction and 4 dots in the horizontal direction, one unit area can be expressed by 16 gradations depending on whether or not ink is ejected to each dot. .

On the other hand, in the configuration of the present invention, since the ink discharge amount is controlled for each dot, the density can be expressed for each dot, that is, the minimum unit of the density expression can be one dot. . As a result, the density expression can be performed more finely than in the above-described conventional method in which the density is changed for each unit region including a plurality of pixels, and as a result, the image quality can be significantly improved.

In the prior art in which the density is changed for each unit area, it is necessary to perform an error diffusion process at a stage preceding the ink jet printer (image processing device). This error diffusion processing is performed to prevent a boundary between adjacent unit areas from being unnaturally expressed or to prevent a periodic stripe pattern called moiré or texture from being generated in the entire image. When expressing the gradation, the gradation information (dot formation position information) of the unit area adjacent thereto is reflected, and the density gradient between these adjacent unit areas and the line drawing formed between the adjacent unit areas are continuously displayed. This is the process to be performed. Therefore, in the error diffusion processing, complicated calculation processing is usually performed for each unit area, and a huge amount of calculations are performed in total to form one image. For this reason, conventionally, much time has been spent on image processing in the former stage of the ink jet printer, and this has also caused an increase in the processing time of the entire system.

However, according to the configuration of the present invention, the image quality can be improved as described above by controlling the ink ejection amount for each dot. Therefore, the image quality can be improved by the error diffusion processing in the image processing apparatus. There is no longer any need to improve. Therefore, according to the above configuration, it is possible to greatly reduce the image processing time in the image processing apparatus by eliminating the need for error diffusion processing in the previous stage of the ink jet printer, thereby greatly reducing the processing time of the entire system. be able to.

In general, the more the number of ink ejection sections of an on-demand type ink jet printer is increased, the longer the image processing time per line becomes. It takes time. However, in the present invention, as described above, the error diffusion processing in the image processing apparatus 4 is not required, and the image processing time can be shortened. 9 can be increased. In this case, the speed of the printing process by the inkjet printer 1 can be further increased.

The performance of the image processing apparatus is improving day by day, and the time required for the error diffusion processing is being greatly reduced. That is, the reduction of the image processing time in the former stage of the inkjet printer has already been advanced. Further, since the present invention is configured to control the ink discharge amount for each dot, the image output time is slightly longer than in the related art in which an image is output by simply discharging ink to each dot. . However, even considering the current performance of the image processing apparatus and the length of the image output time in the present invention, the fact that the processing speed of the system as a whole at this time does not become slower than before is as follows.
It is known from experiments under predetermined conditions.

[Second Embodiment] The following will describe another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. Members having the same functions as the members used in the description of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The ink jet printer 1 of the present embodiment
Has the same configuration as that of the first embodiment except that the surface treatment unit 11 is replaced with a surface treatment unit 21 and the ink ejection unit 9 is incorporated in the surface treatment unit 21. The surface treatment section 21 includes a transfer film transport section 22 and a paper transport section 23.

The transfer film transport section 22 includes three transport rollers 25 and 26 for transporting the transfer film 24 by rotation.
27 and the support roller 13.

The transfer film 24 (gloss applying means, transfer medium) is, for example, a transparent resin made of the same material as the OCF 19 used in the first embodiment, and temporarily receives the ink from the ink discharge unit 9 and The ink is transferred to the paper 10 by contact with the paper 10. The roughness of the surface of the transfer film 24 on the press-bonding side is, for example, OC
As in F19, the gloss value is set to be 70 or more.

The transport rollers 25, 26, and 27 are arranged in this order along the transport direction of the transfer film 24, and are also disposed so that the transport direction of the transfer film 24 is bent at 90 degrees by the curvature of the transport roller 26. ing.
The transfer film 24 is collected by being pulled in a direction in which the transfer direction is bent by 90 degrees due to the curvature of the transfer roller 27.

Here, the ink discharge section 9 is provided with the transport roller 2
6, the transfer film 24 and the ink discharge port 8
(See FIG. 3) are arranged to face each other. In the present embodiment, since the image on the transfer film 24 is transferred to the sheet 10, the ink ejection unit 9 outputs an image that is the reverse of the image formed on the sheet 10 to the transfer film 24.
The ink is ejected onto the transfer film 24 as formed thereon.

The supporting roller 13 is provided with a heating roller 12 so that the sheet 10 and the transfer film 24 can be conveyed while being held between the heating roller 12 of the sheet conveying section 23 and the heating roller 12.
And between the transport rollers 26 and 27.

On the other hand, the sheet conveying section 23 includes conveying rollers 29 and 30 for conveying the sheet 10 by rotation, the heating roller 12 disposed between the conveying rollers 29 and 30, and cutters 16 and 16. . The transport roller 29 is disposed so as to substantially face the transport roller 26 of the transfer film transport unit 22 with the sheet 10 interposed therebetween. On the other hand, the transport roller 30 is disposed so as to be opposed to the transport roller 27 with the sheet 10 interposed therebetween. Thereby, the transport roller 2
The sheet 10 between 9.30 and the transfer film 24 between the conveying rollers 26 and 27 are conveyed while facing each other. The cutters 16 are provided with a transport roller 30.
The sheet 10 after the transfer film 24 is peeled is cut one image at a time on the downstream side in the sheet transport direction so as to face each other with the sheet 10 interposed therebetween.

In the above configuration, in the transfer film transport section 22, ink is discharged from the ink discharge section 9 toward the transfer film 24 in accordance with an image signal, and an image is formed on the transfer film 24. Then, the transfer film 24
The transport direction is bent by the transport roller 26, and is transported between the heating roller 12 and the support roller 13 (pressure bonding area).

On the other hand, in the paper transport section 23, the paper 10 is transported to the crimping area so that the leading edge of the image on the transfer film 24 to be transported coincides with the leading edge of the paper 10.
The heating roller 12 is heated by a heater in advance, and the paper 10 and the transfer film 24 conveyed to the pressure bonding area are heated.
Is pressed against each other by heat applied from the heating roller 12, whereby the image on the transfer film 24 is transferred to the paper 10. Then, the paper 10 arrives between the transport rollers 27 and 30 with the transfer film 24 adhered. Here, the transport direction of the transfer film 24 is bent 90 degrees by the curvature of the transport roller 27, and Peeled off. Thereafter, the paper 10 from which the transfer film 24 has been peeled off is cut out by the cutters 16 for each image and discharged.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the ink is not ejected to the paper 10 but the ink is temporarily ejected to the transfer film 24 and the ink on the transfer film 24 is transferred to the paper 10. I have. In this case, paper 10
The surface of the ink that has been transferred to the contact side with the transfer film 24 is flattened by the transfer film 24, and even after the transfer film 24 is peeled, the flatness of the ink surface depends on the surface roughness of the transfer film 24. Will be maintained. Therefore, irregular reflection on the ink surface can be suppressed.
The same effect as described above can be obtained.

In the present embodiment, since the transfer film 24 is finally peeled off from the paper 10, it is not necessary to form the transfer film 24 as colorless and transparent as in the first embodiment. That is, in the present embodiment, since the image is not viewed through the transfer film 24, it is necessary to set restrictions on the color, material, and the like of the transfer film 24 as long as the transfer film 24 is configured to have a desired surface roughness. There is no. Therefore, the transfer film 24 can be made of, for example, a colored material, a metal thin film, or the like, and the range of choice of the constituent materials can be expanded.

Third Embodiment Still another embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to FIG. Members having the same functions as the members used in the description of the first and second embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

Inkjet printer 1 of this embodiment
Has exactly the same configuration as the second embodiment except that the transfer film transport unit 22 of the surface treatment unit 21 is replaced with a transfer film transport unit 31.

The transfer film transport section 31 has a transfer film 24 formed in an endless belt shape, and has a configuration in which the transfer film 24 is stretched by three transport rollers 25, 26, and 27. Also, the transfer film transport unit 3
1 includes a cleaning device 32 (cleaning means) for removing unnecessary ink on the transfer film 24.

In this configuration, when ink is ejected from the ink ejection section 9 onto the transfer film 24, the transfer film 24
Is transported to the pressure-bonding area between the heating roller 12 and the support roller 13 by the circulation transport of the transfer film 24, and the transfer film 2 is
4 and is pressed against the conveyed sheet 10. As a result, the image on the transfer film 24 is transferred to the sheet 10.

Thereafter, the transfer film 24 is separated from the sheet 10 by the curvature of the transfer roller 27 and the transfer direction is changed to the cleaning device 32. The transfer device 24 transfers the transfer film 24 to the cleaning device 32 without being transferred to the sheet 10. Unnecessary ink remaining on the surface 24 is removed. The transfer film 24 whose surface has been cleaned by the cleaning device 32 is transported again to a position facing the ink ejection unit 9 and receives the ink ejected from the ink ejection unit 9. This cycle is thereafter repeated in the transfer film transport unit 31.

On the other hand, the sheet 10 from which the transfer film 24 has been peeled off is thereafter cut off by the cutters 16 and 16 one by one and discharged out of the machine.

Therefore, in the configuration of the present embodiment, the transfer film 24 is circulated, so that the transfer film 24 can be used semipermanently. Further, since the cleaning device 32 is provided, even if the transfer film 24 is continuously used, the image transferred to the paper 10 is not contaminated by unnecessary ink existing on the surface of the transfer film 24.

In the present embodiment, the transfer medium is formed in the form of an endless belt, but may be formed of a transfer drum. In this case, the transfer drum is
Since the transfer medium 26 and 27 and the support roller 13 can also serve the function, if the transfer medium is formed of a transfer drum, the above-described rollers are not required, and the structure of the transfer film transport unit 31 can be simplified.

[0096]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image output apparatus comprising:
As described above, the configuration is further provided with the gloss imparting means for imparting gloss to the image on the recording medium.

Therefore, it is possible to provide a desired gloss to the recorded image regardless of the characteristics of the recording medium and the ink used.

In the image output device according to the second aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of the first aspect, the gloss applying means is a pressure bonding member which is pressed against the recording medium so as to cover the image on the recording medium. The configuration is as follows.

Therefore, since the image surface is flattened by the direct contact of the pressure member with the image on the recording medium, irregular reflection on the ink surface is reliably suppressed, and the effect of the first aspect is ensured. This has the effect that it can be obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of the first aspect, the gloss applying means temporarily receives the ink ejected from the ink ejection section and receives the ink. And a transfer medium for transferring the ink onto the recording medium.

Therefore, the surface of the ink on the transfer medium contact side is formed flat, so that the ink surface remains flat even after the transfer to the recording medium. Thus, there is an effect that irregular reflection on the ink surface can be reliably suppressed, and the effect of the first aspect can be reliably obtained.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of the second or third aspect, the gloss of the image on the recording medium is determined according to the surface roughness of the gloss applying means. This is the configuration that has been determined.

Therefore, in addition to the effect of the configuration of claim 2 or 3, the effect of controlling the surface roughness of the gloss applying means can control the gloss of the image.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of the fourth aspect, the surface roughness of the gloss applying means is set so as to obtain a gloss having a gloss value of 70 or more. Configuration.

Therefore, since the gloss value is 70 or more, in addition to the effect of the constitution of the fourth aspect, it is possible to obtain a glossy feeling which is generally not much different from that of a photograph.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of the third aspect, the surface of the transfer medium is circulated.

Therefore, in addition to the effect of the structure of claim 3, there is an effect that the transfer medium can be used semi-permanently.

An image output apparatus according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, as described above, further comprises a cleaning means for removing unnecessary ink attached to the surface of the transfer medium. .

Therefore, even if the transfer medium is continuously used, the image transferred to the recording medium is not contaminated by unnecessary ink remaining on the surface of the transfer medium. As a result, in addition to the effect of the configuration of claim 6, there is an effect that the image quality can be prevented from deteriorating due to continuous use of the transfer medium.

According to the image output apparatus of the present invention, as described above, in the configuration of any one of the first to seventh aspects, the ink discharge unit controls the amount of ink discharged or transferred to the recording medium. This is a configuration in which control is performed for each dot.

Therefore, the gradation expression can be performed for each dot, and the unit of the gradation expression can be made smaller than in the related art in which the gradation is expressed in units of a plurality of dots. As a result, in addition to the effect of any one of the first to seventh aspects, an effect that the image quality can be improved as compared with the related art is obtained.

Further, since the image quality can be improved,
For example, when an image output system is configured in combination with an image processing apparatus, error diffusion processing for improving image quality no longer needs to be performed by the image processing apparatus. As a result, the image processing time in the image processing apparatus can be significantly reduced, and the processing time of the entire system can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a surface treatment unit provided in an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image output system to which the inkjet printer is applied.

FIG. 3 is an ink ejection section of the inkjet printer,
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between ink droplets ejected on a sheet and a dot size formed.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a surface treatment unit of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a surface treatment unit of an inkjet printer according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional on-demand type inkjet printer.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional continuous type inkjet printer.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between ink absorptivity and the size of ink particles (molecules) and glossiness.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink jet printer (image output device) 9 Ink discharge part 10 Paper (recording medium) 18 Ink 19 OCF (gloss provision means, pressure bonding member) 24 Transfer film (gloss provision means, transfer medium) 32 Cleaning device (cleaning means)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C056 EA01 EA04 EA13 EA16 EB06 EC06 EC28 EC29 ED03 FD13 HA29 HA44 HA60 JB18 2C061 AQ05 AR01 AS02 AS06 BB25 CK02 2H113 AA05 BA22 BB02 BB22 EA17 FA04 FA48

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An image output apparatus comprising: an ink ejection section for ejecting ink in dot units constituting an image for each color of ink; and outputting at least one color image on a recording medium by ejecting the ink. An image output apparatus further comprising a gloss applying means for imparting gloss to an image on a recording medium. 2. An image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said gloss applying means is a pressure bonding member which is pressed against the recording medium so as to cover an image on the recording medium. 3. A transfer medium according to claim 1, wherein said gloss applying means is a transfer medium for temporarily receiving ink ejected from said ink ejection section and transferring said received ink to a recording medium. Image output device. 4. The image output apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the gloss of the image on the recording medium is determined according to the surface roughness of the gloss applying means. 5. The image output apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a surface roughness of said gloss applying means is set so as to obtain a gloss having a gloss value of 70 or more. 6. The image output device according to claim 3, wherein the surface of the transfer medium circulates. 7. The image output apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising cleaning means for removing unnecessary ink attached to the surface of the transfer medium. 8. An image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said ink discharge unit controls the amount of ink discharged or transferred to a recording medium for each dot.