JP2003340141A - Print media - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To realize a printing medium having a plurality of pieces constituting a puzzle, which can easily print a good image even with a printing device for home use or the like. SOLUTION: In a printing medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces constituting a puzzle are fitted to each other, the printing medium has a sheet member arranged over each piece. It has an adhesive layer between each piece.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces forming a puzzle are fitted to each other.

[0002]

BACKGROUND ART For example, a jigsaw puzzle is known as a puzzle having a plurality of pieces. This jigsaw puzzle is made by pasting a thin paper on which photographs, pictures, characters, etc. have been printed by a method such as offset printing onto a mount having a predetermined thickness and strength, and then pressing it with a punching blade into multiple pieces. It was produced by cutting.

In recent years, the high performance of personal computers and printers has made it possible to print high-quality images even in general households, and it is possible to create jigsaw puzzles using images such as favorite photographs at home. It has been demanded. However, a large-sized press machine is required to cut the piece by the above-mentioned press working. Therefore, in order to create a jigsaw puzzle with a home printer or the like, a print medium in which the print medium is press-processed in advance has been proposed.

[0004]

However, since the pieces of the print medium that has been press-processed on the print medium in advance are separated finely, the pieces are conveyed in the printing machine while maintaining the aligned state of the pieces. Difficult to do. In particular,
In some cases, the pieces may move from a predetermined position due to printing vibrations or the like, or the boundary between the pieces may not be kept flat. In this case, there is a problem in that the image cannot be used as a jigsaw puzzle because the image is interrupted in the middle, or a blank portion that is not printed is generated at the boundary between the pieces.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a puzzle in which a good image can be easily printed even by a printing apparatus for home use or the like. It is to realize a printing medium having a plurality of constituent pieces.

[0006]

The main object of the present invention is to dispose a plurality of pieces constituting a puzzle in a printed medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state of being fitted to each other across the pieces. A print medium having a sheet member and an adhesive layer between the sheet member and each of the pieces. For other features of the invention,
It becomes clear by the attached drawings and the following description.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS At least the following will be made clear by the description in the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

In a printing medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces forming a puzzle are fitted to each other, a sheet member is provided so as to extend over each piece, and the sheet member and the The print medium is characterized by having an adhesive layer between each piece. According to such a medium to be printed, since the adhesive layer is provided between each piece which is a constituent element of the puzzle and the sheet member arranged across the pieces, all the pieces are sheet members by the adhesive layer. Fixed to. Therefore, even if the print medium is supplied and conveyed to the printing apparatus, the pieces do not move apart from a predetermined position, and the surfaces of the pieces are continuous along the sheet member. It is possible to form two surfaces and print a good image.

In such a printing medium, it is desirable that the adhesive layer is provided on a sheet member. According to such a medium to be printed, since the adhesive layer is provided on the sheet member, it is possible to separate each piece from the sheet member after printing and use it as a puzzle as it is.

In such a printing medium, it is desirable that a release layer is provided on one surface of each piece, and the release layer is in contact with the adhesive layer. According to such a medium to be printed, since the release layer provided on each piece is in contact with the adhesive layer, each piece can be easily released from the sheet member after printing.

In such a medium to be printed, it is desirable that an ink absorbing layer for absorbing ink used for printing is provided on the surface of each piece on the side opposite to the adhesive layer. According to such a printing medium, the surface of each piece on the anti-adhesive layer side,
That is, since the ink absorption layer is provided on the printing surface side,
The printed ink is absorbed by the ink absorbing layer and fixed, and a good image can be obtained.

In such a printing medium, the adhesive layer may be a double-sided tape. According to such a print medium, it is not necessary to apply an adhesive material forming an adhesive layer to the sheet member when the print medium is manufactured, and the release paper of the double-sided tape is peeled off and attached to the sheet member, and Since the piece of paper can be attached by peeling off the release paper on the opposite surface side, it is easy to manufacture the printing medium.

In such a printing medium, the adhesive layer may be an adhesive. According to such a print medium, the adhesive can be directly applied to the sheet member to fix each piece, so that the adhesive layer is not originally necessary and a base material for forming the adhesive layer is not required. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture the printing medium at low cost.

In such a printing medium, it is desirable that the puzzle constituting area forming the puzzle is located inside the area of the sheet member. According to such a printing medium, the area of the sheet member also exists outside the puzzle constituent area. Therefore, in order to print the entire area of the puzzle, even if printing is performed in an area wider than the puzzle configuration area, that is, outside the puzzle configuration area, the ink adheres to the sheet member, and the inside of the printing device is soiled. It is possible to print the entire puzzle constituent area without the need.

In addition, a plurality of pieces constituting the puzzle are
In a print medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state of being fitted to each other, a sheet member arranged across each piece is provided, and the plurality of pieces have a release layer on one surface and the other surface. And an ink absorbing layer for absorbing ink used for printing, the puzzle constituting area constituting the puzzle is located inside the area of the sheet member, and the double-sided tape is provided between the peeling layer and the sheet member. The printing medium is characterized by being provided with.

According to such a printing medium, since all the pieces are fixed along the sheet member, the pieces can be separated from each other and moved from a predetermined position even if they are fed and conveyed to the printing apparatus. It is possible to print a good image.

Further, since each piece comes into contact with the adhesive layer provided on the sheet member at the peeling layer, it is easy to peel from the sheet member, and easily separated from the sheet member after printing and used as it is as a puzzle. It is possible to

Further, since the ink absorption layer is provided on the printing surface side of each piece, it is possible to obtain a good image, and the sheet member is also present outside the puzzle constituting area. It is possible to print the entire puzzle constituent area without staining the area.

Further, when the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is a double-sided tape, it is easy to handle, so that the time and effort required for producing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer can be reduced, and the medium to be printed can be easily manufactured.

=== Configuration of Printed Medium === FIGS. 1 to 3 are views showing a printed medium in the present embodiment. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a print medium according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion A of FIG.

The medium 20 to be printed is a medium to be supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces 22a forming a puzzle such as a jigsaw puzzle are fitted to each other.

The medium 20 to be printed has a puzzle plate 22 formed in a plate shape by a plurality of puzzle pieces 22a constituting a puzzle, and a base material sheet which is a sheet member formed larger than the puzzle plate 22. 24 and puzzle board 2
2 and a double-sided tape 26 as an adhesive layer interposed between the base material sheet 24.

The puzzle board 22 is made of cardboard and has a plurality of puzzle pieces 22a, which are separated from each other, and are fitted to each other so as to have a rectangular outer shape. Each puzzle piece 22a has a thickness of, for example, about 2 mm in order to be fitted to each other. A surface layer on which an ink or the like as a recording agent is easily fixed is provided on the surface on the anti-adhesion layer side which is the surface side on which the puzzle image is formed. If the printing apparatus is, for example, an inkjet printer, this surface layer is the ink absorbing layer 30 for absorbing ink, and the ink absorbing layer 30 instantly ejects the ejected ink by a method such as using inorganic ultrafine particles. Absorbs and prevents deterioration of image quality due to ink bleeding. The ink absorption layer 30 is provided on the entire surface of the puzzle board 22, and the entire area of the puzzle board 22 is a puzzle constituent area that constitutes a puzzle.

On the adhesive layer side of the puzzle plate 22, a release layer 28 is provided by applying a well-known release agent made of silicone such as silicon resin. The release layer 28 facilitates separation of the puzzle pieces 22a fixed to the single base sheet 24 by the double-sided tape 26 at the time of printing from the base sheet 24 after printing to form individual puzzle pieces 22a. Thus, the separated puzzle piece 22a can be used as it is.

The base sheet 24 is formed to be wider than the entire area of the puzzle plate 22, that is, the puzzle-constituting area so as to be arranged over all the puzzle pieces 22a, and extends outside the four sides of the puzzle plate 22. In this state, the double-sided tape 26 is formed integrally with the puzzle board 22. As described above, when the base material sheet 24 exists outside the puzzle constituting area, it is possible to prevent the inside of the printing apparatus from being contaminated with the ink even when the edge of the puzzle plate 22 is printed.

The base sheet 24 is made up of a plurality of puzzle pieces 2.
It is formed of a thin paper having rigidity enough to fix 2a and to fix the printing surface formed by them flatly. Here, the thin paper is the puzzle board 22.
In order to reduce the thickness of the printing medium 20 in consideration of supplying the printing medium to the printing device since the thickness is large, the base sheet 24 is formed of a polyester sheet in order to have a small thickness and high rigidity. You may.

The double-sided tape 26 serving as an adhesive layer is provided on at least the outer peripheral edge of the puzzle plate 22 for the puzzle piece 2.
2a and the base sheet 24, and the base sheet 2
It is attached to the 4 side. The adhesive force of the double-sided tape 26 does not need to be strong enough to prevent the puzzle piece 22a and the base material sheet 24 from peeling off. To the extent that it does not come off from the base sheet 24,
Further, it is sufficient that the puzzle piece 22a has such an adhesive force that the puzzle piece 22a is not peeled off from the base material sheet 24 while being conveyed in the printing apparatus.

The print medium 20 is supplied to a printing device that can be conveyed while maintaining the horizontal state and printed, and then the puzzle piece 22a is removed from the base sheet 24 to complete a jigsaw puzzle.

That is, according to the printing medium 20 of the present embodiment, all the puzzle pieces 22a are fixed along the base sheet 24 by the double-sided tape 26 while being supplied to the printing device for printing. Therefore, it is possible to print a good image without the puzzle pieces 22a separating from moving from a predetermined position during printing.

In the machine of the present embodiment, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is a double-sided tape that is easy to handle when manufacturing a print medium, but it may be an adhesive applied to a base sheet.

Further, in the present embodiment, the example in which the puzzle plate is composed of only puzzle pieces has been shown, but a frame portion may be provided on the outer peripheral portion of the puzzle piece. In this case, the entire area of the puzzle piece and the frame portion becomes the puzzle constituent area.

=== Schematic Configuration of Printing Apparatus === Next, an outline of an inkjet printer as a printing apparatus suitable for printing on a printing medium of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic appearance of the inkjet printer.

A color ink jet printer is shown here. The color printer 10 is an inkjet printer capable of outputting a color image, and is, for example, a sheet of paper such as a sheet of paper that cuts four color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K). It is an inkjet printer that forms an image by ejecting dots on a printing medium. As color inks, in addition to the above four colors, light cyan (light cyan, LC), light magenta (light magenta, LM),
Dark yellow (dark yellow, DY) may be used.

As shown in FIG. 4, the color printer 10
Has a paper feed structure that discharges the cut sheet supplied from above the back side from the front side. An operation panel 11 and a paper discharge unit 12 are provided on the front surface of the printer body 10, and a paper feed unit 13 is provided on the back surface. The operation panel 11 is provided with various operation buttons 111 and a display lamp 112. The paper discharge unit 12 includes a paper discharge tray 121 that closes a paper discharge port when not in use. The paper feed unit 13 is provided with a paper feed tray 131 for holding cut paper (not shown). Note that the cut paper is paper that has been cut into a predetermined size in advance, and is a single-cut print medium that is not cut by the color printer 10.

=== Configuration of Paper Feeding Mechanism === The color printer 10 according to the present embodiment is particularly configured to have a paper feeding path (not shown in FIG. 4) called a straight path. This is a paper feeding mechanism for manually feeding a print medium having a certain thickness and hardness such as thick paper. In this straight path mechanism, a medium to be printed having an irregular size or shape such as a CD-R is placed on a medium to be printed conveying tray (not shown) and supplied to the medium to be printed. It is possible to print without cutting. The medium to be printed for making the puzzle of the present invention is also fed through a feed path called this straight path. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts of the printer 10 for explaining these two paper feed mechanisms.

The color printer 10 is provided with a carriage 40, which is supported by a sliding shaft 44 and moves in the sliding axis direction (main scanning direction), as a means for printing on a printing medium. The heads IH <b> 1 to IH <b> 4 are mounted on the printing medium 40 by ejecting ink onto the printing medium. The head IH is opposed to the heads IH1 to IH4.
A platen 42 that defines the gaps between the head surfaces 1 to IH4 and the print medium is provided. Then, the carriage 40 is conveyed in the main scanning direction, and the print medium is intermittently conveyed in the sub-scanning direction Y between the carriage 40 and the platen 42, while the heads IH1 to IH4 eject ink onto the recording material. As a result, printing is performed on the print medium.

The paper feed tray 131 has a structure capable of supplying a print medium, which is a cut sheet such as plain paper or photo paper, and the path indicated by arrow A for automatically supplying the print medium. Is equipped with an ASF (auto sheet feeder).

The medium to be printed for making the puzzle shown in the above embodiment is fed from a paper feed path indicated by an arrow B in the drawing, and is downstream of the paper feed roller 132 in the sub-scanning direction Y. By the medium-to-be-printed medium conveyance positioning means disposed on the side, the medium is intermittently conveyed toward the printing execution position by a predetermined paper feed amount.

A transport driving roller 61 and a transport driven roller 62 are provided as transport positioning means for intermittently transporting and positioning the print medium in the sub-scanning direction Y. The conveyance drive roller 61 is rotationally controlled by a paper feed motor such as a stepping motor, and the print medium is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction Y by the rotation of the conveyance drive roller 61. The transport driven roller 62 is axially supported by a plurality of transport driven roller holders 621. When the print medium is transported by the rotation of the transport driving roller 61, the transport driven roller 62 is driven to rotate.

Further, a paper detector 63 according to a known technique in the prior art is arranged between the paper feed roller 132 and the transport drive roller 61. The paper detector 63 is provided with a habit of self-returning to a standing posture, and has a lever 631 pivotally supported in a state of protruding into a conveyance path of a print medium so as to be rotatable only in a recording paper conveyance direction. . This lever 6
The lever 631 is rotated by pushing the front end of 31 to the print medium, and the print medium is detected thereby. The paper detector 63 detects the start end position and the end position of the print medium fed from the paper feed roller 132, determines the print area according to the detected position, and executes printing.

On the other hand, as a means for discharging the printed medium to be printed, a paper discharge driving roller 64 and a paper discharge driven roller 65 are provided. The paper ejection drive roller 64 is rotationally controlled by the rotational driving force of a stepping motor or the like, and the paper to be printed is ejected in the sub-scanning direction Y by the rotation of the paper ejection drive roller 64. The paper ejection driven roller 65 is a toothed roller that has a plurality of teeth in the periphery thereof, and the tips of the teeth are sharply sharpened so as to make point contact with the recording surface of the printing medium. Is driven and rotated when the paper is discharged by the rotation of the paper discharge drive roller 64.

The paper feeding mechanism (conveying means) for conveying the print medium to the path indicated by the arrow B conveys the print medium set in the horizontal state while maintaining the horizontal state. , Even if the print medium has high rigidity,
It is possible to easily transport the inside of the printing apparatus and print.

[0043]

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize a print medium having a plurality of pieces forming a puzzle, which can easily print a good image even with a printing device for home use or the like. Is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a print medium according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of part A of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing an appearance of an inkjet printer.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an essential part of the ink jet printer showing two paper feed paths.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Printer body 11 Operation panel 111 Operation button 112 indicator lamp 12 Paper output section 121 Paper output tray 13 Paper feeder 131 Paper Feed Holder 132 paper feed roller 20 Print media 22 puzzle board 22a puzzle piece 24 Base sheet 26 double-sided tape 28 Release layer 30 ink absorption layer 40 carriage 42 Platen 61 Transport drive roller 62 Transport driven roller 621 Transport driven roller holder 63 paper detector 631 lever 64 Paper ejection drive roller 65 Paper output driven roller IH1, IH2, IH3, IH4 print head

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A print medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces forming a puzzle are fitted to each other, the print medium having a sheet member arranged over the pieces, and the sheet member. And a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer between each of the pieces. 2. The print medium according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is provided on a sheet member. 3. The printing medium according to claim 1, wherein a release layer is provided on one surface of each piece, and the release layer is in contact with the adhesive layer. To be printed medium. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an ink absorbing layer that absorbs ink used for printing is provided on a surface of each piece on the side opposite to the adhesive layer. A printing medium characterized by the above. 5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is a double-sided tape. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive layer is an adhesive. 7. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the puzzle-constituting area forming the puzzle is located inside the area of the sheet member. . 8. A print medium supplied to a printing apparatus in a state where a plurality of pieces constituting a puzzle are fitted to each other, wherein a sheet member is arranged across each piece, The piece includes a release layer on one surface and an ink absorption layer that absorbs ink used for printing on the other surface, and the puzzle-constituting area that constitutes the puzzle is located inside the area of the sheet member. A printing medium, wherein a double-sided tape is provided between the release layer and the sheet member.