JP6226157B2 - Image forming apparatus and image forming method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

  When forming a color image, a color material of a basic color (hereinafter referred to as a basic color) necessary for forming the color image, for example, a color of C (cyan) M (magenta) Y (yellow) Various colors are reproduced using materials or color materials such as R (red), G (green), and B (blue). When CMY is used as the basic color, a K (black) color material may also be used. Furthermore, a color material having a color different from these basic colors or K (hereinafter referred to as a special color) may be used, or a transparent color material may be used.

  A metallic color may be used as the spot color. Metallic colors are generally used to reproduce the glossiness and sparkle of metal. For example, Patent Document 1 describes that metallic powder such as aluminum or brass is used as a coloring material, and a metallic feeling (metallic luster) such as silver or gold is obtained with an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. Further, in Patent Document 2, an image is formed using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color so that the metallic color material is the lowest layer, and a color having a specified metallic feeling is reproduced. doing. Further, in Patent Document 3, an image is formed so that a metallic color material is the uppermost layer, and a metallic feeling (glittering feeling) is obtained.

  When a color material is actually made using a metal pigment (aluminum) and a metallic color material and other color materials are superimposed to reproduce a given metallic color such as gold, the color of the metallic color Regardless of whether the material is the uppermost layer or the lowermost layer, colors are reproduced and a glittering feeling is obtained. However, in any case, a metallic gloss (Flop Index) like the metallic spot color ink used in printing cannot be obtained.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a cross-sectional structure of an image formed by an image forming apparatus using a conventional metallic color material and an image printed using metallic spot color ink. In the figure, 21 is a medium, 22 is a metal pigment, and 23 is a color material other than a metallic color. FIG. 5A shows an example of a cross-sectional structure of an image when an image is formed by an electrophotographic image forming apparatus using a metallic color material together with other color materials. In a conventional electrophotographic image forming apparatus, color materials of other colors as well as metallic color materials are formed on a medium 21 such as paper, and then heated and melted to be fixed. Since the thickness of the color material layer after fixing is equal to or larger than the particle diameter of the metallic color material, the metal pigment used as the metallic color material as shown in FIG. The directions of 22 are separated. For this reason, the direction of regular reflection with respect to incident light on the surface of the metal pigment 22 is dispersed, and diffuse reflection light is relatively increased, and glossiness cannot be obtained. Furthermore, since the orientations of the metal pigments 22 are different, the surface roughness of the image is also larger than when no metallic color material is used. Even with the surface roughness of the image, the regular reflectance is low, the diffuse reflectance is high, and glossiness cannot be obtained.

  On the other hand, FIG. 5B shows an example of a cross-sectional structure of an image when printed using metallic spot color ink. When reproducing a metallic color by printing, printing is performed using a metallic spot color ink of the color to be reproduced. Therefore, the thickness of the ink layer is thinner than the particle diameter of the metal pigment 22 used in the metallic spot color ink, and the direction of the metal pigment 22 is restricted. As a result, the orientation is higher than that shown in FIG. 5A, the surface roughness of the image is reduced, the regular reflectance is high, and the diffuse reflectance is relatively low. A feeling will be obtained.

JP 62-0675558 A JP 2006-050347 A JP 2006-317633 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of obtaining a glossy feeling even in an image in which various metallic colors are reproduced using a certain color material of a metallic color and a color material of another color. To do.

The invention according to claim 1 includes a forming unit that forms an image using a metallic color material on a medium, and a fixing unit that presses and fixes the image formed by the forming unit. The fixing means is characterized in that the thickness of the metallic color material layer after fixing is pressed and fixed so as to be thinner than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is increased. An image forming apparatus.
The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is such that the forming means in the invention of claim 1 forms an image on a medium using a color material other than a metallic color together with a color material of a metallic color, The forming means forms an image on the medium using a metallic color material, and the thickness of the metallic color material layer after fixing is smaller than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is enhanced. The fixing means presses and fixes to a thickness, and then the forming means forms an image of a color material other than the metallic color on the image of the metallic color material and fixes it by the fixing means. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above.
According to the third aspect of the present invention, a forming unit that forms an image using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color on a medium, and pressurizing and fixing the image formed by the forming unit. A fixing unit, wherein the fixing unit has a thickness after fixing the metallic color material layer on the image formed using the metallic color material by the forming unit, and the orientation of the metal pigment The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the thickness is smaller than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so as to increase the thickness, and the pressure is fixed by pressing rather than the case of an image formed without using a metallic color material. .
The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is the invention according to claim 3, wherein the forming unit forms an image on a medium using a color material of metallic color, and is fixed by the fixing unit. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the means forms an image of a color material other than the metallic color on the image of the color material of the metallic color and fixes the image by the fixing means.

In the invention according to claim 5 of the present invention, after forming an image on the medium using a metallic color material by a forming means, the thickness of the metallic color material layer after fixing is such that the orientation of the metal pigment is The image forming method is characterized in that fixing is performed by pressing with a fixing unit so that the thickness is smaller than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so as to increase.
The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is the invention according to claim 5, in which the metallic color is formed on the medium by the forming means for forming an image using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color on the medium. An image of a color material other than the metallic color is formed on the metallic color material image by the forming unit, and the image is fixed by the fixing unit. An image forming method characterized in that
In the invention described in claim 7, the image is formed on the medium using the metallic color material by the forming means for forming the image using the metallic color material and the color material other than the metallic color on the medium. After that, use the metallic color material so that the thickness after fixing of the metallic color material layer is thinner than the particle size of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is enhanced by the fixing means. The image forming method is characterized in that the image is formed by pressurization and fixing rather than in the case of an image formed without using.
The invention according to claim 8 of the present application is the invention according to claim 7, in which an image is generated using a metallic color material, and after fixing, the color material other than the metallic color is formed on the metallic color image. The image forming method is characterized in that the image is formed by a forming unit and fixed by a fixing unit.

  According to the invention described in claims 1, 3, 5, and 7 of the present application, there is an effect that a glossy image can be formed as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

  According to the inventions described in claims 2, 4, 6, and 8 of the present application, it is possible to form an image with glossy color reproduction as compared with the case where the present configuration is not provided.

It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of an example of the cross-sectional structure of the image formed by one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a computer program, a storage medium storing the computer program, and a computer when the function described in the embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is realized by a computer program. It is a schematic diagram of an example of a cross-sectional structure of an image formed by an image forming apparatus using a conventional metallic color material and an image printed using metallic spot color ink.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a forming unit, 12 is a fixing unit, and 13 is a control unit. The forming unit 11 forms an image on the medium using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color. The configuration may be a configuration for forming a color image, and may be any of various methods such as a tandem type, a cycle type, a method using an intermediate transfer member, and a method not using it. The color material other than the metallic color may be a color material used when a normal color image is formed. Although FIG. 1 shows the case where four color materials are used in addition to the metallic color material, the number of color materials other than the metallic color may be three or five or more. A transparent color material may be used as one of the color materials other than the metallic color. There are various metallic colors, but here, a metallic color material is used, and for metallic colors different from the metallic color, a metallic color material and a non-metallic color material are used. Reproduce by using.

  The fixing unit 12 fixes the image made of the color material formed on the medium by the forming unit 11 on the medium. For example, a color material may be fixed by heating. Conditions for fixing are controlled by the control unit 13.

  The control unit 13 controls each unit to perform control for forming an image on the medium. As a control when an image is formed using a metallic color material, a first fixing in which an image using the metallic color material is formed on the forming unit 11 and fixed by the fixing unit 12; Control is performed so that an image using a color material is formed on the forming unit 11 and fixed on the fixing unit 12 and the second fixing is performed on the image obtained by performing the first fixing. For example, after an image using a metallic color material is formed on the forming unit 11 and fixed by the fixing unit 12, an image using a color material other than the metallic color is superimposed on the obtained image on the forming unit 11. Control to form and fix the image on the fixing unit 12 is performed. Alternatively, after an image using a color material other than the metallic color is formed on the forming unit 11 and fixed on the fixing unit 12, an image using the metallic color material is superimposed on the obtained image on the forming unit 11. Control is performed to fix the image by the fixing unit 12.

  When the metallic color material is used, the control unit 13 sets a fixing condition for the fixing unit 12 that is different from that when the metallic color material is not used. The fixing condition may be set so that glossiness appears, and for example, it may be set so that the amount of energy applied at the time of fixing is larger than when a metallic color material is not used. More specifically, as compared with the case where no metallic color material is used, the fixing temperature is increased, the fixing speed is decreased, the fixing pressure is increased, the nip width is increased, and the second fixing device is provided. In such a configuration, various fixing conditions may be set, such as using a second fixing device. These fixing conditions may be set for both the first fixing and the second fixing described above.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation in the embodiment of the present invention. In this operation example, an example in which an image using a color material other than the metallic color is formed after an image using the metallic color material is formed first is shown.

  First, in S1, the control unit 13 determines whether or not a metallic color material is used to form a given image. When an image is formed without using a metallic color material, an image given by normal settings is formed.

  When a metallic color material is used, the control unit 13 changes the setting so that the forming unit 11 and the fixing unit 12 have a glossy appearance in S2. In S3, an image using a metallic color material is formed on the medium by the forming unit 11, and the formed image is fixed on the medium by the fixing unit 12 in S4. When the formation and fixing of the image with the metallic color material is completed, the medium is returned to the forming unit 11 and is superimposed on the image formed and fixed with the metallic color material. An image using a color material other than the color is formed by the forming unit 11, and the formed image is fixed by the fixing unit 12 in S6. In this way, the image forming and fixing steps are performed twice.

  The medium is preferably returned to the forming unit 11 automatically by providing such a mechanism, but may be manually returned by the operator. Further, when using a metallic color material, image formation and fixing are first performed using a color material other than the metallic color in S5 and S6, and the metallic color material in S3 and S4 is used. The formed image may be formed and fixed later.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example of a cross-sectional structure of an image formed according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A shows a state in which an image using a metallic color material is formed and fixed, and FIG. 3B shows a color material other than the metallic color from the state of FIG. An image using and is formed and fixed.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, when an image is formed and fixed with a metallic color material without using a color material other than the metallic color, the thickness of the metallic color material layer is the metallic color. Compared to the case where an image is formed using a metallic color material together with a color material other than the color material, the orientation of the metal pigment 22 is restricted. As a result, the metal in the metallic color material is compared with the case where an image is formed and fixed using both the metallic color material and the non-metallic color material shown in FIG. The orientation of the pigment 22 is increased. If more energy than usual is given to the fixing unit 12 at the time of fixing and the pressure is higher than usual, the layer of the metallic color material is more firmly fixed on the medium 21 than usual, and the metallic color layer is fixed. The direction of the metal pigment 22 in the color material is aligned.

  From the state shown in FIG. 3A, when an image using a color material other than the metallic color is further formed and fixed, the state shown in FIG. 3B is obtained. Since the metallic color material layer is already fixed, the orientation of the metal pigment 22 is maintained. Therefore, the direction of the regular reflection light by the metal pigment 22 with respect to the incident light is aligned, and the diffuse reflectance is relatively lower than that of the conventional example shown in FIG. Furthermore, if more energy than usual is applied when fixing a color material of a color other than a metallic color, the surface of the color material layer of a color other than the metallic color is smoothed, and a further glossiness is obtained by surface reflection. It is done. In this example, since the color material 23 other than the metallic color is not hidden by the metal pigment 22, color reproduction is performed.

  FIG. 3C shows a case where an image using a color material having a metallic color is formed and fixed, and then an image using a color material having a metallic color is formed and fixed. In this case, before forming an image using a metallic color material, an image using a color material other than the metallic color has already been formed and fixed. For this reason, the layer of the metallic color material layered on the layer of the color material other than the metallic color is fixed, and the image is formed using both the metallic color material and the non-metallic color material. Compared to the case where it is formed, the orientation of the metal pigment 22 in the metallic color material is thin and high. Therefore, the direction of the regular reflection light by the metal pigment 22 with respect to the incident light is aligned, the diffuse reflectance is relatively lower than the conventional one, and a glossy feeling is obtained. In the case of this example, the reflected light from the metal pigment 22 does not pass through the color material layer other than the metallic color, and the glittering feeling is increased as compared with the case of FIG. Sex is inferior.

  When fixing the color material layer other than the metallic color and the color material layer of the metallic color in the example shown in FIG. 3C, the fixing unit 12 is fixed at the time of fixing. It is good to give more energy than usual and pressurize more than usual. The surface of the color material layer other than the metallic color is smoothed so that the direction of the metal pigment 22 in the metallic color material layer is aligned, and further glossiness is obtained by the reflected light on the surface. For the metallic color material layer, the orientation of the internal metal pigment 22 is aligned.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a computer program, a storage medium storing the computer program, and a computer when the functions described in the embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention are realized by a computer program. In the figure, 31 is a program, 32 is a computer, 41 is a magneto-optical disk, 42 is an optical disk, 43 is a magnetic disk, 44 is a memory, 51 is a CPU, 52 is an internal memory, 53 is a reading unit, 54 is a hard disk, and 55 is An interface 56 is a communication unit.

  All or part of the functions of the control unit 13 described in the embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention described above may be realized by a program 31 executed by a computer. In this case, the program 31 and data used by the program may be stored in a storage medium that can be read by a computer. A storage medium is a signal of a corresponding signal that causes a change state of energy such as magnetism, light, electricity, etc., depending on the description content of the program, to the reading unit 53 provided in the hardware resource of the computer. The program description is transmitted to the reading unit 53 in a format. For example, there are a magneto-optical disk 41, an optical disk 42 (including a CD and a DVD), a magnetic disk 43, a memory 44 (including an IC card, a memory card, a flash memory, and the like). Of course, these storage media are not limited to portable types.

  The program 31 is stored in these storage media. For example, the storage medium 53 is attached to the reading unit 53 or the interface 55 of the computer 32, the program 31 is read from the computer, and the internal memory 52 or the hard disk 54 (magnetic disk or the like) is read. The program 31 is executed by the CPU 51 and the function of the control unit 13 described as one embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention described above is realized in whole or in part. Alternatively, the program 31 is transferred to the computer 32 via the communication path, and the computer 32 receives the program 31 by the communication unit 56 and stores it in the internal memory 52 or the hard disk 54, and the program 31 is executed by the CPU 51. Also good.

  The computer 32 is connected to the forming unit 11 and the fixing unit 12 via an interface 55, and the program 31 controls the forming unit 11 and the fixing unit 12 to obtain an image. In addition, various devices may be connected via the interface 55. Note that it is not necessary to operate in one computer, and the processing may be executed by another computer depending on the processing stage. Moreover, when applying to another use, you may comprise as a unit with the program in the use. Furthermore, it may be partially configured by hardware, or all may be configured by hardware.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Formation part, 12 ... Fixing part, 13 ... Control part, 21 ... Medium, 22 ... Metal pigment, 23 ... Color material other than metallic color, 31 ... Program, 32 ... Computer, 41 ... Magneto-optical disk, 42 ... Optical disk , 43 ... Magnetic disk, 44 ... Memory, 51 ... CPU, 52 ... Internal memory, 53 ... Reading part, 54 ... Hard disk, 55 ... Interface, 56 ... Communication part.

Claims (8)

  Forming means for forming an image using a metallic color material on a medium; and fixing means for pressing and fixing the image formed by the forming means. The fixing means is formed of a metallic color material. An image forming apparatus, wherein the layer is fixed by pressing so that the thickness after fixing of the layer is thinner than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is enhanced.   The forming means forms an image on the medium using a color material other than the metallic color together with the metallic color material, and the forming means forms an image on the medium using the metallic color material. The thickness of the metallic color material layer after fixing is fixed by pressing with the fixing means so that the thickness of the metal pigment is thinner than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is increased, 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the forming unit forms an image of a color material other than the metallic color on the image of the metallic color material and fixes the image by the fixing unit.   Forming means for forming an image using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color on a medium; and a fixing means for pressurizing and fixing the image formed by the forming means, the fixing means The thickness of the metallic color material layer after fixing with respect to the image formed using the metallic color material by the forming means is larger than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is increased. An image forming apparatus characterized by pressurizing and fixing an image formed without using a metallic color material so as to have a thinner thickness.   After the forming unit forms an image using a metallic color material on the medium and the image is fixed by the fixing unit, the forming unit sets a color material other than the metallic color on the image of the metallic color material. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image is formed and fixed by the fixing unit.   After forming an image using a metallic color material on the medium by the forming means, the thickness after fixing of the metallic color material layer is larger than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is increased. An image forming method comprising fixing by pressing with a fixing means so as to have a thin thickness.   After forming an image using a metallic color material on the medium by the forming unit that forms an image using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color on the medium and fixing the image by the fixing unit, 6. The image forming method according to claim 5, wherein an image of a color material other than a metallic color is formed on the image of a metallic color material by the forming unit and fixed by the fixing unit.   After forming an image using a metallic color material on the medium by a forming unit that forms an image using a metallic color material and a color material other than the metallic color on the medium, the metallic color color is formed by the fixing unit. The thickness of the material layer after fixing is smaller than the particle diameter of the metal pigment so that the orientation of the metal pigment is increased, as compared with the case of an image formed without using a metallic color material. An image forming method characterized by pressing and fixing.   After generating and fixing an image using a metallic color material, an image of a color material other than the metallic color is formed on the metallic color material image by the forming unit and fixed by the fixing unit. The image forming method according to claim 7.

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