JPH06286251A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use different kinds of ink sheets by detecting the light-permeability or light-absorbing properties of a mark indicating the position of the color of ink and changing the recognizing method for signals when an ink sheet is controlled and positioned in accordance with the detecting result of the mark. CONSTITUTION:An ink sheet 7 in a cassette 8 is drawn out from a feed roll 9 and fed between a thermal head 5 and a platen 6, where the ink sheet 7 is overlapped with a recording paper 1. After the recording paper 1 is printed by the action of the thermal head 5, the recording paper 1 with the ink sheet 7 is wound by a take-up roll 10. Position detecting marks are provided at prescribed intervals on the ink sheet 7. The mark indicates the position of the color of ink formed by sequentially applying a plurality of colors of ink as one set. When the mark is detected by a position detecting means 13, the ink sheet 7 is positioned and controlled. In this case, it is further detected whether the mark is light-permeable or light-absorptive. The method for recognizing the positional data from the position detecting means 13 is changed in accordance with the detecting result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer, an impact printer or the like, which records by transferring ink from an ink sheet onto recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-92676 discloses an ink ribbon position detecting device for detecting a position by providing a marker of a light shielding member on a transparent color ink sheet. A position detecting method is disclosed in which a light-transmitting pattern is provided on an absorptive ink sheet to detect a position.

These ink ribbon position detecting means can detect only the position detecting marks of only one of the light transmitting color ink sheet and the light absorbing color ink sheet.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to detect whether light-absorbing or light-transmitting position detection marks are attached to an ink sheet by the same detecting means. The present invention provides a thermal transfer recording apparatus that can be manufactured at low cost.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is based on a detecting means for detecting a mark indicating a color position of ink which is applied in a surface sequential manner with a plurality of colors as one set on an ink sheet. Detection for detecting whether the color position detection mark on the ink sheet is light transmissive or light absorptive in a thermal transfer recording apparatus that controls the position of the ink sheet to transfer a plurality of colors of ink to a recording medium. And a method of recognizing the position information from the position detecting means according to the result of the detecting means.

[0006]

According to the present invention, different ink sheets can be used by detecting the light transmitting property and the light absorbing property of the mark and changing the way of recognizing the signal from the color position detecting means.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a recording paper, which is sandwiched between a feed roller 2 and a pinch roller 3, and is connected to the feed roller 2 by a recording paper conveyance motor 4
The recording paper 1 is conveyed between the thermal head 5 and the platen 6 by rotationally driving. Ink sheet 7
Is a take-up roll 10 from a supply roll 9 provided in a cassette 8 through a space between the thermal head 5 and the platen 6.
To be wound up. At this time, the ink sheet 7 is superposed on the conveyed recording paper 1 between the thermal head 5 and the platen 6. The take-up roll 10 is connected to an ink sheet take-up motor 11, and the ink sheet 7 is conveyed and positioned by controlling the ink sheet take-up motor 11 to rotate. It should be noted that the ink sheet 7 is provided with a position detection mark 12 for carrying control, and the position detection means 1 for detecting this mark.
3 and the reflection plate 14 are provided downstream of the thermal head 5 in the ink sheet transport direction. The position detection sensor 13 is configured to detect that a specific color has reached a predetermined position by reflecting or blocking the light. In this embodiment, a reflection type optical sensor is used as the position detecting means. In this embodiment, it is possible to use two types of cassettes, that is, an ink sheet having a light-transmitting mark and an ink sheet having a light-absorbing mark. A mark type detection member 15 indicating the mark is provided in the cassette 8. Reference numeral 16 is a mark type detection sensor for detecting the mark type detection member 15 provided in the cassette 8. The mark type detecting member 15 is provided at a position where the mark type detecting sensor 16 is set to the type detecting mark 1 when the cassette 8 is mounted on the apparatus body.
It may be anywhere as long as they are facing each other so that 5 can be detected. Further, the cassette 8 is entirely black, the mark type detecting member 15 is white, and only the cassette 8 in which the ink sheet 7b with the light absorbing position detection 12a is stored is used for detecting the white mark type. The member 15 is attached.
Accordingly, when the mark type detection sensor 16 detects the reflected light from the cassette, it is determined that the cassette 8 contains the ink sheet with the light absorbing mark,
When the reflected light is not detected, it can be determined that the cassette 8 contains the ink sheet with the light-transmissive mark.

Next, the light-transmitting ink sheet and the light-absorbing ink sheet used in this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 2 shows a light-transmissive ink sheet 7a, in which sublimation inks of yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C are applied as a set in a frame-sequential manner. Black light-absorptive position detection mark 12
a is provided. FIG. 3 shows a light absorbing ink sheet 7.
b, the sublimation inks of yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C are applied in a face-sequential manner as a set, and the ink is not applied as the light-transmitting detection mark 12b at the tip position of Y of the first color. Is provided. The light-transmitting position detection mark 12b of the light-absorbing ink sheet 7b may be coated with a light-reflecting material instead of this.

As described above, the light-transmitting ink sheet 7a is provided with the light-absorbing position detection mark 12a and the light-absorbing ink sheet 7b is provided with the light-transmitting position detection mark 12a.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the position detection mark 12 is not limited to this.
Any form may be used as long as the optical sensor can distinguish between the other part and the other part. For example, if the outside of the ink application area of the ink sheet is made of a light-transmitting material and a light-absorbing mark is provided there, the ink of the ink sheet may be light-transmitting or light-absorbing. Good.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a mark having different patterns may be attached to the tip of each color of a light-transmitting and light-absorbing ink sheet. In this case, two position detection sensors are required on both sides of the ink sheet, and the position detection for each color is performed by a combination of signal levels. In the case of a light transmissive mark, the outputs from the two sensors are (H,
H) is Y, (H, L) is M, and (L, H) is C. In the case of a light-absorbing mark, Y, M,
C may be (L, L), (L, H), and (H, L), respectively. That is, the signal level at the time of position detection is reversed between the light transmissive ink sheet and the light absorptive ink sheet.

Further, the position detection mark position on the light-transmitting and light-absorbing ink sheet is at least at a position where the light-reflective sensor 19 of the apparatus body can detect both ink sheets. The shapes may be different.

The operation of the thermal transfer recording apparatus described above will be described. When the cassette 8 is attached to the apparatus body, the mark type detection sensor 16 detects the presence or absence of the mark type detection member 15, and this signal is stored in the control unit 17. The mark type information from the mark type detection sensor 16 is held in the control unit 18 until the mounted cassette 8 is taken out from the apparatus main body. Then, when a print start signal is input to the control unit 17, the recording paper 1 is fed by the feed roller 2
Then, it is sent in the direction of arrow B by the pinch roller 3 and stopped at the printing start position. The ink sheet 7 is conveyed by the take-up roll 10, and the position detection sensor 1
When the position detection mark of Y, which is the head color of the ink, is detected in 3, the process stops. Thereafter, the thermal head 5 is pressed against the platen 6 via the ink sheet 7 and the recording sheet 1, and the recording sheet 1 and the ink sheet 7 are conveyed in the direction of arrow A and printing is performed. Next, the thermal head 5 is separated from the platen 6, the recording paper 1 is returned in the direction of arrow B, and stopped at the printing start position. The ink sheet 7 is the take-up roll 1
When the ink sheet is wound up at 0 and a predetermined pulse is applied to the ink sheet winding motor, the ink sheet is stopped to be fed. As a result, the leading edge of the M ink area, which is the next color, reaches the lower portion of the thermal head 5. Then, the thermal head 5 is pressed against the platen 6 again, and printing is performed by the same operation as Y for the first color. Further, C color is also printed by the same operation.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the present invention. Reference numeral 17 denotes an RO in which a program for controlling the entire recording apparatus is stored.
It is a control unit having M. The control unit 17 is stored in a memory to which image data is input from the host 18. Reference numeral 20 is an AD that converts the signal from the position detection sensor into a digital signal
The signal converted into the digital signal by the converter is input to the control unit 17. Reference numeral 21 is an AD converter for converting the signal of the mark type detection sensor 16 into a digital signal and inputting it into the control unit 17. Based on these signals, the control unit 17 controls the head driver 22 and the motor drivers 23 and 24, and the thermal head 5 and the ink sheet winding motor 1
1 and the recording paper conveyance motor 4 are driven.

The change in the method of recognizing the position information will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This process is started by determining the type of ink sheet cassette 8. First, when the ink sheet cassette 8 is attached to the apparatus in step 1, a signal from the mark type detection sensor 16 is converted into a digital signal by the AD converter 21 and input to the control unit 17. If the signal is L in step 2, it is determined that the ink sheet is provided with the light-transmissive position detection mark 12b, and the process proceeds to step 3 to be processed as the light-transmissive position detection mark 12b. On the other hand, if it is "H", it is determined that the ink sheet 7 is provided with the light absorbing position detecting mark 12a, and the process proceeds to step 7, whereafter the process for the light absorbing position detecting mark 12a is performed. In step 3, the ink sheet is conveyed, and in step 4, the signal from the position detection sensor 13 is converted into a digital signal by the AD converter 20 and input to the controller 17. If the signal is "H" in step 5, the process returns to step 3, and if "L", it is judged as a mark and the process proceeds to step 6, the conveyance of the ink sheet 7 is stopped, and the position detection process is ended. On the other hand, if “H” in step 2, the ink sheet 7 is conveyed in step 7, and the signal from the position detection sensor 13 is digitized by the AD converter 20 in step 8 and input to the control unit 17. . If the signal is "L" in step 9, the process returns to step 7, and if it is "H", it is determined to be a mark, the process proceeds to step 6, the conveyance of the ink sheet 7 is stopped, and the position detection process ends.

Although the embodiment using the thermal printer has been described above, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a printer using a color ink sheet, for example, an impact printer. Further, the present invention can be applied to a printer using an ink sheet that can be used a plurality of times, and a printer that performs recording by setting the ink sheet conveyance speed slower than the recording paper conveyance speed. Furthermore, although the ink sheet is described as being coated with a sublimable ink, the present invention is not limited to this, and a meltable ink can also be used. Further, regarding the detection of the mark type, it has been described that the detection member provided in the cassette is detected by the sensor, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a predetermined pattern indicating the type of mark is attached on the ink sheet. I read this with the position detection sensor,
The control unit may recognize the pattern to determine the type of mark.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the ink sheet coated with the color position detection marks having different light transmissivity is used, the mark of the ink sheet is not provided without providing a separate color position detection sensor. Is detected, the ink sheet conveyance control is performed, and color printing can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view showing an ink sheet used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing an ink sheet used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view showing an ink sheet used in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 recording paper 5 thermal head 6 platen 7 ink sheet 8 cassette 12 position detection mark 13 position detection sensor 14 reflector 7a light transmissive ink sheet 7b light absorptive ink sheet 12a light absorptive position detection mark 12b light transmissive Position detection mark 15 Mark type detection member 16 Mark type detection sensor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 35/16 B 9012-2C 35/36 9012-2C

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium for recording a plurality of colors of ink by controlling the positioning of the ink sheet on the basis of a detection means for detecting a mark indicating a color position of ink which is applied in a surface sequential manner with a plurality of colors as one set on the ink sheet. In the thermal transfer recording device for transferring to, the detection means for detecting whether the color position detection mark on the ink sheet is light transmissive or light absorptive,
And a unit for changing a method of recognizing the position information from the position detecting unit according to a result of the detecting unit. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink sheet is coated with a light-transmitting ink, and the mark is light-absorbing. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink sheet is coated with light absorbing ink, and the mark is light reflecting or light transmitting. 4. The detection means is mark identification information detection means for detecting the mark identification information provided in the cassette when the cassette containing the ink sheet is mounted in the apparatus main body. The recording apparatus according to claim 1.