JPH11334117A - Non-impact recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To reduce the voltage applied to an individual electrode, to easily drive a battery, and to reduce the cost of a switching device. SOLUTION: In a non-impact recording method for forming a character and an image by thermal energy generated when a plurality of conductive recording media 2 are energized, a common electrode 7 is formed.
The potential was a variable bias potential.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a non-impact recording method for forming a character or an image by Joule heat generated by selectively energizing a conductive thermosensitive recording medium or a recording medium based on an image signal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a non-impact recording method capable of simultaneously forming characters and images on a plurality of superposed conductive recording media or recording media.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an impact dot printer has been widely used as a means for simultaneously forming characters and images on a plurality of recording media to copy and record the characters and images. This impact dot printer applies a mechanical impact force to a recording medium to form a pressure-sensitive coloring agent applied to a base material of the recording medium, or applies a pressure-sensitive transfer ink to another recording medium. Transcribed and copied.

However, such an impact dot printer is required to reduce vibration and noise generated by mechanical shock, and to reduce the size, weight and battery power required when the printer is incorporated into a portable information device. However, there remains a problem in reducing the power consumption due to the capacity constraint.

For this reason, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 52-115229 and 56-75894 disclose means for simultaneously copying and recording on a plurality of recording media superimposed by a so-called non-impact printer. Discloses a thermal system technology, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 69463/1995 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-37307 / 1994 disclose an ink jet type technology.

[0005] First, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52-11522 discloses a thermal method.
The technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-29139 discloses a first recording paper provided with a thermosensitive coloring layer on the surface of a base material, an ink permeation preventing layer and a heat-meltable ink layer on the back surface, and a transfer paper superimposed on the recording paper. A second recording paper is provided, and a thermal head is brought into contact with the surface of the first recording paper to form an image by coloring the heat-sensitive coloring layer, and at the same time, the heat-melted ink on the back surface is used for the second recording paper. To obtain a copy image. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 56-75894 discloses a technique for improving a recording medium used in such a copy recording method.

Next, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
The technique described in Japanese Patent No. -24833 discloses a technique in which a part of a liquid ink particle colliding with a first recording paper is penetrated and absorbed by a second recording paper having a high ink permeability, which is superimposed on the back of the first recording paper. Is what you get. Also, JP-A-55-6
The technique described in Japanese Patent No. 9463 discloses a heat-sensitive recording method in which heated ink particles are adhered to a first recording paper, and the thermal energy of the ink particles is applied to a second recording paper or the like superposed on the back thereof. A copy image is obtained by the above. Further, the technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-37307 discloses a method in which a droplet of a volatile color-inducing solvent is attached to a first recording medium coated with a color-forming substance that reacts with the solvent to form an image. The remaining color induction solvent remaining after the reaction is allowed to reach the second recording medium through the first recording medium, and the color forming substance applied to the second recording medium is colored to form a copy image.

On the other hand, the present applicant has previously filed Japanese Patent Application No.
In the patent application No. 107203, proposed a means to simultaneously record characters and images on each recording medium with the thermal energy generated when current is applied in the thickness direction of a plurality of conductive thermosensitive recording media stacked did. The gist is to form a thermosensitive coloring layer or a thermosensitive transfer ink layer provided with conductivity by mixing conductive fine powder on the front or back surface of a base material provided with conductivity by electroless plating of metal or the like. Occurs when a recording medium is used and a plurality of these recording media are superimposed and electricity is passed through electrodes in the thickness direction of each recording medium in accordance with a character / image signal from electrodes that are in contact with both sides of the recording medium. Characters and images are simultaneously recorded on each recording medium by Joule heat.

On the other hand, in this field, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-55280 proposes a technique for recording by energizing a conductive recording medium in the thickness direction. The technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-55280 discloses a method in which an electrochemical color-decoloring material and a solid electrolyte are mixed and coated or impregnated on a support, or the electrochemical color-decoloring material and a solid electrolyte are mixed. Each layer was formed on a support as an energizing recording paper, and the recording was obtained by an electrochemical coloring / decoloring reaction generated when direct current was applied to the recording paper from the electrodes contacting the front and back surfaces. Is what it is.

[0009]

In the distribution and distribution industries, there is a great demand for simultaneously copying and recording on a recording medium having three to four or more sheets. However, there is a case where it is not always necessary to always copy the same number of copies or there is a case where it is desired to partially change the number of copies. With the conventional technology, it is difficult to change the number of copies at the same time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a non-impact recording method capable of recording three to four or more copies in a non-impact manner and partially changing the number of copies.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In the non-impact recording method of forming a character and an image by using thermal energy generated when a current is supplied to a plurality of conductive recording media, a common electrode potential is set to a variable bias potential. Therefore, by setting the common electrode potential to the bias potential, the voltage applied to the individual electrode can be reduced, so that battery driving can be easily realized and the cost of the switching device can be reduced.

For example, the cost of a switching device is related to the withstand voltage of the device. If the common electrode is grounded and the applied voltage is increased, the cost of the device will be affected. If the total applied voltage is increased while dividing the switching device on the common electrode side and the total applied voltage is increased, even one device on the common electrode side will increase the cost. Although it is one, the cost of the individual electrode side is greatly increased when a large number of electrodes are used. A design consideration in dividing the applied voltage is that the total voltage is applied to the device depending on the timing of turning the device on and off. In other words, when the device on the individual electrode side is off and the common electrode side is on, the total voltage is applied to the individual electrode side. Therefore, from the state of both off, the individual electrode side is on, the common electrode side is off, and then both It is necessary to turn on and perform recording, turn off the common electrode side while keeping the individual electrode side on, and then turn both off. As a result, a total voltage may be applied to the common electrode side, but a divided voltage is applied to the individual side. As a matter of course, the applied voltage may be variable within the withstand voltage range of the device on the individual electrode side. It can cope with a decrease in the resistance value of paper due to humidity. In addition, by making it variable, it is possible to make the number of prints variable and to cope with a change in the resistance value or temperature of the recording medium due to a change in humidity or sensitivity. Furthermore, it is possible to cope with a change in resistance value due to wear or replacement of the electrode.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the non-impact recording method for forming characters and images by applying heat energy to a plurality of laminated conductive recording media, the common electrode potential is set to the ground potential. . Therefore, since the common electrode has a larger area than the individual electrode and a greater possibility of contact with the outside, it is preferable to set the common electrode to the ground potential in terms of safety and cost.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on FIG. First, in FIG. 1, a bundle of recording media 1 is formed by laminating three conductive recording media 2 and one recording medium with an electrode layer 4 having an electrode layer 3. The recording medium with an electrode layer 4 is obtained by forming the electrode layer 3 on the conductive recording medium 2. An individual electrode 5 and an insulating rubber platen 6 are arranged so as to sandwich the bundle of the recording medium 1, and the common electrode 7 is formed by an electrode roller 8, and the recording medium is formed by the electrode roller 8 and the insulating roller 9 on the front side. It was arranged so as to sandwich one bundle.

In such a configuration, when a voltage is applied to the individual electrode 5 while feeding the recording medium 1 in the sub-scanning direction in accordance with an image to be printed, the individual electrode 5 is applied to the facing electrode layer 3 and common electrode 7. An electric current flows, and at this time, the recording medium 1
The temperature is locally increased in the inside, and color is formed, and an image is formed.

When the recording medium 1 is conveyed, the portion having a large frictional force has a large amount of wear, but the portion of the electrode roller 8 has little friction and has little wear. And the electrode layer 3
Can be reduced to the minimum capacity necessary for energization only at the time of recording and without much consideration of wear resistance. The insulating roller 9 is provided with a low-friction insulating member (such as a fluororesin) on the surface of a metal roller so as to be smooth.
The smoothing of the friction surface of the bundle with the individual electrodes 5 and the adhesion of the recording medium 1 are also improved. Thereby, the friction with the individual electrode 5 can be reduced, and the adhesion of dust can be prevented.
The life of the individual electrode 5 can be extended.

The potential of the common electrode 7 can be switched between a ground potential and a fixed or variable bias potential. The number of sheets is adjusted, the density is adjusted, and the temperature is corrected based on a temperature sensor (not shown). A change in the resistance value of the recording medium 1 due to humidity or humidity can be detected by a current sensor (not shown) to correct the resistance value. When there is a possibility that the electrode layer 3 comes into contact with a device or a human body, it is desirable that the common electrode 7 is always grounded.

By setting the potential of the common electrode 7 to the bias potential, the voltage applied to the individual electrode 5 can be reduced, so that the battery can be easily driven and the cost of the switching device can be reduced.

For example, since the cost of the switching device is related to the withstand voltage of the device, if the common electrode 7 is grounded and the applied voltage is increased, the cost of the switching device is affected. In other words, the cost for the individual electrodes increases greatly when there are many electrodes. for that reason,
Focusing on the fact that the number of switching devices on the common electrode 7 side is one, and the resulting increase in cost is small, the total applied voltage may be increased while dividing the switching device on the common electrode 7 side. In addition, design considerations in dividing the applied voltage will be described with reference to FIG. First, the voltage applied to a switching device changes according to the timing at which the switching device is turned on and off. That is, when the switching device on the individual electrode 5 side is off and the common electrode 7 side is on, a total voltage is applied to the switching device on the individual electrode 5 side. Therefore, from the state where both electrodes are off, the individual electrode 5 side is turned on and the common electrode 7 side is turned off. Then, recording is performed with both of them turned on.
Side must be off and then both off. Thus, a total voltage may be applied to the common electrode 7 side, but a divided voltage is applied to the individual side. As a matter of course, the applied voltage may be variable within the withstand voltage range of the device on the individual electrode 5 side. Thereby, it is possible to cope with a decrease in the resistance value of the paper due to humidity and the like.

Further, by making the applied voltage variable, it is possible to make the number of prints variable and to cope with a change in the resistance value of the recording medium 1 due to a change in humidity or sensitivity, or a change in temperature. In addition, it is possible to cope with a change in resistance value due to wear or replacement of the individual electrode 5. Further, in the example shown in FIG. 1, in order to improve safety in the event of a short circuit,
A protection circuit 10 that protects parts and the human body is provided. To simply limit the current, it is sufficient to provide a resistance equal to or less than the resistance value required for energization (= volume resistivity of the recording medium x thickness / contact area of individual electrodes). The switching device of the electrode 5 can be shut off and an error alarm can be issued.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The same parts as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The recording medium 1 includes two conductive recording media 2 from above, one recording medium 4 with an electrode layer provided with an electrode layer 3, and one conductive recording medium 2 and one recording medium 4 with an electrode layer. A total of five sheets are stacked. The individual electrodes 5 are arranged to face the common electrode 7 so as to sandwich this. The common electrode 7 includes a conductive platen 11 and a conductive roller 12. The platen 11 responds to the paper thickness variation by rubber elasticity, and the conductive roller 12 is movably supported by an elastic member or the like so as to flexibly respond to the vertical direction. The platen 11 is also set to the same potential as the conductive roller 12.

With this configuration, it is possible to copy and record five sheets in the entire recordable portion of FIG.
Thus, the unrecorded portions of the fourth and fifth sheets are broken from the perforations and cannot be recorded unless the third sheet is peeled off. Note that if a voltage is applied to the portion above the third electrode layer 3 at the same potential as the recording portion of the fifth sheet, the density becomes high. Therefore, the sensitivity of the recording medium 1 may be reduced or the potential of the common electrode 7 during recording may be reduced. For example, a method of controlling the information is used.

Although not shown, one conductive recording medium 2
A set of a plurality of sheets and one recording medium with an electrode layer 4 as one set is formed by stacking a large number of such sets to make the binding allowance conductive. The binding allowance and the individual electrodes 5 form the recording medium 1. If the bundle is energized and recorded, only the first set can be color-recorded, and this set can be peeled off and the same number of copies recorded again from above. That is, the underlay when the individual electrode 5 is handwritten as a pen type can be made insulating. Even if the binding margin is not made conductive, the same usage can be achieved by piercing the bundle of the recording medium 1 using the needle electrode as the common electrode. Conversely, if the underlay is the common electrode 7, the required number of copies can be recorded by placing the underlay under the required number of the stack of a plurality of the conductive recording media 2 alone and conducting the current recording. In this case, if the position of the underlay is changed, it is possible to leave additional recording on the recording medium 1 below the previous underlay position while additionally recording on the upper recording medium 1. Also, without peeling off the upper recording medium 1, it is possible to copy and record an arbitrary number of copies from the back side by turning over the bundle of recording media 1. When the conductive recording medium 2 and the recording medium with electrode layers 4 are bundled, an arbitrary number of recordings can be performed by peeling off the conductive recording medium 2 or the recording medium with electrode layers. At this time, the bias potential is used for density adjustment according to the number of sheets.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-impact recording method for forming a character or an image by using thermal energy generated when a current is applied to a plurality of conductive recording media laminated, and the potential of the common electrode is varied. Since the bias potential is used, the voltage applied to the individual electrode can be reduced, and there is an effect that the battery can be easily driven and the cost of the switching device can be reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the non-impact recording method for forming characters and images by applying thermal energy generated when a plurality of conductive recording media are energized, the common electrode potential is set to the ground potential. Since the common electrode has a larger area than the individual electrode and a greater possibility of contact with the outside, the safety is high and the cost is advantageous.
This has the effect of extending the life of the common electrode and the individual electrode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a state of bias application, in which FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a timing chart.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 conductive recording medium 7 common electrode

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A non-impact recording method for forming a character or an image by using thermal energy generated when a current is supplied to a plurality of conductive recording media, wherein the common electrode potential is set to a variable bias potential. Non-impact recording method. 2. A non-impact recording method for forming characters and images by applying thermal energy generated when a current is supplied to a plurality of laminated conductive recording media, wherein a common electrode potential is set to a ground potential. Impact recording method.