JPS61177260A - Color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost for manufacturing a ribbon and to eliminate the need for selecting a printing paper, by employing the color of cyan for the mark for detecting the head index position in the printing paper as well as for displaying the boundary of the color of the ribbon. CONSTITUTION:The positioning marker such as a mark 31 is painted first on a printing paper 5 with use of a ribbon 7, subsequently, the printing paper applied the head index marker mark 31 is brought into printing operation to be printed with cyan. A printing head 6 is brought out of contact with the ribbon 7 to feed reversely the printing paper 5 until a sensor B 2 detects the marker mark previously applied the color of cyan. At this time, on the position of the printing head 6 comes the top of the picture previously printed only with cyan. The ribbon 7 is wound by a ribbon winding 4 until a winding sensor A 1 detects the mark of cyan. As a result, the color of magenta in the ribbon comes on the position of the printing head 6 so as to start printing with magenta by pressing again the head against the ribbon 7. After the printings with cyan (a), magenta (b), and yellow (c) are respectively conducted by repeating the above operation three times, one sheet of picture is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Prior Art] Conventional color printers cannot print color images using the same mechanism as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-114072, so they always have a plurality of identical mechanisms. As shown in (α), the photographic paper 1 is fed by the paper feed rollers 29 and 30, and the ribbon (cyan) 14e is first placed between the printing head and then the platen to perform cyan printing.

Next, the paper is fed along the paper conveyance path ]9 and is colored magenta.

The images are printed in the order of yellow.

This method requires eight sets of the same mechanism, making the mechanism for a color printer complicated and making it impossible to produce an inexpensive printer.

Furthermore, even if two sets of mechanisms are used as shown in Figure 4(b), the printing mechanisms will be installed radially, making the printer mechanism very complicated. Markers indicating ribbon colors are marked in black for easy detection, and marks are printed in black on the photographic paper in advance for cueing, but it was necessary to add black to the ribbon.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the prior art mentioned above, in order to print in eight primary colors using the same printing mechanism, there are marks for locating the beginning of the photographic paper and representing the color boundaries of the ribbon.

The premise was that the color of the mark was black. Therefore,
In the process of making ribbons, it is necessary to print black marks for each color of the ribbon, which are represented by ``. The problem is that it is very difficult to detect colored marks outside the blackboard.

Therefore, the present invention aims to solve these problems'.
The purpose of this is to change the color of the cue mark on the photographic paper to cyan, and to also represent the ribbon's color boundaries with cyan marks, thereby reducing ribbon manufacturing costs and allowing the printer to write marks on the photographic paper itself using cyan. To provide an inexpensive color printer that does not require the selection of photographic paper.

[Failure to solve the problem]

The color printer of the present invention is particularly advantageous in that cyan is used for the mark used to detect the start position of photographic paper, and cyan is also used to display the color boundary of the ribbon.

[Effect]

According to the above configuration of the present invention, mark 1 in FIG. 8 is expressed in cyan as a positioning marker on photographic paper, and the starting position of printing is recognized by the mark detection sensor.

Similarly, the ribbon color is recognized by the cyan marker painted in the corner of the ribbon and the mark 31 in FIG. 2.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle of an embodiment of the present invention, which is composed of a photographic paper 5 and a ribbon 7, and has a structure in which the ribbon 7 and the photographic paper 5 are sandwiched between a platen 8 and a printing head 6 to transfer ink. .

To complete one print, the photographic paper 5 must be passed between the print head 6 and the print drum 8 eight times. At this time, it is necessary to send the ribbon 7 at the same time and change the color every time the photographic paper passes eight times.In order to carry out all of these two operations, the photographic paper 5 must always be at a constant cue position. If not, color misregistration will occur and the printer will not be able to function as a color printer.

For this purpose, a positioning marker such as the mark 31 shown in FIG. 8 is first applied to the photographic paper 5 using the ribbon 7 shown in FIG. At this time, the ribbon 7 is wound up by the ribbon take-up 4 until a certain position of cyan is detected by the sensor Al.

As shown in Figure 2, the ribbon color can be distinguished by cyan markers being painted at the beginning of the three primary colors, and by looking at the spacing and number of marks 31, the 8W colors can be distinguished based on cyan. It becomes possible.

The mark 31 on the ribbon is painted using the same cyan ink as the ribbon, and no other equipment is required for the mark 31.

The photographic paper coated with the cue marker mark 31 shown in FIG. 8 continues to print an image, and cyan is printed.

After that, the printing head 6 that was in pressure contact with the ribbon 7 is released from the ribbon 7, and the printing paper 5 is fed backwards until the cyan marker mark 31 in Fig. 8, which is painted first, is detected by the sensor B (2) in Fig. 1. do.

At this time, the printing head 6 is positioned at the beginning of the previously printed cyan-only screen.

Next, the ribbon 7 is fed by the ribbon □ winding 4 until the winding sensor A(1) detects the cyan mark. As a result, the magenta of the ribbon is positioned at the print head 6,
The head is pressed against the ribbon 7 again and magenta printing is started.

By repeating the above operations and completing eight printings of cyan, magenta, and yellow, one screen is completed.

In addition, as for the method of performing detection using the above-mentioned detection mechanism, for example, the light source is a red light emitting diode, a plurality of light receiving elements having almost the same characteristics are arranged in a pot, and the difference in detection level is detected. There is a method of detecting cyan among the three primary colors painted on paper or film.1 For example, one red light emitting diode is used as the light emitting source, two light receiving elements with the same characteristics are placed side by side on the light receiving side, and the passes through paper or film and detects markers painted on it.

In this way, the light emitted from the five light emitting diodes will pass through the paper or film. The light passes through the cyan marker and enters one light-receiving element, and the light passes through an unpainted path and enters the other light-receiving element.

As a result, the current in the light-receiving element flows in proportion to the amount of light entering the light-receiving element, so there will be a difference between the two values.If an unpainted part passes through both light-receiving elements There is no difference in the level between the two, and if the cyan marker is applied to both photodetectors, they will have the same value, but if the paper or film is moving, the position between one photodetector and the other photodetector will be the same. Because of the target distance, there is always a difference in the current value between the two light receiving elements when the cyan marker passes. By utilizing this difference, position detection, etc. can be performed.

Note that the detection light may be reflected light as well as transmitted light.

Further, the marker may be a three primary color area specially provided on a transfer body such as a ribbon, but the marker may not be specially provided and the three primary color area itself may be the printed area itself. When provided, the cyan marker may be the same as the marker on the printing section, and can be formed at the same time as the cyan color for printing is formed on the transfer body.

In the above embodiments, the print refers to a still image, 1
In addition to graphic images, this concept includes characters such as alphanumeric characters.

In addition, examples of transfer printers include those that use a printing head as a thermal head equipped with a heating element and selectively melt the ribbon (such as an ink sheet fully coated with heat-melting ink), and those that selectively melt the ribbon. A conductive layer and a heat-melting ink layer are provided on the support.

There is a type in which a power distribution path is formed in the head, and when the head comes into contact with a ribbon, the ink layer is selectively melted and transferred onto photographic paper (including film).

The present invention may be applied to such a printer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to use only cyan, macenta, and yellow, for example, to differentiate the colors of markers and ribbons that are necessary for starting the photographic paper, which are necessary for color printers, all in cyan. Use a black marker as a cue mark on photographic paper.

Each color of the ribbon is represented by a black marker, and the result is 4.
There is no need to print in color, and the printing mechanism (generic term for printing of characters, figures, etc.) is also simplified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the configuration of a color printer according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the color arrangement of the color ribbon in the present invention. FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the surface of photographic paper printed by the color printer of the present invention. FIGS. 4(α) and 4(b) are explanatory diagrams of a conventional color printer. 1 fist...sensor A 2...sensor B 8, 22, 23, 24-pot platen 4, 15
, 16 , 17 . . . Ribbon winding 5 working Φ ・ Photographic paper 6 , 26 , 27 , 28 . . . Printing head 7 , 18
, 19 , 10... Ribbon 20 , 21 , 29 ,
30...Paper feed roller 5...Paper conveyance path 32, 33--Two-color ribbon 31.1 mark

Claims (1)

[Claims] A color printer that prints at least cyan, characterized in that the cyan is used as a marker for positioning printing paper and for color discrimination of a color ribbon.