JPH05139037A - Optical printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form an image of high quality by applying thermal writing to a reversible thermal medium by a thermal head to form a negative image and irradiating said image with light to apply exposure to a sensitive material 5 to form a latent image and developing the latent image to form an image. CONSTITUTION:A reversible thermal film 3 (thermal film) is arranged between a thermal head 1 and a platen roller 2 and a negative image 21 is formed by the heat of the thermal head 1. The thermal film 3 having the negative image 21 formed thereto and the sensitive material supply roller 20 are arranged to a slit part 13 to be subjected to exposure to form a latent image 23 on the sensitive material 5. After the exposure of three colors of red, green and blue is completed, the sensitive material 5 is fed to a thermal developing device 7 by a feed roller 6 to be thermal developed to form an image 24 on the sensitive material 5 and this sensitive material 5 is discharged out of an apparatus. By this constitution, since no ink ribbon is required and the thermal head is used, an image of high resolving power can be formed by an inexpensive recording head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention forms a primary image by thermal recording on a heat-sensitive medium using a heating element, records a secondary image (latent image) based on the image, and forms an image by development. It relates to means and devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of office equipment and the like, a printer device utilizing light is widely used. A typical image forming method of these printers is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 and briefly described.

In the conventional image forming method using a light-sensitive material, a negative film 3 having an analog negative image is formed by another image forming process as shown in FIG. (Direction of arrow F). The light beam emitted from the light source 1 passes through the lens system 2 and the negative film 3 to form an image on the photographic printing paper 4 as exposure light 11. Then, an exposure latent image 5 is formed on the photographic printing paper 4,
After the development process 7, the fixing process 8 and the drying process 9, the image 6 is formed and output (direction of arrow G). Besides this,
A photographic paper 4 is irradiated with light corresponding to image data by using a light source 10 having high resolution and high brightness for performing digital exposure as shown in FIG. 6 and suitable for a photosensitive wavelength sensitivity distribution of a photosensitive material. It is necessary to form a latent image by performing the developing process 7, the fixing process 8 and the drying process 9 to output the image.

[0004]

As described above, in order to obtain a high quality image in the conventional printer, a negative image is formed by a conventional silver salt photographic process and then exposed to a light-sensitive material. Takes time and effort. In addition, in order to form an image by digitally exposing,
There is a problem that a high-cost light source suitable for high resolution, high brightness, and sensitivity wavelength sensitivity distribution as described above is required.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a reversible thermosensitive medium having a hysteresis characteristic between temperature and transmittance is subjected to thermal writing to form an image portion and a non-image portion. Then, the reversible heat-sensitive medium is arranged between the light source and the light-sensitive material to perform exposure to form a latent image, and the image is formed by a developing process.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a device configuration of an optical printer according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view of the same. FIG. 3 is a graph showing the hysteresis characteristic of the reversible thermosensitive medium. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image forming process.

In the figure, a reversible heat-sensitive film 3 (hereinafter heat-sensitive film) is arranged between the thermal head 1 and the platen roller 2 (direction of arrow A). The heat sensitive film has a hysteresis characteristic of temperature and transmittance as shown in FIG. This heat-sensitive film is formed by coating a thermochromic material on a PET base material, and the thermochromic material imparts a recording property to the property that the color density changes according to the temperature change. By utilizing this characteristic, a negative image is formed by the heat of the thermal head.

The heat-sensitive film 3 on which the negative image 21 is formed passes between the exposure drum 4 and the light-sensitive material 5, passes through the auxiliary roller 17 and the film feed roller 18, and returns to the thermal head 1 again endlessly. It is composed of. In addition, the thermal head 1 on the heat-sensitive film 3
The heat-recorded image is cooled by the time it makes one round in the apparatus and returns to the thermal head 1, and the heat-recorded image disappears.

The exposure drum 4 has a white light source 12 inside and three filters 14 and 15 of three colors of red, green and blue on the outside.
16 are arranged. Below the exposure drum (sensitive material 5
The slit 13 is formed on the side), and the light in the exposure drum 4 is configured to pass to the outside only at the slit 13. The thermal film 3 having a negative image formed thereon and the photosensitive material 5 supplied from the photosensitive material supply roller 20 are arranged in the slits 13 and exposed to form a latent image 23 on the photosensitive material 5. At this time, the color filter portions 14 and 1 of the exposure drum 4
5 and 16 and the heat sensitive film 3 rotate according to the feeding speed of the photosensitive material 5 (direction of arrow B) to perform exposure for one screen. In practice, the color filters 14, 15, 16 and the heat-sensitive film 3 and the light-sensitive material 5 are fed together in the exposed portion, so they may be considered to have the same speed. When the density data of each color of the thermosensitive film 3 is different, a density image corresponding to the density data is created, and exposure is performed in a frame sequential manner.

In order to perform exposure of each of red light, green light and blue light, after the exposure of one color is completed, the photosensitive material 5 is returned to the exposure start position by the feed roller 6.
At this time, the color filters 14, 15 and 16 are also switched at the same time. The arm 9 supporting the exposure drum 4 is pushed up by the rotation of the cam 10 (direction of arrow D) (arrow E).
Direction), the photosensitive material 5 sandwiched between the exposure drum 4 and the platen plate 8 becomes free, and the returning operation is performed at this time. Returning operation of the sensitive material 5 and the color filters 14, 15,
When the replacement of 16 is completed, the cam 10 rotates back to the original position (in the direction of arrow D), and the exposure drum 4 moves to the pressure spring 11
It is pressed against the platen plate 8 by. Platen plate 8
Is composed of an elastic body 8a and a base 8b, and when the exposure drum 4 presses the photosensitive material 5 while sandwiching it, the photosensitive material 5 and the slit 13 provided on the outer periphery of the exposure drum 4 come into close contact with each other. Is configured.

When the exposure of the three colors of red, green and blue is completed, the photosensitive material 5 is conveyed to the thermal developing device 7 by the feed roller 6 and subjected to thermal development. The photosensitive material 5 on which the image 24 is formed by the heat source image is output to the outside of the apparatus (direction of arrow C).

[0012]

The present invention has the following effects by having the above-mentioned structure. An ink ribbon is not required because a reversible heat-sensitive medium is used, and since a thermal head is used, an image can be formed with a high-resolution and low-cost recording head. In addition, since a white light source is used as the exposure light source, it is possible to obtain a high-quality print with an inexpensive and simple apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus configuration of an optical printer according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a device configuration of an optical printer according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing hysteresis characteristics of a reversible heat-sensitive medium.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an image forming process.

[Figure 5]

FIG. 6 shows a conventional example according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Head 2 Platen Roller 3 Reversible Heat Sensitive Film 4 Exposure Means (Exposure Drum) 5 Sensitive Material 6 Feed Roller 7 Developing Means (Thermal Developing Device) 8 Platen Plate 8a Elastic Body 8b Base 9 Arm 10 Cam 11 Pressure Spring 12 Exposure Means (White light source) 13 Exposure means (slit) 14 Exposure means (red filter) 15 Exposure means (green filter) 16 Exposure means (blue filter) 17 Auxiliary roller 18 Film feed roller 19 Tension roller 20 Sensitive material supply roller 21 Negative image 22 Disappearing negative image 23 Latent image 24 Print output image Arrow A Thermal film feed direction Arrow B Exposure drum rotation direction Arrow C Photosensitive material output direction Arrow D Cam rotation direction Arrow E Arm drive direction.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location // B41J 2/465 9110-2C B41J 3/21 P

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A film-shaped plastic heat-sensitive medium which causes a reversible change in density due to a temperature change, a thermal head which selectively applies heat energy to the heat-sensitive medium to form a negative image, and a thermal head recorded by the thermal head. It is characterized by comprising an exposing means for recording a negative image as a latent image on a photosensitive material and a developing means for developing the photosensitive material on which the latent image is recorded by the exposing means and forming an image on the photosensitive material. And optical printer.