JP7732319B2 - Thermal Transfer System - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system.

Transfer systems that use ink ribbons to print characters and other images on cards and other receiving materials are widely used. Ink ribbons, for example, have a strip-like ribbon (support layer) and an ink layer containing dyes and the like formed on the ribbon. When printing using an ink ribbon, ink is transferred to the receiving material in a pattern corresponding to the desired image to be printed. In this case, the ink ribbon after ink transfer has areas where the ink has been removed by transfer to the receiving material, in a pattern corresponding to the printed image. Therefore, it is possible to identify the printed image from the ink ribbon after ink transfer. Therefore, when using an ink ribbon to print confidential information such as ID information such as a name or address on a receiving material, care must be taken when handling the ink ribbon after ink transfer.

To address this issue, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a thermal transfer system in which a heater is brought into contact with the outermost ink ribbon wound around a winding section of the ink ribbon, on which ink has been transferred with a first pattern corresponding to ID information, and a disturbance pattern is transferred to the support layer of the ink ribbon located inside the ink ribbon.

JP 2013-111866 A

In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for the protection of personal information. Therefore, the present inventors have set themselves the task of providing a thermal transfer system that can more appropriately prevent the leakage of information that should be kept confidential, and have conducted extensive research.

In view of the above, the present disclosure aims to provide a thermal transfer system that can appropriately prevent the leakage of confidential information.

The present disclosure relates to a transfer system that transfers ink to a recipient using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer, the system comprising: a feed section that feeds out the ink ribbon; a first transfer device that transfers the ink in the ink layer of the ink ribbon fed from the feed section to the recipient in a first pattern; a take-up section that winds up the ink ribbon onto which the first pattern has been transferred; and a second transfer device that transfers the ink in the ink layer of the outer ink ribbon, which is the ink ribbon located at the outermost periphery of the ink ribbons wound on the take-up section, in a second pattern to the support layer of the inner ink ribbon, which is the ink ribbon adjacent to the inside of the outer ink ribbon, wherein the first pattern includes a plurality of first letters or a plurality of first numerals, and the second pattern includes a plurality of second letters or second numerals and a plurality of block characters, any of which includes a third letter or third numeral in white.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system in which the second letters or numbers of the second pattern form dense regions and sparse regions along the width direction of the ink ribbon, and the blocks of the second pattern are uniformly dispersed along the width direction of the ink ribbon.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system in which the block body includes a single, white-spaced third letter or third number.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system in which the shape of the third letter or third number in the block letters approximates the shape of the first letter or first number in the corresponding first pattern.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system in which the second transfer device has a heating head extending in the width direction of the ink ribbon, and the heating head transfers ink from the ink layer of the outer ink ribbon to the support layer of the inner ink ribbon using a rated maximum applied energy ratio and a head pressure in the range of 10/13 to 1 relative to the rated maximum head pressure.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal transfer system in which the second transfer device has a heating head extending in the width direction of the ink ribbon, one width end of the heating head is located at the end of the width direction of the ink ribbon, the other width end of the heating head is located midway in the width direction of the ink ribbon, and the head pressure of the heating head is smaller at the other end of the heating head than at one end and the center of the heating head.

The thermal transfer system disclosed herein can appropriately prevent the leakage of confidential information.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic diagram of a thermal transfer system according to the present embodiment. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view showing an area A of the ink ribbon on which a first pattern has been transferred by a first transfer device in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing a winding section and a second transfer device of the thermal transfer system of the present embodiment, and shows area B in FIG. FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of a second pattern formed by a second transfer device. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing a second pattern of blocks. FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically showing the outer ink ribbon and the inner ink ribbon onto which the second pattern has been transferred by the second transfer device. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an ID card manufactured by the thermal transfer system of this embodiment. 7(a) and (b) are diagrams showing a second pattern as a reference example, and FIGS. 7(c) and (d) are diagrams showing a second pattern according to this embodiment. FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a first letter or number in a first pattern and a block letter in a second pattern on the outer ink ribbon. FIG. 8B shows the block body transferred to the inner ink ribbon. 9(a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing a second pattern transferred from the outer ink ribbon to the inner ink ribbon. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing ribbon wrinkles relative to the width direction position of the ink ribbon. FIG. 11A is a diagram showing the appearance of the inner ink ribbon relative to the head pressure and energy ratio of the second heater. FIG. 11B is a diagram showing the appearance of the outer ink ribbon relative to the head pressure and energy ratio of the second heater. FIG. 12A is a diagram showing the head pressure from the second heating element to the ink ribbon in the reference example. FIG. 12B is a diagram showing the head pressure from the second heating element to the ink ribbon according to the present embodiment. Figure 13A is a diagram showing the relationship between the dense and sparse areas of the first letter or first number on an ID card obtained by a thermal transfer system, the dense and sparse areas of the first letter or first number in the first pattern on the ink ribbon, and the dense and sparse areas of the second letter or second number in the second pattern. FIG. 13B is a diagram showing the relationship between the dense and sparse areas of the first letter or first number in the first pattern on the ink ribbon and the dense and sparse areas of the second letter or second number in the second pattern.

One embodiment of the present disclosure (hereinafter referred to as "this embodiment") will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is a front view showing a schematic diagram of the thermal transfer system 10 of this embodiment.

This thermal transfer system 10 uses an ink ribbon 20 having a support layer 21 and an ink layer 22 laminated on one surface of the support layer 21 to transfer ink in a desired pattern to a transfer recipient 100. The thermal transfer system 10 then transfers a plurality of first letters or numbers 100a corresponding to ID information, etc. (described below), and a facial image 100b onto the transfer recipient 100, thereby producing an ID card 100A, such as a driver's license (see Figure 6).

Such a thermal transfer system 10 comprises, arranged in order from upstream in the feed direction of the ink ribbon 20, a feed-out section 11 that feeds out the ink ribbon 20, a plurality of feed-side guide rollers 13a that guide the ink ribbon 20, a plurality of take-up side guide rollers 13b that guide the ink ribbon 20 and transfer the ink in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 to the transfer recipient 100, a second transfer device 15 that transfers the ink in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A (described below) to the inner ink ribbon 20B, and a take-up section 12. The thermal transfer system 10 also comprises a control unit 17 that controls the feed-out section 11, take-up section 12, first transfer device 14, and second transfer device 15.

Of these, the delivery section 11 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow R1 in Figure 1 to deliver the ink ribbon 20 downstream.

In addition, multiple feed-side guide rollers 13a are arranged at intervals in the transport direction of the ink ribbon 20, and guide the ink ribbon 20 fed from the feed section 11 downstream.

The first transfer device 14 transfers the ink in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 delivered from the delivery unit 11 to the transfer recipient 100 in a predetermined first pattern P1 including a plurality of first letters or first numbers 100a corresponding to ID information, etc.

The first transfer device 14 has a first heating element 14a that heats the ink ribbon 20 and transfers the ink in the ink layer 22 to the transfer recipient 100, and a platen roller 14b that sandwiches the ink ribbon 20 and the transfer recipient 100 between itself and the first heating element 14a. The first heating element 14a consists, for example, of a heating head having a heating element that generates heat when energized. This first heating element 14a is arranged on the support layer 21 side of the ink ribbon 20. As described above, the first heating element 14a heats the ink in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 in the first pattern P1, thereby transferring the ink in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 to the transfer recipient 100 in the first pattern P1. The platen roller 14b is arranged opposite the first heating element 14a, sandwiching the ink ribbon 20 and the transfer recipient 100 between itself and the first heating element 14a as described above.

Multiple winding-side guide rollers 13b are arranged at intervals in the transport direction of the ink ribbon 20 and guide the ink ribbon 20 transported from the upstream side to the winding section 12.

The winding unit 12 rotates in the direction indicated by arrow R2 in Figure 1 to wind up the ink ribbon 20 onto which the first pattern P1 has been transferred by the first transfer device 14. The winding unit 12 is driven, for example, by a stepping motor.

As described below, the second transfer device 15 transfers the ink from the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 located at the outermost periphery of the ink ribbon 20 wound on the winding unit 12 to the support layer 21 of the ink ribbon 20 located inside the ink ribbon 20 in a disturbance pattern, the second pattern P2. This second pattern P2 will be described in detail later.

The control unit 17 controls the operation of, for example, the delivery unit 11, the winding unit 12, the first transfer device 14, and the second transfer device 15 by outputting control signals to the drive units that drive these units.

Next, we will describe the ink ribbon 20 after the ink has been transferred with the first pattern P1. Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view showing the ink ribbon 20 after the first pattern P1 has been transferred by the first transfer device 14 in area A of Figure 1.

In the ink ribbon 20 after ink transfer, the ink layer 22 consists of ink 22a that remains without being transferred to the transfer recipient 100, and ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 that correspond to the ID information, etc., printed on the transfer recipient 100. Therefore, it is possible to identify the first letter or first number 100a containing the ID information printed on the transfer recipient 100 based on the pattern of the ink-free portions 22b.

Figure 3 is an enlarged front view showing the winding section 12 and second transfer device 15 of the thermal transfer system 10 of this embodiment, showing area B in Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 3, the ink ribbon 20 is wound in the winding section 12 so that the support layer 21 of the ink ribbon 20 is positioned outside the ink layer 22. In this specification, the ink ribbon 20 positioned at the outermost periphery of the ink ribbon 20 wound in the winding section 12 is referred to as the outer ink ribbon 20A, and the ink ribbon 20 wound inwardly on the winding section 12 and adjacent to the outer ink ribbon 20A is referred to as the inner ink ribbon 20B.

The second transfer device 15 transfers the ink from the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B as a disturbance pattern, called the second pattern P2, while the winding unit 12 is winding the ink ribbon 20.

The second transfer device 15 has a second heating element 15a and an elevating mechanism 152 that raises and lowers the second heating element 15a. The second heating element 15a is positioned near the winding unit 12 and is movable by the elevating mechanism 15b in the direction indicated by arrow R3 in Figure 3, i.e., in the direction toward or away from the winding unit 12. The second heating element 15a moves toward the winding unit 12, heating the outer ink ribbon 20A from the support layer 21 side and transferring the second pattern P2, which is a disturbance pattern, to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B.

Figures 4A and 4B show an example of the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15, and a block of the second pattern P2, respectively. Also, Figure 5 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of the outer ink ribbon 20A and inner ink ribbon 20B onto which the second pattern P2 has been transferred by the second transfer device 15.

As a result of the transfer of the second pattern P2 by the second transfer device 15, the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A contains a mixture of the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2. Furthermore, a pattern containing a mixture of the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 is transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B. As a result, the pattern of the ink-missing portion 22b, which is made up of the first pattern P1 corresponding to the ID information, is destroyed to the extent that it becomes unrecognizable.

The second heating element 15a of the second transfer device 15 is composed of, for example, a heating head generally referred to as an end face head. The second heating element 15a may include multiple heating sections configured so that each section can be driven independently, or may have a single heating pattern. However, to effectively destroy the pattern of the ink-missing portion 22b, it is preferable that the second pattern P2 can be changed depending on the state of the first pattern P1. From this perspective, the second heating element 15a of this embodiment preferably includes multiple heating sections configured so that each section can be driven independently.

As shown in Figure 5, before the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled from the inner ink ribbon 20B, the ink transferred to the inner ink ribbon 20B by the second pattern P2 is in contact with the ink-free areas of the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A. In this state, there is a risk that the ink-free areas 22b corresponding to the first pattern P1 may be visible in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, just as in a state where there is no ink-free second pattern. For this reason, in this embodiment, a pattern that combines the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 is transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B, thereby destroying the ink-free areas 22b consisting of the first pattern P1 corresponding to the ID information to the extent that they are unrecognizable.

Next, we will describe the first pattern P1 transferred to the transfer target 100 and the second pattern P2 as a disturbance pattern transferred to the ink ribbon 20 in this embodiment.

As described above, the first pattern P1 transferred to the transfer target 100 includes a plurality of first letters or numbers 100a. In contrast, the second pattern P2, which is a disturbance pattern, disturbs the first letters or numbers 100a and therefore includes a plurality of second letters or numbers 32 having an external shape similar to that of the first letters or numbers 100a (see Figure 4A).

Furthermore, the second pattern P2 includes, in addition to a plurality of second letters or numbers 32, a plurality of block bodies 33 arranged between the second letters or numbers 32 (see Figure 4B).

In this embodiment, the block body 33 is a rectangular, solid-printed black character whose longitudinal direction is aligned with the width direction of the ink ribbon 20 (Figure 4A). Note that the block body 33 may not be rectangular, but may also be square, or may have any other polygonal shape.

In any case, the block body 33 consists of solid black characters, and as long as the black characters are formed by solid printing over a certain area, their external shape is not important.

Specifically, the block body 33 has a block body main body 33a and a third letter or number 33b formed in white inside the block body main body 33a (see Figure 4B).

In this embodiment, the outlined third letter or third number 33b may consist of either a letter or a number. In this embodiment, each block 33 has a single third letter or third number 33b.

As described above, the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 has an external shape similar to that of the first letter or number 100a that it overlaps (corresponds to) so that it can effectively disrupt the first pattern P1. Similarly, the third letter or number 33b of the second pattern P2 has an external shape similar to that of the first letter or number 100a that it overlaps (corresponds to) so that it can effectively disrupt the first pattern P1.

The ID card (driver's license, etc.) 100A obtained using the thermal transfer system of this embodiment has dense areas 105 of the first letter or number 100a formed at the top and bottom, and a sparse area of the first letter or number 100a formed in the center (see Figure 6).

As a result, the ink ribbon 20 that transfers the first letter or first number 100a to the transfer recipient 100 also has dense regions 25 of the first letter or first number 100a of the first pattern P1 on both sides of the width, and a sparse region 26 of the first letter or first number 100a in the center of the width of the ink ribbon 20. A boundary 28 is then formed between the dense region 25 and the sparse region 26 on the ink ribbon 20 (see Figures 13A and 13B).

13A and 13B show the relationship between the dense regions 105 and sparse regions 106 of the first letter or number 100a of the ID card 100A obtained by the thermal transfer system, the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 of the ink ribbon 20, and the dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 of the second letter or number 100a of the second pattern P2. In this embodiment, the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 is also arranged to form the dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 of the second letter or number 100a along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, corresponding to the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on the ink ribbon 20 (see FIGS. 7(c) and (d) and 13A and 13B). In this case, as shown in FIG. 13A, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 may also be arranged in greater numbers in the dense regions 35 and less in the sparse regions 36 of the second letter or second number of the second pattern P2 along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, in accordance with the dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36.

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 13B, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 may be uniformly dispersed across the width of the ink ribbon 20, regardless of the dense and sparse regions of the first letter or first number 100a of the first pattern P1. As described below, by uniformly dispersing the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 across the width of the ink ribbon 20, energy can be applied uniformly from the second heating element 15a to the ink ribbon 20. This allows the ink ribbon 20 to be wound up flat and in a balanced manner without creating any convex shapes on the ink ribbon 20.

Next, the shape of the second pattern P2, which serves as the disturbance pattern in this embodiment, will be further explained using Figures 7(a) to (d) and Figures 8A and 8B.

The second pattern P2 shown in Figure 7(a) consists of a second letter or second number 32. When the second pattern P2 consists of a second letter or second number 32, consider transferring the ink in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A of the ink ribbon 20 to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B in the second pattern P2, and then peeling the outer ink ribbon 20A from the wound ink ribbon 20. In this case, the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 coexist in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, effectively disrupting the first pattern P1.

On the other hand, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, the ink layer 22 of the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side has ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 transferred by the first transfer device 14, and at the same time, the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B has the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15.

However, if the second pattern P2 consists of a second letter or a second number 32, the second pattern P2 cannot completely cover the first pattern P1 on the inner ink ribbon 20B, and the disruptive effect of the second pattern P2 on the first pattern P1 is insufficient.

Next, the second pattern P2 shown in Figure 7(b) has block elements 33A that do not include the second letter or number 32 or the blank third letter or number 33b (i.e., solid-printed block elements). When the second pattern P2 has block elements 33A that do not include the second letter or number 32 or the blank third letter or number 33b, consider transferring the ink in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A of the ink ribbon 20 to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B using the second pattern P2, and then peeling the outer ink ribbon 20A from the wound ink ribbon 20. In this case, the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A contains a mixture of the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2, but because the block elements 33A of the second pattern P2 consist of simple solid-printed black letters, it is difficult to disrupt the first pattern P1 with these block elements 33A.

Furthermore, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, the ink layer 22 of the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side has ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 transferred by the first transfer device 14, and at the same time, the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B has the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15.

Since the second pattern P2 has block bodies 33A that do not include a second letter or number 32 and a white-out third letter or number 33b, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 include solid black characters.

In this case, it is possible to cover a certain area of the first pattern P1 with the black characters of the block body 33A, but at the same time, the ink-missing areas 22b of the first pattern P1 remain in the black characters of this block body 33A. As a result, the ink-missing areas 22b of the first pattern P1 in the second pattern P2 transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B can be seen from the block body 33A, reducing the disturbing effect of the second pattern P2.

Next, the second pattern P2 shown in Figure 7(c) has a second letter or number 32 and block bodies 33 including a block body body 33a and a third letter or number 33b in white. When the second pattern P2 has a second letter or number 32 and block bodies 33 including a block body body 33a and a third letter or number 33b in white, consider transferring the ink in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A of the ink ribbon 20 to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B using the second pattern P2, and then peeling the outer ink ribbon 20A from the wound ink ribbon 20. In this case, the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 coexist in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, effectively disrupting the first pattern P1.

On the other hand, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, the ink layer 22 of the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side has ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 transferred by the first transfer device 14, and at the same time, the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B has the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15.

Since the second pattern P2 has block bodies 33 including the second letter or number 32 and the blank third letter or number 33b, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 also include the blank third letter or number 33b. The ink-missing portions 22b of the first letter or number 100a that make up the first pattern P1 remain in the block bodies 33, but at the same time, the block bodies 33 also include the blank third letter or number 33b. Therefore, the ink-missing portions 22b and the third letter or number 33b coexist, and the third letter or number 33b of the block bodies 33 effectively disrupts the first letter or number 100a that make up the first pattern P1.

When the second pattern P2 has a block body 33 including a second letter or number 32 and a white-out third letter or number 33b, as shown in Figure 7(c), the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A peeled from the wound ink ribbon 20 is shown in Figure 8A. As shown in Figure 8A, the first letter or number 100a constituting the first pattern P1 remaining in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A is mixed with the third letter or number 33b of the block body 33 of the second pattern P2.

Meanwhile, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, a block 33 including the white third letter or third number 33b of the second pattern P2 is transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B that remains on the wound ink ribbon 20 side (see Figure 8B).

As described above, the ink ribbon 20 that transfers the first letter or number 100a to the transfer target has dense regions 25 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on both sides of the width, and a sparse region 26 of the first letter or number 100a formed in the center of the width of the ink ribbon 20 (see Figure 7(c) and Figure 13A).

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 7(c), the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 is also arranged to form dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, corresponding to the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on the ink ribbon 20.

Similarly, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 are arranged to form dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20.

The second pattern P2 shown in Figure 7(d) has a second letter or number 32 and block bodies 33 including a block body body 33a and a third letter or number 33b in white. When the second pattern P2 has a second letter or number 32 and block bodies 33 including a block body body 33a and a third letter or number 33b in white, consider transferring the ink in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A of the ink ribbon 20 to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B using the second pattern P2, and then peeling the outer ink ribbon 20A from the wound ink ribbon 20. In this case, the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 coexist in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, effectively disrupting the first pattern P1.

On the other hand, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, the ink layer 22 of the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side has ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 transferred by the first transfer device 14, and at the same time, the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B has the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15.

Since the second pattern P2 has block bodies 33 including the second letter or number 32 and the blank third letter or number 33b, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 also include the blank third letter or number 33b. The ink-free portions 22b of the first letter or number 100a that make up the first pattern P1 remain in the block bodies 33, but at the same time, the block bodies 33 also include the blank third letter or number 33b. Therefore, the first letter or number 100a that makes up the first pattern P1 can be effectively disrupted by the third letter or number 33b of the block bodies 33.

As described above, the ink ribbon 20 that transfers the first letter or first number 100a to the transfer target has dense regions 25 of the first letter or first number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on both sides of the width, and a sparse region 26 of the first letter or first number 100a formed in the center of the width of the ink ribbon 20.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 7(d), the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 is also arranged to form dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, corresponding to the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on the ink ribbon 20.

Similarly, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 are uniformly dispersed along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, regardless of the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or first number 100a of the first pattern P1 (see Figure 7(d) and Figure 13B).

In Figure 7(d), the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 consist of solid black characters, and are formed by applying large energy to the ink ribbon 20 from the second heating element (heating head) 15a of the second transfer device 15.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 7(d), by distributing the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 evenly across the width of the ink ribbon 20, energy can be applied evenly from the second heater 15a to the ink ribbon 20. This allows the ink ribbon 20 to be wound up flat and in a balanced manner without creating any convex shapes on the ink ribbon 20, particularly at the boundary 28 between the dense region 25 and sparse region 26 of the ink ribbon 20.

That is, as shown in FIG. 9(a), when energy is applied to the ink ribbon 20 from the second heating element (heating head) 15a of the second transfer device 15, if more block elements 33 of the second pattern P2 are placed in the dense regions 35 of the ink ribbon 20 widthwise but fewer in the sparse regions 36, the energy applied to the ink ribbon 20 from the second heating element 15a will be uneven. When the energy applied to the ink ribbon 20 is uneven in this way, some parts of the ink ribbon 20 will stretch due to heating and some parts will not stretch due to not being heated. The resulting stretched and unstretched portions of the ink ribbon 20 form a convex shape on the ink ribbon 20, particularly at the boundary 28 between the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the ink ribbon 20 (see FIG. 9(b)). This causes the second pattern P2 transferred from the outer ink ribbon 20A to the inner ink ribbon 20B to become slightly unclear.

In contrast, by arranging the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 evenly across the width of the ink ribbon 20, there is no bias in the energy applied to the ink ribbon 20 from the second heater 15a. This prevents the ink ribbon 20 from having a convex shape, particularly at the boundary 28 between the dense region 25 and sparse region 26 of the ink ribbon 20, and allows the ink ribbon 20 to be wound up flat and in a balanced manner.

In this way, no convex shape is formed on the wound ink ribbon 20, and the second heating element 15a does not come into contact with the wound ink ribbon 20 on one side. This allows the second heating element 15a to transfer the second pattern P2 clearly and sharply onto the ink ribbon 20.

Here, Figure 10 shows the formation of ribbon wrinkles across the width of the ink ribbon 20. As shown in Figure 10, by distributing the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 across the width of the ink ribbon 20, it is possible to flatten the convex shape that would occur if the block bodies 33 were not distributed.

Next, Figures 11A and 11B show the results of peeling the outer ink ribbon 20A from the wound ink ribbon 20 and observing the appearance of this outer ink ribbon 20A and the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side.

As shown in Figure 11A, when the energy ratio (duty) from the second heating element (heating head) 15a is set to the rated maximum of 47.2% and the head pressure of the second heating element 15a is set to the rated maximum of 1300 g/head, and when the energy ratio (duty) is set to the rated maximum of 47.2% and the head pressure of the second heating element 15a is set to 1000 g/head, the ink can be transferred smoothly without uneven contact with the head at either the start (START) or end (END) of the ink ribbon, and without insufficient energy.

As shown in Figure 11B, when the energy ratio (duty) from the second heating element (heating head) 15a is set to the rated maximum of 47.2% and the head pressure of the second heating element 15a is set to the rated maximum of 1300 g/head, when the energy ratio (duty) is set to the rated maximum of 47.2% and the head pressure of the second heating element 15a is set to 1000 g/head, when the energy (duty) is set to 44.5% and the head pressure is set to the rated maximum of 1300 g/head, when the energy (duty) is set to 41.5% and the head pressure is set to the rated maximum of 1300 g/head, ink can be transferred smoothly without uneven contact with the head or lack of energy at either the start (START) or end (END) of the ink ribbon.

From the above, when the energy ratio (duty) of the second heating element (heating head) 15a is set to the rated maximum of 47.2% and the head pressure of the second heating element 15a is set to a range of 10/13 to 1 with respect to the rated maximum of 1,300 g/head, the second heating element 15a can properly transfer the second pattern P2 to the ink ribbon 20. In this case, when the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off from the wound ink ribbon 20 and this outer ink ribbon 20A and the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 are observed, the second pattern P2 can be properly transferred to the ink ribbon 20 at both the beginning and end of the winding of the ink ribbon 20, thereby ensuring that the first pattern P1 is disturbed by the second pattern P2.

Next, the head pressure of the second heating element 15a against the ink ribbon 20 will be explained using Figures 12A and 12B.

When the wound ink ribbon 20 is heated by the second heating element (heating head) 15a to transfer the second pattern P2, one end 15a1 of the second heating element 15a is located at the widthwise end of the ink ribbon 20, and the other end 15a2 of the second heating element 15a is located midway across the width of the ink ribbon 20. If a force of 500 g is applied to the ink ribbon 20 from each of the one end 15a1 and the other end 15a2 of the second heating element 15a, and a force of 300 g is applied to the ink ribbon 20 from the central portion 15a3 of the second heating element 15a (see Figure 12A), a large force will be applied to the swollen ink ribbon 20 from the other end 15a2 of the second heating element 15a, which is located midway along the ink ribbon 20, potentially scratching or damaging the ink ribbon 20.

In contrast, if a force of 500 g is applied to the ink ribbon 20 from one end 15a1 and the central portion 15a3 of the second heating element 15a, respectively, and a force of 300 g is applied to the ink ribbon 20 from the other end 15a2 of the second heating element 15a (see Figure 12B), no large force is applied to the swollen ink ribbon 20 from the other end 15a2 of the second heating element 15a, and the ink ribbon 20 is not scratched or damaged.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to Figure 1. Here, the first transfer device 14 of the thermal transfer system 10 prints a first pattern P1 containing ID information on the transfer recipient 100, and then the ink 22a of the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, from which the ink has already been transferred, is transferred in the second pattern P2 onto the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B by the second heating element 15a.

First, the transfer object 100 is prepared, and then the transfer object 100 is transported toward the first transfer device 14. Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 1, the ink ribbon 20 is sent from the delivery section 11 toward the first transfer device 14.

When the transfer recipient 100 reaches the space between the first heating element 14a and platen roller 14b of the first transfer device 14, the first heating element 14a presses the ink ribbon 20 against the transfer recipient 100 while heating it in the first pattern P1 corresponding to the ID information. This causes the ink 22a in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 to be transferred onto the transfer recipient 100 in the first pattern P1 (first transfer process). This prints the ID information on the transfer recipient 100, and creates ink-free areas 22b in the ink layer 22 of the ink ribbon 20 that correspond to the ID information.

After passing through the first transfer device 14, the ink ribbon 20 with the transferred ink is taken up by the take-up unit 12. Then, while the ink ribbon 20 with the transferred ink is being taken up by the take-up unit 12, the outer ink ribbon 20A is heated in the second pattern P2 by the second heating element 15a (second transfer process).

In this case, the second heating element 15a is brought into contact with the outer ink ribbon 20A from the outside (support layer 21 side) of the outer ink ribbon 20A. At this time, the outer ink ribbon 20A is heated from the outside by the second heating element 15a. As a result, some of the ink 22a remaining in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A is pressed against the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B while being heated. As a result, some of the ink 22a remaining in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A is transferred onto the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B.

In this embodiment, the outer ink ribbon 20A is heated by the second heating element 15a, and the ink 22a remaining in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A is transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B in the second pattern P2. Possible second patterns P2 in this embodiment include the patterns shown in Figure 7(c) and Figure 7(d). The patterns shown in Figures 7(a) and 7(b) are second patterns that serve as reference examples in contrast to the second pattern in this embodiment.

Below, we will explain how the ink 22a in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A is transferred onto the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B in the second pattern P2, using the pattern shown in Figure 7(d) as an example.

The second pattern P2 shown in Figure 7(d) has a second letter or number 32 and a block body 33 including a block body main body 33a and a third letter or number 33b in white.

The ink ribbon 20 is wound onto the winding section 12 while the ink 22a of the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A of the ink ribbon 20 is transferred to the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B in the second pattern P2.

Next, the ink ribbon 20 wound by the winding unit 12 is removed from the winding unit 12.

When the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off from the wound ink ribbon 20, the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 are mixed in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, effectively disrupting the first pattern P1.

On the other hand, after the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off, the ink layer 22 of the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 side has ink-free portions 22b of the first pattern P1 transferred by the first transfer device 14, and at the same time, the support layer 21 of the inner ink ribbon 20B has the second pattern P2 transferred by the second transfer device 15.

In this case, because the second pattern P2 has block bodies 33 including the second letter or number 32 and the blank third letter or number 33b, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 include the blank third letter or number 33b. The ink-void portions 22b of the first letter or number 100a that make up the first pattern P1 remain in the block bodies 33, but at the same time, the block bodies 33 include the blank third letter or number 33b. Therefore, the first letter or number 100a that makes up the first pattern P1 can be effectively disrupted by the third letter or number 33b of the block bodies 33.

In addition, in this embodiment, as shown in Figures 7(d) and 12B, the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 is also arranged to form dense regions 35 and sparse regions 36 along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, corresponding to the dense regions 25 and sparse regions 26 of the first letter or number 100a of the first pattern P1 formed on the ink ribbon 20.

At the same time, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 are uniformly dispersed along the width direction of the ink ribbon 20, regardless of the dense and sparse areas of the first letter or first number 100a of the first pattern P1.

In Figures 7(d) and 12B, the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 consist of solid black characters, and are formed by applying large energy to the ink ribbon 20 from the second heating element (heating head) 15a of the second transfer device 15.

As shown in Figures 7(d) and 12B, by distributing the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 evenly across the width of the ink ribbon 20, energy can be applied evenly from the second heater 15a to the ink ribbon 20. This allows the ink ribbon 20 to be wound up flat and in a balanced manner without creating a convex shape on the ink ribbon 20, particularly at the boundary 28 between the dense region 25 and sparse region 26 of the ink ribbon 20.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the outer ink ribbon 20A is peeled off from the ink ribbon 20 wound by the winding unit 12, the first pattern P1 and the second pattern P2 are mixed in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A, and the first pattern P1 can be effectively disturbed by the second pattern P2 on the outer ink ribbon 20A.

On the other hand, even in the inner ink ribbon 20B remaining on the wound ink ribbon 20 after the outer ink ribbon 20A has been peeled off, the first letter or number 100a constituting the first pattern P1 can be effectively distorted by the block body 33 including the second letter or number 32 of the second pattern P2 and the blank third letter or number 33b.

Furthermore, by distributing the block bodies 33 of the second pattern P2 evenly across the width of the ink ribbon 20, energy can be applied evenly across the width of the ink ribbon 20 from the second heater 15a. This prevents the ink ribbon 20 from having a convex shape, particularly at the boundary 28 between the dense and sparse regions 25 and 26 of the ink ribbon 20, and allows the ink ribbon 20 to be wound up flat and in a balanced manner.

Furthermore, because no convex shape is created on the ink ribbon 20, the second heating element 15a does not make uneven contact with the ink ribbon 20, and the second heating element 15a can effectively heat the outer ink ribbon 20A. As a result, the second heating element 15a can reliably and clearly transfer the ink 22a in the ink layer 22 of the outer ink ribbon 20A to the support layer 21 side of the inner ink ribbon 20B in the second pattern P2.

The above describes one example of an embodiment of the present invention, but the present disclosure is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

10 Thermal transfer system 11 Feeding section 12 Winding section 13a Feeding side guide roller 13b Winding side guide roller 14 First transfer device 14a First heating element 14b Platen roller 15 Second transfer device 15a Second heating element 15a1 One end 15a2 Other end 15a3 Center portion 15b Lifting mechanism 17 Control unit 20 Ink ribbon 21 Support layer 22 Ink layer 22a Ink 22b Ink missing portion 20A Outer ink ribbon 20B Inner ink ribbon 25 Dense region 26 Sparse region 27 Boundary 32 Second character or second number 33 Block body 33A Solid printed block body 33a Block body body 33b Third character or third number 35 Dense region 36 Sparse region 100 Transferred object 100a First character or first number 100b Facial image 105 Dense region 106 Sparse region P1 First pattern P2 Second pattern

Claims (6)

A thermal transfer system for transferring ink to a transfer target using an ink ribbon having a support layer and an ink layer,
a delivery section that delivers the ink ribbon;
a first transfer device that transfers ink from the ink layer of the ink ribbon sent out from the delivery unit onto the transfer target in a first pattern;
a winding unit that winds up the ink ribbon onto which the first pattern has been transferred;
a second transfer device that transfers, in a second pattern, ink from an ink layer of an outer ink ribbon, which is an ink ribbon positioned at the outermost periphery of the ink ribbons wound on the winding section, onto a support layer of an inner ink ribbon, which is an ink ribbon adjacent to the inner side of the outer ink ribbon;
the first pattern includes a plurality of first letters or a plurality of first numbers;
the second pattern includes a plurality of second letters or numbers and a plurality of block characters, and any of the block characters includes a third letter or number in white;
the first letter or the first number constituting the first pattern and the third letter or the third number in block letters constituting the second pattern remaining in the ink layer of the outer ink ribbon are mixed in the ink layer;
Thermal transfer system. The thermal transfer system of claim 1, wherein the second letters or numbers of the second pattern form dense and sparse regions along the width direction of the ink ribbon, and the blocks of the second pattern are uniformly dispersed along the width direction of the ink ribbon. The thermal transfer system of claim 1 or 2, wherein the block body includes a single, white-spaced third letter or third number. 4. The thermal transfer system according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the third letter or the third number in the block letters has an outer shape substantially similar to the shape of the first letter or the first number in the corresponding first pattern. the second transfer device has a heating head extending in the width direction of the ink ribbon,
5. A thermal transfer system as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the heating head transfers the ink of the ink layer of the outer ink ribbon to the support layer of the inner ink ribbon using a rated maximum applied energy ratio and a head pressure in the range of 10/13 to 1 relative to the rated maximum head pressure. the second transfer device has a heating head extending in the width direction of the ink ribbon,
5. A thermal transfer system according to claim 1, wherein one widthwise end of the heating head is located at an end of the ink ribbon in the widthwise direction, the other widthwise end of the heating head is located midway along the ink ribbon in the widthwise direction, and the head pressure of the heating head is smaller at the other end of the heating head than at the one end and the central portion of the heating head.