JPH0684097B2 - Color recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a color recording apparatus, and more particularly to a color recording method in an apparatus for thermal transfer recording.

(Prior Art) FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional thermal transfer type color recording apparatus. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a line-type thermal head which performs up-down operation by a head motor (not shown) and records on a recording sheet described later via an ink ribbon described later. Reference numeral 2 denotes a recording sheet, which is supplied from a supply roll 3 described later, is sandwiched between a platen 4, a front pressure roller 5 and a rear pressure roller 6 described later, and is fed forward by a line feed motor (not shown). Done. 3 is a recording paper supply roll, 4 is a platen, 5 is a front pressure roller, and 6 is a rear pressure roller.
Reference numeral 7 denotes an ink ribbon in which yellow, magenta, and cyan thermal transfer inks are applied in sequence onto a film-shaped base film, which is supplied from an ink ribbon supply roll 8 described later and is driven by a winding motor (not shown) described later. It is wound around the winding roll 9. Reference numeral 8 is an ink ribbon supply roll, and 9 is a winding roll. Reference numeral 10 denotes a color mark, which is arranged on the ink ribbon 7 so that each of the three color ink areas can be cueed by a color mark detection sensor 11 described later. Reference numeral 11 is a color mark detection sensor for detecting the color mark 10.

Next, a conventional color recording operation will be described with reference to FIG. An operation at the time of color recording using all three colors will be taken as an example.

First, a yellow cueing operation of the ink ribbon 7 is performed, and then the thermal head 1 is raised to move the platen 4
The recording paper 2 and the ink ribbon 7 are sandwiched between and, and the recording corresponding to the input data of yellow is heated in dot units, and the yellow of the ink ribbon 7 is melted by heat to perform recording. Then, after printing one screen with yellow color recording, the thermal head 1 is moved down and separated from the platen 4, and then the ink ribbon 7 is indexed. At the same time, the platen 4 is reversely fed, and the recording paper 2 is returned to the previous yellow print start position. Then, the recording corresponding to the magenta input data is repeated. Similarly, cyan recording is performed and color recording ends.

This type of device is commonly used as a hard copy of the color screen of a CRT display device.
Display devices often display colored characters on a black background. Therefore, if the hard copy is performed as it is, the black background color is recorded as it is, and it becomes difficult to see the characters other than the yellow character. Therefore, in general CR
Transmission from the T display device side has a solid black background color,
That is, in the case of white paper, it has been performed to record as a margin.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-described conventional color recording method, conversely, when a hard copy of a yellow character or the like is made, the yellow character or the like becomes difficult to see.

The present invention is intended to solve this problem. When the background color is white, that is, when color recording is performed on white recording paper, yellow color recording can be avoided, and a screen in which characters, graphs, etc. are mixed is displayed. An object of the present invention is to provide a color recording device for performing hard copy of.

(Means for Solving Problems) In order to solve these problems, the present invention uses an ink ribbon in which inks of a plurality of colors are applied in a face-to-face manner, and the ink of a desired ink ribbon or a predetermined color is used. In a color recording apparatus that performs color recording by thermally transferring the ink of an ink ribbon to a recording sheet by a thermal head in a registration order, the recording data corresponding to the yellow ink ribbon is received on the white recording sheet and is recorded as the recording data. After performing thermal transfer recording with the yellow ink ribbon, the print data corresponding to the ink ribbon of a different color from the yellow ink ribbon is received, and the print data corresponding to the print data of the yellow ink ribbon is changed to the ink ribbon of a different color. Create recording data by superimposing the corresponding recording data, and based on the overlapping recording data, A control means is provided for controlling to perform thermal transfer recording with ink ribbons of different colors in an area including an area where thermal transfer recording with the yellow ink ribbon is performed.

(Operation) According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, the recording data corresponding to the yellow ink ribbon is received on the white recording paper, and the thermal transfer recording is performed by the yellow ink ribbon based on the recording data. After that, the print data corresponding to the ink ribbon of the different color from the yellow ink ribbon is received, and the print data obtained by superimposing the print data corresponding to the ink ribbon of the yellow color and the print data corresponding to the ink ribbon of the different color. create. Then, based on the created recording data that has been superposed, thermal transfer recording is performed using ink ribbons of different colors in an area including the area where thermal transfer recording was performed using the yellow ink ribbon. Therefore, the thermal transfer recording based on the recording data corresponding to the yellow ink ribbon is recorded in the superimposed color by the thermal transfer recording using the ink ribbon of a color different from that of the yellow ink ribbon, and it is difficult to see the yellow color recording. Can be avoided, and a hard copy of a screen in which characters, graphs, etc. are mixed can be performed.

Therefore, the present invention can solve the above problems.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 12 is an input unit, 13 is a control unit, and 14 is a buffer for storing data for one color of yellow, magenta, and cyan in one color screen. Reference numeral 15 is a power supply, 16 is a color mark detection sensor for detecting color marks for cueing each color of an ink ribbon (not shown), 17 is a head up / down motor, 18 is a ribbon winding motor, 19 is a line feed motor, 20 is a thermal head.

Next, this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 showing the operation flow of this embodiment.

First, the print start operation is started by an instruction from the host device, and the buffer 14 is cleared by an instruction from the control unit 13 (step 101). When the input unit 12 receives the yellow data, the control unit 13 stores the data for one screen in the buffer 14 (step 102). Then, in order to locate the ink ribbon in the yellow area, the ribbon winding motor
18 is driven by a predetermined amount, and the ink ribbon runs until the yellow color mark is detected by the color mark detection sensor 16 (step 103). When the yellow head start is completed, the controller 13 operates the head up / down motor 17 to move the thermal head 20 up (step 104). The yellow data stored in the buffer 14 is transmitted as a print signal to the thermal head 20, and recording is performed in dot units (step 105). At this time, the line feed motor 19 is driven to perform recording while rotating the recording sheet (not shown) in the forward direction, and the ink ribbon is wound by the ribbon winding motor 18 on a winding roll (not shown). When the recording for one color of yellow is completed, the head up / down motor 17 is driven to lower the thermal head 20 (step 106). Next, the line feed motor 19 is reversely rotated to back-feed the recording paper to the yellow print start position (step 107). Then, when the input unit 12 receives the magenta data, the control unit 13 is stored in the buffer 14. The OR condition of the yellow data and the magenta data is taken and stored again in the buffer 14 (step 108). Then, the ribbon take-up motor 18 is driven by a predetermined amount in order to locate the ink ribbon in the magenta area, and the ink ribbon is run until the color mark detection sensor 16 detects the magenta color mark (step 109). . When magenta cueing is completed, the control unit 13 operates the head up / down motor 17 to raise the thermal head 20 (step 110). Buffer 1
The magenta data stored in 4 is transmitted as a print signal to the thermal head 20, and recording is performed in dot units (step 111). When the recording for one color of magenta is completed, the head up / down motor 17 is driven and the thermal head 20 is moved down (step 112). Next, the line feed motor 19 is rotated in the reverse direction to back feed the recording paper to the magenta printing start position (step 11).
3).

Control 13 then clears buffer 14 (step
114). When the input unit 12 receives the cyan data, the control unit 1
3 stores this cyan data in the buffer 14 (step 115). Then, the ribbon take-up motor 18 is driven by a predetermined amount in order to locate the ink ribbon in the cyan area, and the cyan color mark is detected by the color mark detection sensor 16
The ink ribbon runs until it is detected by (Step 11
6). When the cyan cueing is completed, the control unit 13 operates the head up / down motor 17 to raise the thermal head 20 (step 117). The cyan data stored in the buffer 14 is transmitted as a print signal to the thermal head 20, and recording is performed in dot units (step 118).
When the recording for one color of cyan is completed, the head up / down motor 17 is driven and the thermal head 20 is moved down (step 119). Next, the line feed motor 19 is rotated to feed the recording paper to the next print start position (step 120). A series of printing operations are completed up to this point. By this operation, yellow, magenta, cyan, and mixed colors are mixed. Input color signal data of [red {yellow + magenta}, green {yellow + cyan}, blue {magenta + cyan}, black {yellow + magenta + cyan}] are recorded as shown in FIG. It As can be seen from the figure, color recording is performed such that recording of only yellow is changed to red by overlapping magenta, and recording of green is changed to black.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. 4 showing a part of the operation flow. The flow shown in the figure replaces step 108 in the flow shown in FIG. That is, in step 201, color conversion is selected, for example, by a switch, and if color conversion is present, the process proceeds to step 202 as in the first embodiment and proceeds to step 109. On the other hand, when there is no color conversion, the buffer 14 in FIG. 1 is cleared (step 20
3) Then, the magenta data is received and stored in the buffer 14 (step 204), and the same recording as the designated color of the input signal is performed as in the conventional case. As a result, if it is desired to record yellow as it is, it can be recorded as it is.

In addition, since the surface order of the ink levon is yellow, magenta, and cyan, yellow is recorded as a mixed color of yellow and magenta, but when recording is performed by mixing with the color next to yellow, the mixed color is limited to magenta. It goes without saying that this is not always the case.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, when data for yellow only is input and color recording is performed on white recording paper, a color different from yellow is forcibly overlaid on yellow and transferred by heat. By doing so, it is possible to avoid yellow color recording, which is difficult to see on white recording paper, and it is possible to provide a color recording device that makes a hard copy of a screen in which characters, graphs, etc. are mixed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the operation of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between input data and recording colors in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional thermal transfer type color recording apparatus. 1,20 ... Thermal head, 2 ... Recording paper, 3 ... Recording paper supply roll, 4 ... Platen, 5 ... Front pressure roller, 6 ... Rear pressure roller, 7 ... Ink ribbon, 8 ... Ink ribbon supply roller, 9 ... Winding roll, 10 ... Color mark, 11, 16 ... Color mark detection sensor, 12 ... Input section, 13 ... Control section, 14 ... Buffer, 15 ... Power supply, 17 …… Head up / down motor, 18 …… Ribbon winding motor, 19 …… Line feed motor.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP 62-85976 (JP, A) JP 61-57171 (JP, A) JP 61-277267 (JP, A) Actual development JP 62-48558 (JP , U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon in which a plurality of colors of ink are applied in order on a surface is used, and the ink of the desired ink ribbon or the ink of the ink ribbon is thermally transferred onto a recording sheet by a thermal head in an overlapping order of predetermined colors. In a color recording apparatus that performs color recording, after receiving recording data corresponding to a yellow ink ribbon on white recording paper and performing thermal transfer recording with the yellow ink ribbon based on the recording data, the yellow ink ribbon is recorded. The print data corresponding to the ink ribbons of different colors is received, the print data corresponding to the ink ribbons of the different colors and the print data corresponding to the ink ribbons of different colors are created, and the print data is created. The area where thermal transfer recording was performed with the yellow ink ribbon based on the combined recording data A color recording apparatus comprising: a control unit that controls to perform thermal transfer recording with the ink ribbons of the different colors in a region including the same.