Direct heat-sensitive recording method and device

Abstract

A direct heat-sensitive recording method and device using a light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording material in which are layered on a support a heat-sensitive recording layer and at least one light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording layer, which have heat recording sensitivities higher than a heat recording sensitivity of the heat-sensitive recording layer and which are fixed by electromagnetic waves of respectively different wavelengths, each layer of the light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording material developing to a respectively different color, including: an exposing device for deactivating imagewise each of the light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording layers corresponding to respective colors by modulating light amounts of electromagnetic waves having respectively different wavelengths and illuminating the electromagnetic waves onto the light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording layer; and a heat recording device for developing the heat-sensitive recording layer imagewise and developing undeactivated portions of the light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording layer by applying to the light-fixing-type heat-sensitive recording material heat energy needed to develop the heat-sensitive recording layer. High-speed recording of images onto a recording material is made possible, and the device can be made compact and inexpensive.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.