Image forming method and apparatus therefor
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTadashi Sato, Shinnosuke Taniishi
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Abstract
A transfer recording medium comprises a transfer recording layer, which causes an irreversible change in transfer characteristic when provided with plural kinds of energies, at least one of which is applied imagewise, to provide a transferable portion or latent image portion in the transfer recording layer. The transferable portion is then transferred to a medium such as plain paper to form a transferred image thereon, which is then fixed by application of at least one of light, heat and pressure. The fixing step is effective, e.g., in providing a recorded image with improved stability against environments and elapse of time, color reproducibility and color densities through functional separation from the transfer step.
Claims24
An image forming method comprising:
- providing a transfer recording medium comprising a transfer recording layer, said transfer recording layer being solid at room temperature and being capable of causing an irreversible change in transfer characteristic thereof when provided with plural kinds of energies;
- imparting heat energy to the transfer recording layer to heat the layer to an elevated temperature and imparting light energy to the transfer recording layer at the elevated temperature under such a condition that at least one of the heat and light energies corresponds to a recording information signal, thereby to form a non-transferable portion in the transfer recording layer corresponding to the portion of the transfer recording layer imparted with both the heat and light energies and a transferable portion in the transfer recording layer corresponding to the portion of the transfer recording layer to which said recording information signal is not applied;
- thermally transferring the transferable portion of the transfer recording layer to a transfer-receiving medium thereby to leave an image corresponding to the transferable portion on the transfer-receiving medium;
- and
- applying at least one of light, heat and pressure to the transferred image of the transfer-receiving medium.
An image-forming apparatus for a method wherein a transferable portion formed in a transfer recording layer of a transfer recording medium is transferred to a transfer-receiving medium to form a transferred image thereon, said transfer recording layer being solid at room temperature and being capable of causing an irreversible change in transfer characteristic thereof when provided with plural kinds of energies, said apparatus comprising:
- heating means for imparting heat energy to the transfer recording layer to heat the layer to an elevated temperature, illumination means for imparting light energy to the transfer recording layer at the elevated temperature, thermal transfer means for transferring the transferable portion formed in said transfer recording layer, and fixing means for fixing the transferred image on the transfer-receiving medium;
- at least one of said heating means and said illumination means being driven based on image signals, whereby a non-transferable portion int he transfer recording layer is formed corresponding to the portion of the transfer recording layer imparted with both heat and light and a transferable portion in the transfer recording layer corresponding to the portion of the transfer recording layer to which said image signals are not applied and wherein the transferable portion of the transfer recording layer is thermally transferred to the transfer receiving medium to leave an image corresponding to the transferable portion on the transfer receiving medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.