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US 5,351,069 AGranted
Sublimation type thermal transfer printer and ink sheet used with the same
AssigneeMitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKiyoshi Koike, Jyunichi Aizawa, Hiroshi Nakao, Kunihiko Nakagawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sublime type thermal transfer printer uses an ink sheet on which a fixing agent of a sublimation ink is coated and thermally transfers the fixing agent of the ink sheet onto a plain printing paper first, then thermally transfers an image on the ink sheet onto the area of the printing paper where the fixing agent is transferred by subliming an ink coated on the ink sheet.
Claims21
A sublime type transfer printer comprising:
- an ink sheet having an image receive coating area coated with a fixing agent of a sublimation ink and an ink area coated with the sublimation ink wherein the image receive coating area and the ink area are alternatively formed a plurality of times;
- a pair of reels for transporting sequentially the image receive coating area and then the ink area of the ink sheet to a transfer position;
- a pair of rollers for transporting a printing paper, onto which an image is to be transferred, to the transfer position by holding the printing paper therebetween, the printing paper having first and second opposed sides;
- a platen having a surface for holding the printing paper thereon;
- a thermal head for thermally transferring an image by pressing the ink sheet onto the printing paper held on the platen;
- and
- a transfer control circuit for controlling transferring of the fixing agent on the image receive coating area of the ink sheet onto a fixing agent transferred area of the printing paper and then transferring the image onto the fixing agent transferred area of the printing paper by subliming the ink of the ink area, wherein
- the transfer control circuit individually controls a transfer speed and a transfer time of the fixing agent on the image receive coating area and a transfer speed and a transfer time of the sublimation ink on the ink area, respectively.
5 more elements
An ink sheet comprising:
- an image receive coating area coated with a fixing agent of a sublimation ink and having a mark indicating a start of the image receive coating area;
- a coating material;
- and
- an ink area coated with the sublimation ink;
- wherein the image receive coating area and the ink area are alternatively formed a plurality of times and the coating material is disposed on the mark indicating the start of the image receive coating area and on the image receive coating area.
2 more elements
A thermal transfer printer for printing an image on a receiving medium comprising:
- an ink sheet having an image receive coating area coated with a fixing agent of a sublimation ink and an ink area coated with the sublimation ink wherein the image receive coating area and the ink area are alternatively formed a plurality of times;
- a thermal head for thermally transferring an image by pressing the ink sheet onto the receiving medium held on a platen and
- a transfer mechanism for translating said ink sheet and the receiving medium across said thermal head;
- a transfer control circuit for controlling transferring of the fixing agent on the image receive coating area of said ink sheet onto a fixing agent transferred area of the receiving medium and then transferring the image onto the fixing agent transferred area of the receiving medium by subliming the ink of the ink area, wherein
- the transfer control circuit individually controls a transfer speed and a transfer time of the fixing agent on the image receive coating area and a transfer speed and a transfer time of the sublimation ink on the ink area, respectively.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.