Method of forming a forgery-preventive image and apparatus therefor
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorHiroki Matsuoka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There are provided a method of forming a forgery-preventive image and an apparatus therefor which are capable of easily making a forgery-preventive medium without spoiling ease of determination as to whether forgery has been committed. An image is printed on an ink image-receiving sheet by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held by the ink image-receiving sheet. The image-receiving sheet and a medium body overlaid upon each other are heated, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the ink image-receiving sheet in a surface of the medium body and color development. The amount of heat applied to the ink image-receiving sheet and the medium body is controlled so as to adjust depth of diffusion of the sublimable dye ink.
Claims27
A method of forming a forgery-preventive image, comprising the steps of:
- printing an image on an ink image-receiving sheet by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held by the ink image-receiving sheet;
- heating the image-receiving sheet and a medium body overlaid upon each other, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the ink image-receiving sheet in a surface of the medium body and color development, and
- controlling an amount of heat applied to the ink image-receiving sheet and the medium body so as to adjust depth of diffusion of the sublimable dye ink.
An apparatus for forming a forgery-preventive image, comprising:
- printing means for printing an image on an ink image-receiving sheet by using a sublimable dye ink, thereby causing the sublimable dye ink to be held by the ink image-receiving sheet;
- heating means for heating the image-receiving sheet and a medium body overlaid upon each other, thereby causing diffusion of the sublimable dye ink held in the ink image-receiving sheet in a surface of the medium body and color development, and
- heat amount control means for controlling an amount of heat applied to the ink image-receiving sheet and the medium body so as to adjust depth of diffusion of the sublimable dye ink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.