Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-01
2001-05-01
Tran, Huan (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S061000, C347S062000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06224194
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus (particularly a printer head) configured of a transfer portion for holding recording material and a resistance heating means for heating the recording material such that the recording material is caused to fly, thereby transferring onto a recording medium disposed opposing the transfer portion, and also relates to a method for manufacturing the recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a field has emerged wherein color images processed with personal computers or the like, or color images taken with video cameras or electronic still photography cameras are printed out, and used for viewing enjoyment or other purposes. Accordingly, there are increasing needs for printers which provide high-quality full-color images, and particularly for personal-use printers or relatively inexpensive printers geared for small-scale businesses (so-called “small-office” “home-office” businesses) which provide such high-quality full-color images.
Color printing methods which have been proposed include the sublimation-type thermal transfer method (or dye dispersion thermal transfer method), the melt thermal transfer method, the ink-jet method, the electro-photography method, the thermal-developing silver-salt method, and so forth. Of these, the dye dispersion thermal transfer method and ink-jet method can be listed as examples of methods whereby high-quality images can be easily output from relatively simple devices.
The dye dispersion thermal transfer method uses an ink ribbon or sheet coated with an ink layer formed by dispersing a high concentration of transfer dye within an appropriate binder resin, and so-called thermal transfer sheets which are formed by coating paper with dyeing resin which accepts the transferred dye. The ink ribbon or sheet is pressed against the thermal transfer sheet at a certain pressure, and a thermo-sensitive recording head (thermal head) applies heat from behind the ink ribbon or sheet, thus performing thermal transfer of transfer dye from the ink ribbon or sheet to the thermal transfer sheet, the amount of transfer dye being transferred according to the amount of heat.
A full-color image with continuous gradation can be obtained by repeating this operation for image signals resolved into the three primary colors of subtractive color mixture, i.e., yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C).
FIG. 26
shows the configuration of the area surrounding a thermal head of a printer using this dye dispersion thermal transfer method.
A thermal head
70
is positioned so as to oppose a platen roller
77
, and an ink sheet
72
which has been formed by providing an ink layer
73
on a base film
71
, for example, along with a recording sheet (thermal transfer paper)
75
formed by coating the surface of paper
76
with a dying resin layer (dye-accepting layer)
74
, run in the direction of the arrow B in the Figure while being pressed against the thermal head
70
by the platen roller
77
which rotates in the direction of the arrow A in the Figure.
Then, the ink in the ink layer
73
selectively heated by the thermal head
70
according to the image to be printed is subjected to thermal dispersion into the dying resin layer
74
of the recording sheet
75
which has been heated by coming into contact with the ink layer
73
, and transfer is carried out by dot pattern, for example.
This dye dispersion thermal transfer method is an excellent technique in that the printer can be reduced in size and maintenance thereof is simple, the printer has immediate availability, and images with quality rivaling that of silver-salt color photography can be obtained. However, this method is problematic in that disposal of the ink ribbon or sheet results in massive amounts of discarded materials and high running costs. This method also necessitates the use of thermal transfer sheets, which also raises running costs.
The melt thermal transfer method can be used with plain paper, but still uses ink ribbon or sheet, and so this method is also problematic in that the disposal of such results in massive amounts of discarded materials and high running costs. Further, the image quality is lower than that of silver-salt color photography.
The thermal developing silver-salt method is high in image quality, but necessitates use of dedicated photographic printing paper and throw-away ink ribbon or sheets, so running costs are high, and further, the apparatus itself is expensive.
On the other hand, the ink-jet method is a method wherein droplets of ink are discharged from nozzles provided to a printer head, using methods such as electrostatic gravity, continuous vibration generation (piezo method), thermal (bubble-jet method), and the like, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-59911, Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-217, and so forth, whereby the droplets of ink adhere to the printing paper or the like, thereby conducting printing.
Accordingly, printing can be performed in plain paper, and ink ribbons or the like are not used, so running costs are low, and there are hardly any discarded items generated as with the case of using ink ribbons or the like. This method is becoming widespread in recent years, since color images can be easily printed.
However, the principle of the ink-jet method makes concentration gradients in pixels difficult, and it has been difficult to realize images with quality rivaling that of silver-salt color photography in a short time, as can be with the above-described dye dispersion thermal transfer method. That is to say, with the known ink-jet method, one droplet forms one pixel, so this principle makes concentration gradients within pixels difficult, and accordingly, high-quality images could not be realized. Also, pseudo-gradient representations with dithering using the high resolution of ink jets is being attempted, but image quality equal to that of the dye dispersion thermal transfer method has not been obtained, and moreover, the transfer speed drastically drops when employing such methods.
Recently, ink-jet methods which use thinned ink to obtain two or three gradients within a pixel are emerging, but it has been difficult to obtain image quality equal to that of silver-salt photography or dye dispersion thermal transfer methods, particularly with natural images or the like.
As for the electro-photography method, the running cost is low and transfer speed is high, but not only does the image quality not rival that of silver-salt photography, but the equipment is markedly expensive.
To summarize the above, none of these recording methods have satisfied all of the demands of image quality, running costs, equipment costs, transfer time, and so forth.
Hence, the so-called dye vaporization thermal transfer method (e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-183239) has been proposed as a color printing method capable of satisfying all of the above demands.
Now, the structure surrounding the transfer portion near the tip of a printer head according to the known dye vaporization thermal transfer method will be described with reference to FIG.
27
and FIG.
28
. Incidentally,
FIG. 28
is an exploded cross-sectional view along line XXVIII—XXVIII in FIG.
27
.
As shown in
FIG. 28
, this printer head (heater chip)
92
has a layered structure wherein, for example, a high-resistance poly-silicone film
82
serving as a heater (heat-generating element) is formed on a substrate
80
formed of silicone, via a silicone oxide (SiO
2
) film
81
. In the event that a thermal insulating substrate such as a quartz plate is to be used for the substrate
80
, the high-resistance poly-silicone film serving as the heater can be directly formed on the substrate without a thermo-insulating layer such as the SiO
2
film
81
.
Further, formed upon this poly-silicone film
82
are an individual electrode
83
and common electrode
84
formed of aluminum (Al) wiring patterning. Provided to the transfer portion
89
defined by the partition
86
an
Kohno Minoru
Onuma Norihiro
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
Sony Corporation
Tran Huan
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