EP0190901A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Thermal transfer printing apparatus
Assignee: Toshiba Corp
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Filing: 1986-01-31
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2006-01-31
Abstract
Abstract A thermal transfer printing apparatus has a thermal head (16) comprised of a plurality of heating members aligned in line, each of the heating members transferring an ink to printing paper (22) upon heating so as to form one dot, the thermal head moving relative to the printing paper and defining a pixel using m x n printing dots (m, n: postive integers). This apparatus further has multilevel dot pattern generating means (12) for storing several binary dot patterns having predetermined dots of the m x n dot matrix, and for selecting, upon reception of an image signal indicating the density of each pixel, a binary dot pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel, determining multilevel data for each dot constituting the selected pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel, and generating the multilevel dot pattern in which the data for each dot is determined, and driving means (14), connected between the multilevel dot pattern generating means (12) and the thermal head (16), for heating, in correspondence with a multilevel dot pattern, the heating member corresponding to the dot therein so as to transfer an ink onto the printing paper to form a dot pattern formed by dots having a size corresponding to the density of each pixel.
Inventors
- 👤 Shuzo C/O Patent Division Hirahara
- 👤 Hitoshi C/O Patent Division Nagato
- 👤 Kazuhiko C/O Patent Division Higuchi
- 👤 Kiyoshi C/O Patent Division Yamada
- 👤 Tadayoshi C/O Patent Division Ohno
- 👤 Tsutomu C/O Patent Division Kanai
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:32
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/40; H04N1/40087
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
139 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus comprising: a thermal head (16) comprised of a plurality of heating members aligned in line, each of said heating members transferring an ink to printing paper (22) upon being heated so as to form one dot, said thermal head moving relative to the printing paper and defining a pixel using m x n printing dots (m, n: positive integers); and driving means (12, 14) connected to said thermal head, receiving an image signal indicating a multilevel density of each pixel, characterized in that said driving means (12, 14) heats a predetermined heating member of m x n heating members forming each pixel, in accordance with a density of each pixel, so as to transfer the ink to the printing paper, thereby forming a dot having a size corresponding to the density of each pixel.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
139 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus comprising: a thermal head (16) comprised of a plurality of heating members aligned in line, each of said heating members transferring an ink to printing paper (22) upon being heated so as to form one dot, said thermal head moving relative to the printing paper and defining a pixel using m x n printing dots (m, n: positive integers); and driving means (12, 14) connected to said thermal head, receiving an image signal indicating a multilevel density of each pixel, characterized in that said driving means (12, 14) heats a predetermined heating member of m x n heating members forming each pixel, in accordance with a density of each pixel, so as to transfer the ink to the printing paper, thereby forming a dot having a size corresponding to the density of each pixel.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
34 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said driving means heats only a heating member at a central portion of the m x n heating members defining each pixel.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
41 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said thermal head comprises heating members aligned along a lateral direction of the printing paper, with the printing paper being moved along a direction perpendicular to said thermal head.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
241 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus comprising: a thermal head (16) comprised of a plurality of heating members aligned in line, each of said heating members transferring an ink to printing paper upon being heated so as to form one dot, said thermal head moving relative to the printing paper and defining a pixel using m x n printing dots (m, n: positive integers); driving means (14) connected to said thermal head (16) receiving an image signal indicating a multilevel density of each pixel, characterized in that multilevel dot pattern generating means (12), is connected between said thermal head (16) and driving means (14), for storing several binary dot patterns having predetermined dots of the m x n dot matrix, and for selecting, upon reception of an image signal indicating the density of each pixel, a binary dot pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel upon reception of an image signal indicating the density of each pixel, determining multilevel data for each dot constituting the selected pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel, and generating the multilevel dot pattern in which the data for each dot is determined; and said driving means (14) heats, in correspondence with a multilevel dot pattern, the heating member corresponding to the dot therein so as to transfer an ink onto the printing paper to form a dot pattern of one block having an area that accords with the density of each pixel.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
241 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus comprising: a thermal head (16) comprised of a plurality of heating members aligned in line, each of said heating members transferring an ink to printing paper upon being heated so as to form one dot, said thermal head moving relative to the printing paper and defining a pixel using m x n printing dots (m, n: positive integers); driving means (14) connected to said thermal head (16) receiving an image signal indicating a multilevel density of each pixel, characterized in that multilevel dot pattern generating means (12), is connected between said thermal head (16) and driving means (14), for storing several binary dot patterns having predetermined dots of the m x n dot matrix, and for selecting, upon reception of an image signal indicating the density of each pixel, a binary dot pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel upon reception of an image signal indicating the density of each pixel, determining multilevel data for each dot constituting the selected pattern in accordance with the density of each pixel, and generating the multilevel dot pattern in which the data for each dot is determined; and said driving means (14) heats, in correspondence with a multilevel dot pattern, the heating member corresponding to the dot therein so as to transfer an ink onto the printing paper to form a dot pattern of one block having an area that accords with the density of each pixel.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means divides a density range within which each pixel can be printed into a plurality of density ranges, and stores a dot pattern in each density range.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
76 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the density ranges of the dot patterns stored in said multilevel dot pattern generating means partially overlap each other, and a density level at which the dot patterns are switched is altered in accordance with a case wherein a density is changed from a high to a low level and a case wherein a density is changed from a low to a high level.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
64 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, in the overlapping density regions of the dot patterns, a dot pattern for high density printing is selected when the density is changed from a high to a low level, and a dot pattern for low density printing is selected when the density is changed from a low to a high level.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
69 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores, as a dot pattern in a low density range, a discrete dot pattern consisting of a single dot; as a dot pattern in a middle density range, a stripe dot pattern consisting of a dot array; and, as a dot pattern in a high density range, an L-shaped dot pattern.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
40 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores, as a multilevel dot pattern, an L-shaped dot pattern or a dot pattern consisting of a combination of L-shaped dot patterns.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
47 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores, as a multilevel dot pattern, dot patterns of the respective density ranges which do not form adjacent dots if the dot patterns are formed adjacent to each other.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
36 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores a dot pattern in which dot arrays constituting the multilevel dot pattern are aligned at corresponding positions.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
29 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores a rotation symmetrical dot pattern as a multilevel dot pattern.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
39 words
A thermal transfer printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said multilevel dot pattern generating means stores, as a multilevel dot pattern, a dot pattern in which the heating center corresponds to the center of the pattern.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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