Patent EP0378291A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0378291A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Recording apparatus
Assignee: Panasonic Holdings Corp
•
Filing: 1990-01-03
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2010-01-03
Abstract
Abstract The invention discloses a recording apparatus which initially causes an ink sheet (3) coated with thermoplastic ink (2) to come into contact with an intermediate transfer medium having its outer surface composed of a silicone elastomer film, and then causes a thermal-image formation head (7) to selectively heat ink in contact with the intermediate transfer medium so that the ink can selectively adhere to the intermediate transfer medium before to form a complete ink image on the intermediate transfer medium by stripping off the ink sheet from the intermediate transfer medium while temperature of the heated ink still remains above the melting point or softening point. These sequential processes are repeatedly executed for plural rounds with color inks bearing different colors in the order to form a multicolor ink image on the intermediate transfer medium before transferring the multicolor ink image onto the recording paper by tightly pressing the intermediate transfer medium against the recording paper (10).
Inventors
- 👤 Noboru Katakabe
- 👤 Atsushi Sogami
- 👤 Masanori Yoshikawa
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 18:59
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41M; B41M5/00; B41M5/26; B41M5/382; B41M5/38257; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/315; B41J2/32; B41J2/325
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
197 words
A recording apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer medium having a surface composed of a silicone elastomer layer; an ink sheet whose base film is coated with a thermoplastic ink on its surface; ink-sheet transfer means for sequentially transfering said ink sheet along a predetermined passage which includes a position in which said ink sheet comes into contact with said intermediate transfer medium; thermal-image formation means for selectively heating said ink sheet brought into contact with said intermediate transfer medium so that ink selectively adheres to said intermediate transfer medium to form an ink image on said intermediate transfer medium; and transfer means which includes a pressing means for tightly pressing recording paper onto said intermediate transfer medium having formed thereon the ink image to transfer said ink image onto said recording paper, wherein moving speed of said intermediate transfer medium, structure of said thermal-image formation means and the moving passage of said ink sheet cooperatively arranged so that said ink sheet can be separated from said intermediate transfer medium while said ink heated above the melting point or the softening point by said thermal-image formation means remains at or above the melting point or the softening point
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
197 words
A recording apparatus comprising: an intermediate transfer medium having a surface composed of a silicone elastomer layer; an ink sheet whose base film is coated with a thermoplastic ink on its surface; ink-sheet transfer means for sequentially transfering said ink sheet along a predetermined passage which includes a position in which said ink sheet comes into contact with said intermediate transfer medium; thermal-image formation means for selectively heating said ink sheet brought into contact with said intermediate transfer medium so that ink selectively adheres to said intermediate transfer medium to form an ink image on said intermediate transfer medium; and transfer means which includes a pressing means for tightly pressing recording paper onto said intermediate transfer medium having formed thereon the ink image to transfer said ink image onto said recording paper, wherein moving speed of said intermediate transfer medium, structure of said thermal-image formation means and the moving passage of said ink sheet cooperatively arranged so that said ink sheet can be separated from said intermediate transfer medium while said ink heated above the melting point or the softening point by said thermal-image formation means remains at or above the melting point or the softening point
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
104 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said transfer means is provided with heating means for heating said ink image on said intermediate transfer medium to or above the melting or softening point, and wherein said intermediate transfer medium and said recording paper are tightly pressed to each other by said pressing means to cause said ink image heated by said heating means to adhere to said recording paper, and then said pressing means releases tight contact between said intermediate transfer medium and said recording paper after temperature of said ink image lowers to or below the melting or softening point.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 2, wherein said intermediate transfer medium comprises a transparent and hollow body covered with a transparent silicone elastomer layer, and wherein said heating means comprises a lamp and a beam-concentrating reflector which are respectively disposed inside of said transparent and hollow body.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
60 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 2, wherein the outer surface of said intermediate transfer medium is composed of a black silicone elastomer layer, and wherein said heating means comprises a lamp and a reflector radiates light against said black silicone elastomer layer to cause said black silicone elastomer layer to generate heat and melt said ink image.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
75 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said ink sheet comprises at least one color ink sheet each coated with at least one color ink to provide a plurality of color inks different from each other, and wherein said thermal-image formation means repeatedly form color ink images to form a multicolor ink image on said intermediate transfer medium, and said transfer means simultaneously transfers said multicolor ink image onto said recording paper.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
31 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 5, wherein said intermediate transfer medium comprises a rotatable cylindrical drum, and wherein said thermal-image formation means includes at least one thermal head.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
47 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 5, wherein said thermal-image formation means includes at least two thermal heads, and wherein said ink sheet comprises at least two color ink sheets bearing colors different from each other and respectively disposed in correspondence with said thermal heads.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
51 words
The recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 5, wherein said plurality of color inks are different in viscosity from each other, and wherein said thermal-image formation means records said plurality of color inks on said intermediate transfer medium by sequentially superimposing them in the order of higher viscosity to lower.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said thermal-image formation means includes a thermal head incorporating a plurality of resistive heating elements arranged in a row.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
55 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 9, wherein said resistive heating elements are disposed at a position within 3-line pitches from a position at which laid ink sheet is stripped off from said intermediate transfer medium so that said ink is stripped off from said intermediate transfer medium immediately after heating said ink.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
34 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 10, wherein said thermal-image formation means includes a thermal-head-drive control means for repeatedly executing recording of one-line picture element by plural rounds based on time-di-vision driving.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
48 words
A recording apparatus as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said thermal-image formation means includes a multistylus head which has a plurality of electrodes arranged in a row rank for implementing thermal distribution by feeding power to a resistive sheet disposed between said head and said ink sheet.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.