Method for multi-layer printing of a thermal printer

Multi-layer printing of a thermal printer allows editing of print objects in a plurality of editing pages, and creation of a relationship between the editing pages and a plurality of dye areas of a dye ribbon. The print objects in the editing pages are converted into a plurality of pages of printing data. A thermal printer drives the dye areas of the dye ribbon to sequentially transfer two pages of the printing data onto a first surface of a card. With visible editing windows, the operation of editing the print objects for a thermal printer can be simplified.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The claimed invention relates to a printing method of a thermal printer, and more particularly, to a method for multi-layer printing.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Please refer toFIG. 1andFIG. 2.FIG. 1is a block diagram of a thermal printer10, andFIG. 2is a diagram of a dye ribbon12used in the thermal printer10. The thermal printer10comprises a dye ribbon12, a thermal print head14, an auto-insert mechanism16, and a turnover mechanism18. The auto-insert mechanism16is used to feed a card20into the thermal printer10, and the turnover mechanism18is used to turn over the card20. A dye ribbon12comprises a plurality of dye areas30Y,30M,30C,30W,30G, and30K which are respectively used to print out yellow, magenta, cyan, watermark, golden, and black colors. When the thermal print head14is heated, its thermal energy can transfer color from the dye areas30Y–30K to the card20. Each dye area30Y–30K has a partition32or34in front of it, which helps the thermal printer10to recognize the beginning of each dye area30Y–30K. Furthermore, the dye areas30Y–30K appear repeatedly, and a partition32can be used to recognize the beginning of dye areas30Y–30K in each dye section. There are many kinds of dye ribbons that can be used in the thermal printer10, the dye ribbon14mentioned above is merely one of them.

However, software tools for the thermal printer are difficult to use at present; users usually need a lot of time to learn these. Please refer toFIG. 3.FIG. 3is the interface of an editing tool used in the thermal printer. In the prior art, when a thermal printer user needs to edit print data, he or she must open an editing window40as shown inFIG. 3. The editing window40comprises an input frame42for editing print data and an output frame43for displaying edited data. Users can use the columns and control buttons in the input frame42to edit the printing data. For example, if a user wanted to print out his portrait and his name on a card (i.e. to make a business card), he could edit the portrait file path and the corresponding name with the input frame42. Such editing tools usually have different editing windows for all kinds of printing effects, and the editing window40mentioned inFIG. 3is merely one of these. When users use a thermal printer for multi-layer printing, the edit tools are too complicated to operate. In addition, the above edit tool cannot preview images, so it is difficult to get the desired result on the first attempt at printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One objective of the claimed invention is to provide a new method for multi-layer printing of a thermal printer to solve the problems in the prior art.

According to an embodiment of the claimed invention, a method for multi-layer printing of a thermal printer is provided. The method comprises editing print objects and displaying an image corresponding to the print objects in a plurality of editing pages, creating a relationship between the editing pages and a plurality of dye areas of a dye ribbon, converting the print objects in the editing pages into a plurality of pages of printing data, and a thermal printer driving the dye areas of the dye ribbon to sequentially transfer two pages of the printing data onto a first surface of a card according to the relationship.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention concerns separate-page edit tools and related drivers. The separate-page edit tools can be based on MICROSOFT WORD or POWERPOINT or similar software, for example. Please refer toFIG. 4andFIG. 5.FIG. 4is an illustration of a separate-page edit tool according to the present invention, andFIG. 5is an illustration of setting up printing information with a user interface and driver. When a thermal printer user needs to print, he or she can open a separate-page editing window100and produce a plurality of editing pages102,104,106, and108. Then, the user can edit print objects120,122,124,126,128, and130, wherein the print objects120and124are figures and the print objects122,126,128, and130are characters or text. The user can adjust the location of each print object120–130on the editing pages102–108, and the separate-page editing tool shows the print objects120–130as they will be printed. After editing the print objects120–130, the user can use the print function to command the user interface150to process print settings.

The main functions of the user interface150comprise setting types of dye ribbons, setting types of cards, setting colors, setting vertical or horizontal printing, setting a number of copies, setting front surface dye areas, setting back surface dye areas, and creating a relationship between the editing pages and the corresponding dye areas. When setting the printing information with the user interface150, some print effects can be chosen. These print effects comprise colorful printing, character printing, watermark printing, and golden (or other metallic effect) printing. After setting the thermal printer, the driver converts the print objects120–130in the plurality of editing pages102–108into corresponding printing data and then drives the thermal printer10to print the content of the editing pages102–108onto the card20.

Please refer toFIG. 4andFIG. 6.FIG. 6is an illustration of a relationship between printing data202–208corresponding to the plurality of edit pages102–108and each dye area30Y–30K of the dye ribbon12. As illustrated, the editing page102is converted into printing data202, editing page104is converted into printing data204, editing page106is converted into printing data206, and editing page108is converted into printing data208. In the example, the thermal printer10controls the dye areas30Y–30G of the dye ribbon12to sequentially transfer the printing data202,204,206onto the front surface of the card20, and controls the dye area30K of the dye ribbon12to transfer the printing data208onto the back surface of card20. Furthermore, as illustrated inFIG. 4andFIG. 6, the printing data202–208corresponding to the print objects102–108contains the coordinates of every print object120–130in the editing pages102–108. As a result, when editing print objects120–130, the user can preview images on editing pages102–108immediately and as they would look when printed.

Each print effect corresponds to a single editing page. When printing an editing page, the thermal printer10drives the dye areas corresponding to the print effects. After setting the print effects of both sides of the card20, the driver creates a relationship between the editing pages102–112and the plurality of dye areas30Y–30K of a dye ribbon12. In this case, the editing page102corresponds to the dye areas30Y,30M, and30C, the editing page104corresponds to the dye area30W, the editing page106corresponds to the dye area30G, and the editing page108corresponds to the dye area30K. The thermal printer10drives the dye areas30Y,30M, and30C according to the printing data202of the editing page102to print colors onto the front surface of the card20, controls the dye area30W according to the printing data204of the editing page104to print a watermark onto the front surface of the card20, and controls the dye areas30G according to the printing data206of the editing page106to print black characters onto the back surface of the card20.

The present invention is not limited to the above examples. For example, the dye areas30Y,30M,30C, and30G can be controlled according to the printing data202and206of the editing page102and106to print colors onto the front surface of the card20without the printing of a watermark or black characters. Furthermore, if more copies are needed, the user can create other editing pages in the editing window100. The driver transforms the editing pages into corresponding printing data according to the settings in the user interface150. Then, the printing data is used to drive printing of corresponding dye areas.

In comparison, the present invention allows editing of print objects with visible editing windows in a plurality of editing pages, and allows creation of a relationship between the editing pages and each dye area of the dye ribbon. After transforming the editing pages into corresponding printing data, a thermal printer drives the dye areas of the dye ribbon to transfer the printing data onto either surface of a card according to the relationship. Hence, with the present invention separate-page editing tool and corresponding driver, users can operate a thermal printer rapidly and efficiently.