Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6344869?dq=%22Meaning-based+advertising+and+document+relevance+determination%22
Timestamp: 2018-01-23 23:04:57
Document Index: 297642565

Matched Legal Cases: ['§120', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 9', '§119']

Patent US6344869 - Thermal printer, thermal printing method and conveyor for recording material - Google Patents
A color thermal printer a conveyor for conveying a color thermosensitive recording sheet along a conveying path. A thermal head thermally records a full-color image to the recording sheet being conveyed. A fixer lamp applies ultraviolet rays of a predetermined range of wavelength to the recording sheet...http://www.google.com/patents/US6344869?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6344869 - Thermal printer, thermal printing method and conveyor for recording material
Publication number US6344869 B2
Application number US 09/888,508
Also published as CN1172804C, CN1200987A, CN1273304C, CN1286654C, CN1541843A, CN1544248A, CN1546318A, CN1546319A, DE69801124D1, DE69801124T2, EP0860287A2, EP0860287A3, EP0860287B1, US6278472, US6518991, US6525757, US6583802, US20010033321, US20010035900, US20010035901, US20010038411
Publication number 09888508, 888508, US 6344869 B2, US 6344869B2, US-B2-6344869, US6344869 B2, US6344869B2
Inventors Hidemi Sasaki, Naoki Takatori, Satoru Goto
Patent Citations (12), Non-Patent Citations (3), Referenced by (8), Classifications (15), Legal Events (8)
Thermal printer, thermal printing method and conveyor for recording material
US 6344869 B2
1. A thermal printer for recording an image to thermosensitive recording material, said thermal printer including a conveyor for conveying said recording material along a conveying path, a thermal head for thermally recording said image to said recording material being conveyed, and a fixer lamp for applying electromagnetic rays of a predetermined range of wavelength to said recording material being conveyed, for optically fixing said recording material, said thermal printer comprising:
an insertion opening, formed in said front face, and adapted to insertion of said recording material therethrough before said recording, and ejection of said recording material therethrough after said recording;
2. A thermal printer as defined in claim 1, further comprising a partition, disposed to extend along said conveying path, for defining first and second portions of said air passageway on respective sides thereof by partitioning an inside of said printer casing, said first portion extending from said air inlet, and said second portion communicating with said first portion at an edge of said partition, and extending to said air outlet.
3. A thermal printer as defined in claim 2, wherein said partition includes:
a front guide plate, extended from said insertion opening to said thermal head along said conveying path, for supporting said recording material being conveyed;
a bracket for supporting said thermal head; and
a rear guide plate, extended from said thermal head toward said rear face of said printing casing along said conveying path, for supporting said recording material being conveyed, wherein said second portion of said air passageway communicates with said first portion at a rear edge of said rear guide plate.
4. A thermal printer as defined in claim 2, wherein said air inlet is disposed above said insertion opening, and said air outlet is disposed below said insertion opening.
5. A thermal printer as defined in claim 4, wherein said recording material includes a support, and at least first, second and third thermosensitive coloring layers, overlaid on said support, for developing respective colors being different from one another, wherein said first coloring layer is disposed at a recording surface, said third coloring layer is disposed most deeply from said recording surface, and said first and second coloring layers have fixability to electromagnetic rays of respectively first and second ranges of wavelength;
wherein said fixer lamp comprises:
a first fixer lamp, having a long shape, disposed to extend crosswise to conveyance of said recording material, for emitting electromagnetic rays of said first range of wavelength; and
a second fixer lamp, having a long shape, disposed so that said first fixer lamp is disposed between said second fixer lamp and said thermal head, extended substantially in parallel with said first fixer lamp, for emitting electromagnetic rays of said second range of wavelength.
6. A thermal printer as defined in claim 5, wherein said fan unit comprises a cross flow fan, and disposed at a bottom of said rear edge of said rear guide plate.
7. A thermal printer as defined in claim 5, further comprising a plurality of first heat dissipator fins, disposed on said bracket to project into said air passageway.
8. A thermal printer as defined in claim 7, wherein said air outlet comprises a plurality of air sub-outlets;
further comprising a plurality of second heat dissipator fins, disposed on an end portion of said bracket to project toward an outside of said air sub-outlets.
9. A thermal printer as defined in claim 8, wherein said conveyor includes a conveyor roller set for nipping said recording material, conveying said recording material plural times in a first direction and a second direction reverse to said first direction, subjecting said recording material plural times to said thermal recording and said optical fixation, to record said full-color image by three-color frame-sequential manner.
10. A thermal printer as defined in claim 9, wherein said fixer lamps and said conveyor roller set are disposed between said insertion opening and said thermal head.
11. A thermal printer as defined in claim 5, further comprising two lateral plates, disposed in said printer casing substantially in parallel with each other, said fixer lamps being so extended that distal ends thereof are disposed beyond outer sides of said lateral plates, wherein said lateral plates exclude said distal ends from confrontation with said recording material for applying said electromagnetic rays in a uniformed manner, wherein a platen member, said thermal head and said conveyor roller set are disposed between said lateral plates.
12. A thermal printer as defined in claim 11, wherein each of said fixer lamps has a U-shape including first and second portions, disposed substantially in parallel with each other, and extended crosswise to said conveying path.
13. A thermal printer as defined in claim 11, wherein each of said fixer lamps includes one end bent in an L-shape substantially in parallel with conveyance of said recording material, to have an increased length containable in a given space.
14. A thermal printer as defined in claim 13, further comprising a drive unit for driving said conveyor roller set, said drive unit being disposed at least partially between an inside of said printer casing and one of said lateral plates opposite to said bent end of said fixer lamps.
15. A thermal printer as defined in claim 14, wherein said drive unit includes:
a stepping motor, disposed under said rear guide plate and between said lateral plates; and
a gear train, disposed between said inside of said printer casing and said one of said lateral plates, for transmitting rotation of said stepping motor to said conveyor roller set.
16. A thermal printer as defined in claim 1, wherein said printer casing has a size insertable in a bay of a personal computer of a tower type.
This application is a divisional of co-pending application Ser. No. 09/018,446, filed on Feb. 4, 1998, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference and for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120; and this application claims priority of Application No. 9-22478 filed in Japan on Feb. 5, 1997, Application No. 9-23495 filed in Japan on Feb. 6, 1997, Application No. 9-23920, filed in Japan on Feb. 6, 1997, Application No. 9-25163, filed in Japan on Feb. 7, 1997, and Application No. 9-39535 filed in Japan on Feb. 24, 1997 under 35 U.S.C. §119.
Consequently in the thermal printer, generated heat can be removed in an effective manner. The thermal printer can have a sufficiently small size and easily combined with a personal computer, a video player or the like.
In a preferred embodiment, a driver circuit drives the fixer lamp. There is a printed circuit board on which the driver circuit is mounted, and to which the fixer lamp is secured.
In still another preferred embodiment, the recording material includes a support, and at least first, second and third thermosensitive coloring layers, overlaid on the support, for developing respective colors being different from one another, wherein the first coloring layer is disposed at a recording surface, the third coloring layer is disposed most deeply from the recording surface, and the first and second coloring layers have fixability to electromagnetic rays of respectively first and second ranges of wavelength. The thermal printer includes a printer casing. A conveyor is disposed in the printer casing, for conveying the recording material along a conveying path. A thermal head is disposed under the conveying path, confronted with the recording surface of the recording material directed downwards, for heating the at least first, second and third coloring layers serially to develop the colors while the recording material is conveyed, for effecting thermal recording of the fullcolor image in a frame-sequential manner. A fixer is disposed under the conveying path, confronted with the recording surface, for emitting electromagnetic rays of first and second ranges of wavelength, to fix the first and second coloring layers optically.
Consequently the thermal printer is capable of reducing influence of ambient light to a recording material being optically fixable, to protect its coloring ability of coloring layers
FIG. 20A an explanatory view in elevation, illustrating another preferred color thermal printer;
FIG. 25 is a vertical section illustrating the thermal printer;
FIG. 27B is a side elevation illustrating the thermal printer where the recording sheet emerges out of an insertion opening;
Let the thermal printer be a capstan-incorporating type in which a conveyor roller set is used. In FIG. 16B, a front end 165 a of the recording sheet 165 is moved between the thermal head 167 and the platen roller 166, and nipped in the conveyor roller set 164 before the thermal recording. Let La1 be a distance between the platen roller 166 and the conveyor roller set 164. Let a be a range in the recording sheet 165 required for being nipped by the conveyor roller set 164. For example, α=1 mm. As a result, the front end 165 a of the recording sheet 165 has an unrecordable margin where the thermal recording is impossible, and which is in a range of La2=La1+α. To decrease the unrecordable margin, La1 must be set small. But La1 is determined as a sum of Rp, Rc and a minimum gap as play, where Rp is a radius of the platen roller 166, and Rc is a radius of the capstan roller 162. It is impossible to set small the unrecordable margin in an acceptable range.
In the color thermal printer of FIG. 17A, a margin range Lb4 of the rear end 165 b can be smaller than the margin range La4 according to the above-mentioned printer by the amount of the width Ly of the yellow fixer 174, as depicted in FIG. 17B. However a distance Lb1 between the thermal head 172 and the conveyor roller set 173 becomes longer by the amount of the width Ly. As a result, the margin range Lb2 formed on the front end 165 a of the recording sheet 165 is remarkably longer than the margin range La2 according to the abovementioned printer.
Lc 1=Ls+Ly/2.
Lc 2 =Lc 1+α
A portion with a range Lc3 from the conveyor roller set 182 to an end face 192 b of the reflector 192 of the yellow fixer 190 is likely to become a margin with insufficient fixation or over-fixation of the yellow fixer 190 as compared with a rear end 176 b of the recording sheet 176. The rear end 176 b of the recording sheet 176 has a margin in a range of Lc4=Lc3+α, where a is a range of the recording sheet 176 nipped by the conveyor roller set 182.
Ld 1=Ls+Ly/2+Rn.
Ld 2 =Ld 1+α.
In a range Ld3 defined between the conveyor roller set 203 and an end of the yellow fixer 200 as viewed in the forward direction, fixation of the rear end 176 b of the recording sheet 176 by means of the yellow fixer 200 becomes insufficient fixation or over-fixation. Therefore a margin of a range Ld4 of the rear end 176 b of the recording sheet 176 is defined as a sum (Ld3+α), where a is a space of the recording sheet 176 in which the conveyor roller set 203 nips it.
The recording sheet 268 being supplied is moved between the thermal head 265 and the platen roller 267, toward the gap between the pinch roller 273 and the capstan roller 272. When the front end of the recording sheet 268 comes to the gap between the pinch roller 273 and the capstan roller 272, rotation of the capstan roller 272 causes the roller portion 272 b and 273 b to nip the recording sheet 268.
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U.S. Classification 347/222, 347/175
International Classification B41J29/377, B41M5/34, B41M5/382, B41J13/00, B41J2/32
Cooperative Classification B41J2/32, B41J29/377, B41J13/00, B41M5/345, B41M5/38221
European Classification B41J2/32, B41J29/377, B41J13/00