JP2927021B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for printing out image data of a video signal or a personal computer as an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of image forming apparatus has a liquid crystal shutter provided with an image display section in which cells for displaying an image corresponding to an input image signal are two-dimensionally arranged. The light is applied to a liquid crystal shutter displaying an image, and is exposed on a photosensitive recording medium having a larger area than an image display section of the liquid crystal shutter.

[0003]

However, the image display portion of the liquid crystal shutter is recorded as an image on a photosensitive recording medium through light from a light source, but non-image portions other than the image display portion do not transmit light. There has been a problem that the photosensitive recording medium becomes black, resulting in a black frame around the image.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and has as its object to provide an image forming apparatus in which a black frame is not formed around an image on a photosensitive recording medium.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises an exposing means comprising a light source and a liquid crystal shutter having an image display section in which a plurality of cells are two-dimensionally arranged. Light-shielding means for covering only a portion corresponding to an image display portion of the liquid crystal shutter on the photosensitive recording medium; and exposing an image displayed on the liquid crystal shutter on the photosensitive recording medium with light from a light source. Re-exposure means for exposing the photosensitive recording medium again by using the same.

[0006]

The exposure means of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention having the above-mentioned structure is arranged so that an image displayed on an image display section in which a plurality of cells in a liquid crystal shutter are two-dimensionally arranged is formed on a photosensitive recording medium by light from a light source. Exposure. The re-exposure unit, after the exposure by the exposure unit, uses the light-shielding unit to cover only a portion corresponding to the image display unit of the liquid crystal shutter on the photosensitive recording medium, and again exposes the photosensitive recording medium.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the liquid crystal printer 1 of this embodiment, a microcapsule sheet 3 and a developing paper 5 are used as photosensitive recording media. The halogen lamp 7 is used as a light source.
A reflector 9 for reflecting light and collecting the light downward is disposed above the reflector. In addition, a condenser lens 11 for converting the light emitted from the halogen lamp 7 into substantially parallel light is disposed below the halogen lamp 7, and an infrared cut filter 13 is disposed below the condenser lens 11. Below the infrared cut filter 13, a filter unit 15 including a red filter 15R, a green filter 15G, and a blue filter 15B for dissolving light from the halogen lamp 7 into one of red, green, and blue is disposed. I have. A liquid crystal shutter 17 is disposed below the filter unit 15 at a position about 5 mm away from the microcapsule sheet 3. The liquid crystal shutter 17 is, as shown in FIG.
The image display unit 18 includes a plurality of cells 47 each displaying an image corresponding to an input image signal, two-dimensionally arranged, and a non-image unit 19 other than the image display unit.

The halogen lamp 7 and the liquid crystal shutter 1
7 is provided with a movable movable reflection mirror 21 which can be inserted into the optical path, and on the right side of the movable reflection mirror 21, the light reflected by the movable reflection mirror 21 is reflected to form the microcapsule sheet 3. Fixed reflection mirror 22 that reflects upward
Is provided. A light-shielding mask 23 is provided at a position about 5 mm away from the microcapsule sheet 3 in the optical path between the fixed reflection mirror 22 and the microcapsule sheet 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the light-shielding mask 23 has the same size as the image display section 18 of the liquid crystal shutter 17 and has a light-shielding section 24 disposed at a position corresponding to the image display section 19 and a liquid crystal shutter 17. The shutter 17 has the same size as the non-image portion 19 and includes a light-transmitting portion 25 disposed at a position corresponding to the non-image portion 19.

[0010] The microcapsule sheet 3 used in the present embodiment has a plurality of microcapsules applied on the surface of a long support, and the microcapsules contain a dye which reacts with a color developer described later. Precursors and the like are included. The unexposed microcapsule sheet 3 is mounted in a light-shielding cartridge 27 while being wound around a cartridge shaft 26. A pair of feed rollers 29a and 29b for transporting the microcapsule sheet 3 are disposed on the right side of the cartridge 27.

The microcapsule sheet 3 which has been exposed to a predetermined exposure range is pressed and developed by a pair of pressure rollers 31a and 31b in a state where the developed paper 5 is superposed on the exposure range. Thereafter, the microcapsule sheet 3 separated from the color-developed paper 5 is taken up by a take-up roller 32.

Above the pressure rollers 31a and 31b, a sheet cassette 33 in which a plurality of developer sheets 5 are stacked and stored is detachably provided. A half-moon roller 35 is provided at the upper left of the sheet cassette 33, and the rotation of the half-moon roller 35 causes the color-developed paper 5 to be sent one sheet at a time between the pair of sheet rollers 37a and 37b.
The sent out colorized paper 5 passes through a paper feeding guide 39 and is supplied to the colorized paper 5.
The pressure rollers 31a, 31b are positioned at such a timing that the position of the leading edge of the roller and the leading edge of the latent image on the microcapsule sheet 3 match.
31b.

The color developing paper 5 has a support coated with a color developing agent, and develops a color by reacting with a dye precursor contained in the microcapsules of the microcapsule sheet 3; It is described in Patent Specification No. 4399209, and the description thereof is omitted here.

A heat fixing device 41 is disposed to the right of the pressure rollers 31a and 31b.
1, a heater 43 is provided, and a developing paper 5
A transport belt 45 for transporting is provided.

Next, an image forming process of the liquid crystal printer 1 configured as described above will be described.

First, a print start key (not shown)
When is pressed, the movable reflecting mirror 21 rotates clockwise and moves to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line shown in FIG. Then, an image corresponding to the image signal input from the outside is displayed on the liquid crystal shutter 1.
7 is displayed on the image display unit 18. Next, the halogen lamp 7 as a light source is turned on. The light of the halogen lamp 7 is efficiently condensed by the reflector 9 and the condensing lens 11, is converted into substantially parallel light, and passes through the infrared cut filter 13 and the red filter 15R to convert the image of the red portion of the image to be recorded. The stationary microcapsule sheet 3 is exposed by the light applied to the displayed liquid crystal shutter 17. When the red exposure is completed, the red filter 15R is replaced with the green filter 15G,
The image of the red portion of the image to be recorded is switched to the image of the green portion and is similarly exposed. The same applies to the blue exposure. When the three exposures are completed, the halogen lamp 7 is turned off. Thus, a color latent image is formed on the microcapsule sheet 3.

Next, the microcapsule sheet 3 is fed in the direction of the pressure rollers 31a, 31b by the driving force of the take-up roller 32 and the feed rollers 29a, 29b. At this time, the microcapsule sheet 3 moves so that the light-shielding portion 24 of the light-shielding mask 23 and the image display portion 18 of the liquid crystal shutter 17 coincide. Then, the movable reflection mirror 21 rotates counterclockwise and moves to the solid line position shown in FIG. At this time, when the halogen lamp 7 is turned on, the light is reflected by the movable reflection mirror 21 and the fixed reflection mirror 22 and passes through the light transmitting portion 25 of the light shielding mask 23 to form the microcapsule sheet 3.
, And the black portion corresponding to the non-image portion 19 of the liquid crystal shutter 17 in the image exposed on the microcapsule sheet 3 is exposed to white light for the same time as that for exposing one color filter to white.

On the other hand, the color-developed paper 5 is fed one by one by a half-moon roller 35 and passes through a paper feed guide 39 to feed the paper.
a and 37b to the pressure rollers 31a and 31b. The pressure rollers 31a and 31b are placed in a state where the exposed surface of the microcapsule sheet 3 and the developer application surface of the developer paper 5 face each other.
And the image is transferred to the developing paper 5. While the color-developed paper 5 is further conveyed by the conveyance belt 45, the color development is promoted by the heat fixing device 41 having the heater 43, and is output as an image.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in this embodiment, the non-image portion 19 of the liquid crystal shutter 17 is exposed after the image is exposed on the microcapsule sheet 3, but the non-image portion 19 is exposed before the image is exposed. Is also good.

In this embodiment, the optical path from the halogen lamp 7 to the microcapsule sheet 3 is changed by the reflection mirrors 21 and 22. However, a light source moving device for moving the position of the halogen lamp 7 is provided. The microcapsule sheet 3 may be exposed by passing light through the liquid crystal shutter 17 and the light-shielding mask 23 by moving.

Further, a control device for alternately switching the liquid crystal shutter 17 and the light shielding mask 23 into the light path without changing the light path for exposing the microcapsule sheet 3 from the halogen lamp 7 is provided. And the microcapsule sheet 3 may be exposed alternately.

[0023]

As is clear from the above description,
By exposing a light-impermeable portion that is a non-image portion other than the image display portion of the liquid crystal shutter on the photosensitive recording medium, a high-quality output image can be obtained without turning the image around the photosensitive recording medium black. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a liquid crystal shutter.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a light-shielding mask.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 microcapsule sheet 5 color developing paper 7 halogen lamp 17 liquid crystal shutter 18 image display unit 19 non-image unit 21 movable reflection mirror 22 fixed reflection mirror 23 light shielding mask 24 light shielding unit 25 light transmitting unit 47 cell

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G03G 15/043

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An exposure unit comprising: a light source; and a liquid crystal shutter having an image display unit in which a plurality of cells are two-dimensionally arranged, wherein an image displayed on the liquid crystal shutter by the light from the light source is provided. In an image forming apparatus that forms a latent image by exposing a photosensitive recording medium having a larger area than an image display section of a liquid crystal shutter, a light shielding unit that covers only a portion of the photosensitive recording medium corresponding to the image display section of the liquid crystal shutter. And a re-exposure unit for exposing the photosensitive recording medium again using the light-shielding unit after exposure recording by the exposure unit.