JPS6260694A - Image-forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure that a transfer image of high quality be formed, high-speed recording and recording of intermediate gradations can be performed and a clear image can be obtained, by forming a transfer image by applying a plurality of kinds of energy to a transfer recording medium, and transferring the image to a medium to which the image is to be transferred. CONSTITUTION:A transfer recording medium 1 comprises a transfer recording layer 1a on a base film 1b. The layer 1a is a layer in which capsule form minute image forming elements 31 are distributed. A core part of each of the elements 31 comprises one of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) coloring materials and a sensitive component the transfer characteristic of which is rapidly changed when light and thermal energy are applied thereto. To form an image, the recording medium 1 is laid on a thermal head, and is sequentially irradiated with rays with such wavelengths that the core parts of the elements 31 respond thereto while generating heat with heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e, 20f of the thermal head, whereby the core parts are hardened, and a transfer image is formed in the recording layer 1. The transfer image is transferred to a medium 10 to which the image is to be transferred, through breakage of wall materials in the next step.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an image forming method that allows dogs to be used in daily life, such as in daily life.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, recording methods and devices suitable for various information processing systems have been developed and adopted. As one of such recording methods, the thermal transfer recording method has recently been widely used because the apparatus used is lightweight, compact, noiseless, and has excellent operability and maintainability.

This thermal transfer recording method generally uses a thermal transfer medium formed by coating a sheet-like support with a thermal transfer ink made of a heat-melting binder and a coloring agent dispersed therein. The ink layer is superimposed on the transfer medium so that it is in contact with the transfer medium, and heat is supplied from the support side of the thermal transfer medium by a thermal head to transfer the melted ink layer to the transfer medium. A transfer ink image is formed thereon in accordance with the shape of heat supply. According to this method, plain paper can be used as the transfer medium.

However, conventional thermal transfer recording methods are not without drawbacks. This is because in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, the transfer recording performance, that is, the print quality, is greatly affected by the surface smoothness.Good printing is performed on highly smooth transfer media, but on less smooth transfer media. In some cases, the print quality deteriorates significantly. However, even when using paper, which is the most typical transfer medium, paper with high smoothness is rather special, and ordinary paper has various degrees of unevenness due to intertwining of fibers. Therefore, in the case of paper with large surface irregularities, the hot-melted ink cannot penetrate into the paper fibers during printing and only adheres to the convexities on the surface or the vicinity thereof, resulting in sharp edges of the printed image. The image may be missing, or part of the image may be missing, resulting in a decrease in print quality.

In addition, the transfer of the ink layer to the transfer medium is performed only by heat from the thermal head, but the amount of heat supplied from the thermal head is generally limited, and a large amount of recording signal is generated within a limited short period of time. In order to convert the thermal head into a thermal pulse, it is necessary to cool the thermal head to a predetermined temperature between the thermal pulses during recording, and to prevent thermal crosstalk between the heat-generating segments that make up the thermal head surface. However, it is difficult to increase the amount of heat supplied from the thermal head.

Therefore, high-speed recording is difficult with conventional thermal transfer recording methods.

In addition, since thermal conduction has a slower response than electricity or light, it is generally difficult to control the heat pulse to the extent that halftones can be reproduced when recording with a thermal head. Since the ink layer does not have a gradation transfer function, halftone recording was not possible.

In addition, with conventional thermal transfer recording methods, only one color image can be obtained with one transfer, so to obtain a multicolor image, the colors must be overlapped by repeating the transfer multiple times. was necessary. However, it is very difficult to accurately superimpose images of different colors, and it is difficult to obtain an image without one color shift. In particular, single pixel separation is rarely done, and in the end, in the conventional thermal transfer recording method, a multicolor image is formed by a collection of pixels with shifted colors. For this reason, clear multicolor images cannot be obtained using conventional thermal transfer recording methods.

In addition, when trying to obtain multicolor images using conventional thermal transfer recording methods, it is necessary to install multiple thermal heads or to make complicated movements such as reverse feeding and stopping of the transfer medium, which requires the entire device. This method has drawbacks such as large and complicated data and a decrease in recording speed.

Purpose of the Invention> The present invention was made in order to solve the problems of the conventional thermal transfer recording method described above. The main purpose is to provide a transfer recording medium and an image forming method that can perform high-speed recording and halftone recording, and that do not require complicated movements on the transfer medium and that can produce clear images. Means for Achieving> The present invention provides a core portion that includes at least a coloring material and a sensitive component whose physical properties that govern transfer characteristics change by applying multiple types of energy, and a wall material that covers the core portion. It is characterized by having a distributed layer of minute image forming elements consisting of the following.

Further, the image forming method of the present invention applies a plurality of types of energy to change the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics of a core portion containing at least a sensitive component and a coloring material, and a wall material covering the core portion. Forming a transfer image by applying the plurality of types of energy to a transfer recording medium having a distributed layer of image forming elements consisting of the plurality of types of energy under conditions in which at least one type of energy among the plurality of types corresponds to recorded information. The method is characterized by comprising a step of transferring the transferred image to a transfer medium.

That is, in the image forming method according to the present invention, the formation of a transferred image and the transfer process are separated, and since the transferred image has already been formed in the transfer process, the restriction on selective energy application in an imagewise manner is lifted, and the transfer process is separated. The energy necessary to transfer and form a clear image according to the surface properties of the transfer medium is transferred to the transfer medium.
IM, I can feel φ in my body. In addition, the transferred image formed as a pre-process is not a mere property-change image such as a heat-fused image, but an image made by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, so the difference in the physical properties before and after the change can be absorbed in the transfer process. By utilizing this, transfer can be achieved reliably, and faithful transfer of the transferred image is also possible. For example, when a heat-fused image is used as a transferred image, it is desirable to maintain the heat-fused image completely from the transfer image formation process to the transfer process, but the transferability may deteriorate due to the cooling phenomenon between the two processes, or the heat-fused image may Blurring of the image due to heat conduction to the surrounding area is unavoidable. However,
In the case of the present invention, the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, such as the melting point, softening point, and viscosity at the same temperature of the transfer recording layer, are changed in an image-like manner to form the transferred image, so that these physical property changes are memorized until the transfer process. Moreover, as long as energy that changes the physical properties is not applied after the transfer image forming step, there will be no deterioration in the transferability of the transfer image or one image blur. For this reason, even if the surface smoothness of the transfer medium is low.

It is possible to form an image with high image quality, and it is also possible to transfer the transferred image to a transfer medium without deteriorating the image quality.

Furthermore, when a multicolor image is formed using the transfer recording medium of the present invention, a multicolor transfer image can be formed without making complicated movements of the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium. The transfer recording medium has one layer of Ir on top of the image forming element, which is composed of a core portion containing at least a sensitive component and a coloring material, and a wall material covering the core portion. By changing the conditions for applying the coloring material, it is possible to transfer the core portion containing the desired coloring material to the transfer medium. Therefore, by sequentially changing the conditions for applying multiple energies in a short period of time, it is possible to obtain multicolor transferred images at high speed without making complicated movements of the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium. It is.

Further, in the multicolor image forming method according to the present invention, there is no color shift in one pixel, and the entire image becomes extremely clear.

In addition, in the image forming method according to the present invention, the application of energy in the form of a signal for forming a transferred image and the application of uniform energy for transfer are functionally separated. The conditions for applying energy are relaxed compared to the case where the converted energy must be used as energy for transfer at the same time.

For example, the amount of energy for forming a transferred image only needs to be changed by changing the physical properties of the core part of the image forming element, and the energy for transfer can be uniform energy that is not converted into a signal. It is possible to increase the transfer speed according to the transfer speed to be used, and high-speed recording can be easily realized.

In addition, the thermal response speed of the thermal heads used in conventional thermal transfer recording devices is 1 to 5 mS even for the fastest ones.
If you try to drive at a faster repetition cycle, the temperature will not rise or fall sufficiently within one cycle, resulting in insufficient heating or, conversely, the temperature not being able to drop completely, resulting in the effects of heat accumulation. It appears in the image quality. This was one of the biggest factors hindering speed-up, but if multiple types of energy are used as in the present invention, for example, by combining a thermal head and light irradiation, the physical property that governs the transfer characteristics even if heat is accumulated. In changing the temperature, the effectiveness of the heating state can be determined at the time of light irradiation, so by irradiating light only during a limited time period near the peak temperature, the effect of the temperature drop rate after the peak temperature can be reduced as before. This makes it possible to perform recording operations with a shorter repetition cycle even when using a conventional thermal head, which facilitates high-speed recording.

Furthermore, the image forming method according to the present invention forms a transferred image by applying multiple types of energy, and compared to the conventional case of forming a transferred image using only heat, only one type of energy is required to form the transferred image. Since there are multiple types of light, it is possible to adjust the degree of change in physical properties that form a transferred image in stages, and the intensity of light can be easily adjusted in stages, with a response to one of the multiple types of energy. , it is easy to form an image with halftones.

For example, by setting the intensity or time of light irradiation in three stages and combining it with heating, it becomes possible to express gradations in four stages (three stages + non-heating).

Although it is desired that such control be performed at high speed, the ability to use energy with a quick response such as light also enables high-speed halftone recording.

In the image forming method according to the present invention, the transferred image is formed by changing the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics, but these physical properties are arbitrarily determined depending on the type of transfer recording medium used. For example, in the case of a transfer recording medium in which a transferred image is transferred in a thermally molten state, the temperature may be the melting temperature, softening temperature, or glass transition point.

In the case of a transfer recording medium in which the transferred image is transferred in an adhesive state or in a permeable state to the transfer medium, the viscosity is the same at the same temperature.

Furthermore, in the transfer recording medium of the present invention, since the transfer recording layer is composed of a minute image forming element covered with a wall material, even when the transfer recording layer is heated to soften or melt, the wall material remains intact. This makes it possible to prevent the image forming elements from mixing with each other, resulting in a clear image without bleeding. especially,
This method is highly effective when performing halftone recording or multicolor recording using the color tones of the image forming element.

In the thermal transfer recording medium of the present invention, since the image forming element is covered with a wall material, the size of each image forming element can be made uniform, and each image forming element can be uniformly dispersed on the base material. can do. Therefore, according to the uninvented transfer recording medium,
A clear image with no unevenness can be obtained.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to one drawing.

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view showing an example of a transfer recording medium of the present invention, in which a transfer recording layer 1 consisting of an image forming element 31 is placed on a base material 1.
A is provided. A minute image forming element 31 is attached to the base material 1b with a binder 32. Image forming element 3
1 has a capsule shape consisting of a core part 31a and a wall material 31b, and the core part 3La contains a coloring material and a sensitive component whose physical properties governing transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied. Ru. Therefore, the transfer characteristics of one image forming element 31 change by applying a plurality of types of energy.

Next, an image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention will be explained. First, the second part is about the monochrome image forming method.
This will be explained with reference to Figures a to 2d. The time axes (horizontal axes) of the graphs in FIGS. 2a to 2d correspond to each other. Further, the capsule-shaped image forming element constituting the transfer recording layer contains a polymerization component including a reaction initiator and a crosslinking agent, which will be described later, as a sensitive component.

Fig. 2a shows heating means such as a thermal head from 0 to t3.
This figure shows the rise in surface temperature of the heating element and subsequent temperature drop when the heating element is thermally driven. The transfer recording medium that is in pressure contact with the heating element shows a temperature change as shown in FIG. 2b as the temperature of the heating element changes.

That is, the temperature rises with a time delay of tl, and similarly reaches the maximum temperature at time t4, which is delayed from 3, and thereafter the temperature decreases. The core portion of the image forming element has a glass transition point Tgo, and rapidly softens and decreases viscosity in a temperature range above Tgo. This situation is shown by curve A in FIG. 2C. T at time t2
After reaching go, the viscosity continues to decrease until time t4 when the maximum temperature is reached, and as the temperature decreases, the viscosity increases again and shows a rapid increase until time t6 when it drops to Tgo. In this case, the core portion of the image forming element has basically not undergone any change in physical properties compared to before heating.

If it is heated to a temperature higher than Tgo in the next transfer step, the same viscosity phenomenon as described above will occur. However, as shown in Figure 2d, when heating and light irradiation were performed from time L2, the reaction initiator contained in the core was activated and the temperature rose sufficiently to increase the reaction rate. Then, the reaction initiator acts on the crosslinking agent, an activated crosslinking agent is generated, and the probability of crosslinking into the crosslinkable prepolymer increases dramatically, so that curing progresses.

When heating and light irradiation are performed simultaneously in this manner, the core portion of the image forming element behaves as shown by curve B in FIG. 2C. As the crosslinking reaction progresses, the glass transition point rises and changes from Tgo to Tg' at time t5 when crosslinking ends. This situation is shown in Figure 2d. Therefore, when heated in the next transfer step, there will be a difference in properties between the part that has changed to Tg' and the part that has not changed. So, for example, Tgo<T
When heated to Tr that satisfies r<Tg', a difference is created between the core portion with a reduced viscosity and the core portion with a reduced viscosity, and only the core portion with a reduced viscosity is transferred onto the transfer medium. At this time, Tg'-Tgo is approximately 20'C, although it depends on the temperature stability accuracy of the transfer process.
It's more preferable. In this way, a transfer image can be formed by controlling heating or non-heating according to the image signal and simultaneously irradiating light. Furthermore, if the glass transition point changes, the softening temperature and melting temperature also change in a similar manner, so the softening temperature and melting temperature can be controlled using the fluctuation range of the glass transition point as a guide.

Also, what about the addition in the transfer image forming process? 8. The temperature is also used to speed up the reaction rate at which the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics change, and to ensure that the reaction is stable.

Good results can be obtained by setting the temperature of the image forming element at a temperature of 70° C. or higher, preferably 1 to 80° C. or higher.

With reference to the principle of the image forming method described above, a multicolor image forming method using an uninvented transfer recording medium will be described. 3rd a! Figures i4 to 3d are partial diagrams showing the relationship between an uninvented transfer recording medium and a thermal head, in which thermal energy modulated according to a recording signal is used to change the physical properties of the core part depending on the color tone of the image forming element. It is applied together with optical energy of a +R wavelength.

"Modulation" refers to changing the position where energy is applied according to the image signal, and "together" can mean applying light energy and thermal energy at the same time, or applying light energy and thermal energy separately. It may be given.

The uninvented transfer recording medium 1 is constructed by providing a transfer recording layer 1a on a base film lb. Transfer recording layer 1a
is a distributed layer of capsule-shaped minute image forming elements 31, and the core portion of each image forming element 31 contains coloring materials exhibiting different tones. For example, Figure 3a~
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3d, the core portion of each image forming element tt31 has cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (
Contains either coloring material Y) or black (K). However, the coloring material contained in the core portion of each image forming element 31 is not limited to cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, and any coloring material may be used depending on the purpose. The core portion of each image forming element 31 has one
When light and heat energy is applied in addition to the coloring material,
Contains a sensitive component whose physical properties that govern transfer characteristics change rapidly.

The sensitive component contained in the core portion of each image forming element 31 has wavelength dependence depending on the coloring material contained therein. That is, the core portion of the image forming element 31 containing the yellow coloring material is
When heat and wavelength (Y) light are applied, crosslinking rapidly progresses and hardening occurs. Similarly, the core part of the image forming element 31 containing the magenta coloring material receives heat and wavelength input (M), and the core part of the image forming element 31 containing the cyan coloring material receives heat and wavelength input (M). The core portion of the image forming element 31 containing the light (C) and the black coloring material undergoes crosslinking and hardening when heat and light with a wavelength (K) are applied, respectively. Even when the core portion of the cured image forming element 31 is heated in the next transfer step, the viscosity does not decrease and the core portion is not transferred to the transfer medium.

Heat and light are applied depending on the recorded information.

Now, the image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention is as follows.
The transfer recording medium 1 is stacked on the thermal head 20, and light is irradiated so as to cover the heat generating area of the thermal head 20. The light to be irradiated is sequentially irradiated with wavelengths to which the core portion of the image forming element body 31 reacts. For example, one image forming element 31
If the core contains any of cyan, macenta, and yellow 7 black coloring materials, sequentially irradiate light with wavelengths entering (C), entering (M), entering (Y), and entering (K). .

That is, first, light of wavelength (Y) is irradiated from the transfer recording layer 1a side of the transfer recording medium 1, and at the same time, for example, the heating resistors 20b, 20d, 20e, and 20 of the thermal head 20 are
generate heat f. Then, among the image forming elements 31 containing a yellow coloring material in the core part, the image forming elements 31 to which both heat and wavelength (Y) light are applied (hatched in FIG. 2a) (Hereinafter, the cured image forming element of the core portion is indicated by hatching) is cured 6 Next, as shown in FIG. 3b, a wavelength input (
1 heating resistor 20a, 20.
When e and 20f are made to generate heat, the core portion of the image forming element 31 containing the magenta coloring material, to which the heat and wavelength input light (CM) has been applied, is cured. Furthermore,
As shown in Figures 3C and 3d, one wavelength of light (C) enters,
When a desired heating resistor is heated while being irradiated with light having a wavelength (K), the image forming element 3 is heated with light and heat.
1 is cured, and finally a transfer image is formed on the transfer recording layer 1 by the image forming element 31 that has not been cured. This transferred image is transferred to the transfer medium 10 as shown in FIG. 3e after the wall material is destroyed in the next transfer step. Note that FIG. 3e is shown schematically, and in reality, the wall material is destroyed and the core portion is mainly transferred.

In the transfer process, the transfer recording medium on which the transferred image has been formed is brought into contact with the transfer medium, and the wall material is destroyed by heating from the transfer recording medium or the transfer medium side, thereby selecting the transfer image as the transfer medium. to form an image. Therefore, the heating temperature at this time is determined so that the wall material of the image forming element is destroyed and only the transferred image is selectively transferred with respect to the physical properties that govern the transfer characteristics. Heating during the transfer process is suitable for obtaining durable multicolor images with excellent storage stability. Further, in order to perform the transfer efficiently, it is also effective to apply pressure at the same time. This is particularly effective when applying pressure to a transfer medium with low surface smoothness. Furthermore, if the physical property that governs the transfer characteristics is the viscosity at room temperature, transfer can be performed only by applying pressure.

Moreover, 71G, which is heated during the transfer process, is suitable for obtaining a solid multicolor image that is stable and has long shelf life.

In the embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 3a to 3d, the entire area of the thermal head 2o is irradiated with light, and the thermal head 20
Although a method of forming an image by selectively heating a heating resistor of the transfer recording medium has been shown, a certain part of the transfer recording medium is uniformly heated (in terms of the thermal head 20 shown in FIG. 3a, the total heat generation is (When the resistor generates heat), a multicolor image can be similarly formed by selectively irradiating light.

That is, light energy of a wavelength that is modulated according to the recording signal and selected by the coloring material contained in the core portion of the image forming element whose physical properties governing the transfer characteristics are to be changed is applied together with thermal energy.

To explain with the example shown in FIG. 3a, one heating resistor 20b,
Instead of generating heat in 20d, 20e, and 2Of, the thermal head 20 uniformly generates heat as a whole, and the heating resistor 2
0b, 20d.

Wavelength (Y) light is irradiated to positions corresponding to 20e and 20f. Even when irradiating light with a wavelength (M), the entire thermal head 20 is made to generate heat, and the heating resistors 20a, 2
Light is irradiated to positions corresponding to 0e and 20f. Wavelength input (
C).

The same applies when irradiating light with a wavelength (K).In the above explanation, a thermal head was used as a means to uniformly heat the entire area for convenience, but uniform heating such as a heat roll or a heating plate means can be used.

In the image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention described above, halftone recording is performed, for example, as follows.

That is, as described above, according to the present invention, basically a plurality of colors (for example, Y, M, and C) are printed for each recording pixel.

It is possible to express eight colors: R, G, B, B, W). Therefore, by combining these, so-called full-color expression is also possible. That is, (a) to (2) shown in FIG.
), the trix 30 is composed of a plurality of pixels 30a.
Pseudo-halftone expression is possible depending on how many recording pixels are arranged in the image, so by applying this principle to eight colors, vivid full-color expression is possible.

Many such methods have been proposed, and some of them have been put into practical use. method, thermal recording method, etc./
Basically, any halftone recording method that can be applied is applicable.

Furthermore, as described above, it is possible to express multiple levels of intermediate tones with one recording pixel, and it is also possible to express multiple tones by distributing this pixel into a matrix, resulting in a high-resolution, high-quality image.

In the above explanation, as shown in Fig. 3e, the core portion of each transferred element body is discretely separated on the transfer medium (recording paper, etc.), but this is only for the purpose of explanation. In fact, the core B8 of the transferred element expands two-dimensionally on the surface of the transferred medium, and as a result, in the example of FIG. 3, it corresponds to each heating element of the thermal head. to form each pixel correctly.

Furthermore, in the method for forming a transferred image described above, an example was shown in which the core portion of the image forming element has a different spectral sensitivity for each color, but this characteristic is not necessarily essential to the present invention. If two types of sensitive components that react to light and heat with different temperature characteristics are used as sensitive components, they can be differentiated by the heat energy available even though they have the same spectral characteristics.

In other words, an image forming element containing a temperature-dependent sensitive component is used, the image forming element is uniformly irradiated with light, and the thermal energy is changed depending on the recorded information and the coloring material contained in the image forming element. You can also add it.

That is, as shown in Figure @5, an image forming element B having a core portion that is exposed to light and hardens at a temperature T1 or higher and a temperature T2 (>T
l) A transfer recording medium is used in which the image forming element R having a core portion that is cured by exposure to light forms a distributed layer. Base body B is blue.

Let the element R be red. To explain according to FIG. 3, at the same time when nine people (B R) having wavelength components to which element bodies B and R are sensitive are irradiated, element B.

In order to harden both R1, the temperature needs to be set to 12 or more, so the heating resistor 20C generates heat for a period of tQ-t2, as shown in FIG. 5C, and heats the elements B and R to a temperature of t2 or more. On the other hand, in order to harden only B, it is necessary to heat the temperature to more than Tl and less than T2.
The heating resistors 20a and 20d generate heat and harden the corresponding element body B.

After doing this, the uncured core portion is transferred to the transfer medium IO to obtain an image. In this example, the light (R) portion and the black (
A two-color image of portions B and R) is obtained.

In the embodiment described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5, an example was shown in which a multicolor image is obtained using the transfer recording medium of the present invention. It is also possible to obtain a monochrome image by using one type of coloring material.

In this case, there is no need to change the sensitive component to correspond to the coloring material.

As the transfer recording medium used in the present invention, any transfer recording medium can be used as long as it is capable of forming a transferred image by changing physical properties using a plurality of types of energy. For example, a transfer recording medium that changes physical properties such as the above-mentioned melting temperature, softening point, glass transition point, and viscosity includes a transfer recording medium that contains a coloring component and a polymerized component as a sensitive component in the core portion of the pixel forming element body. By polymerizing the polymerized component, the melting temperature, etc. of the core portion of that portion increases, and the core portion that is not polymerized forms a transferred image. The core part of the image forming element forming the transfer recording layer contains a sensitive component and a coloring component, and the sensitive component includes, for example, light and heat.
It is preferable to use a material that starts a reaction of changing physical properties when irradiated with the energy of a species, or a material that rapidly changes the reaction rate of changing physical properties.

The polymerization component is a component that causes a polymerization reaction or a crosslinking reaction, and representative examples thereof include the following monomers or polymers (a) to (c).

(a) Cross-linkable prepolymer (b) Polymerizable prepolymer and cross-linking agent (c) Ti-combinable hexamer or oligomer cross-linkable prepolymer such as polyhinyl cinnamate, P-methoxycinnamic acid-succinic acid half ester, Examples include polyvinylstyrylpyridium and polymethylhinylketone.

The main synthetic prepolymers are Epoquine resin, unsaturated polyester resin, polyurethane resin, polyvinyl alcohol resin, polyamide resin, polyacrylic acid resin, and polymaleic acid resin.

Examples include silicone resin.

As a crosslinking agent, ethylene glycol diacrylate,
Examples include propylene glycol diacrylate, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1.4-butanediol diacrylate, and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide.

Methyl acrylate as a polymerizable monomer.

Methyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl acrylate,
Benzyl acrylate, acrylamide, methacrylamide, N-methylol acrylamide, N-diacetone acrylamide.

Examples include styrene acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, ethylene glycol diacrylate, butylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1,4-butanediol diacrylate, and 1,6-hexacyol dimethacrylate.

Photopolymerizable oligos include diethylene glycol diacrylate, triethylene glycol diacrylate,
Examples include polyethylene glycol acrylate, polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate, polypropylene glycol cyacrylate, and the like. Further, when a polymerizable polymer or olicomer is used, a polymer such as cellulose acetate succinate or methyl methacrylate-hydroxyethyl methanelylate copolymer may be included in order to improve layer-forming properties.

1 as necessary to cause the reaction of the polymerization component.
A reaction initiator is added. Examples of initiators that act with light energy include benzophenone, benzyl, benzoin ethyl ether, 4-N, N-
Nocarphonyl compounds such as dimethylamine-4'-methoxypennephenone, organic sulfur compounds such as dibutyl sulfide, pencil 0 disulfide, and decylphenyl sulfide, and peroxide tetrachlorides such as di-tert-butyl peroxide and benzyl peroxide. carbon, silver bromide, norogen compounds such as 2-naphthalenesulfonyl chloride,
Examples include nitrogen compounds such as azobisisobutyronitrile and benzenediazonium chloride.

Examples of substances that act as reaction initiators upon receiving thermal energy are methyl hydroperoxide, t-butyl hydroperoxide, di- and monobutyl peroxide, t-butylcumyl peroxide, peroxyacetic acid, and peroxybenzoic acid.

Acetyl peroxide, pucopionyl peroxide, imbutyryl peroxide, acetone peroxide, methyl ethyl ketone peroxide, diazoaminobenzene, dimethyl-2.2'
-Azoisobutyralade, diphenyl sulfide, benzoyl disulfide and the like.

In particular, for sensitive components that receive both light and thermal energy to form a transferred image, the reaction rate is increased by the reaction between the reaction initiator and the polymerization component, which act in response to the above-mentioned light energy. The types of reaction initiator and polymerization component may be selected so as to provide a highly dependent combination.

For example, a combination of a polymerizable prepolymer with a functional group such as a copolymer of methacrylic acid ester or acrylic acid ester, a photosensitive crosslinking agent such as tetraethylene glycol diacrylate, and a reaction initiator such as benzophenone or Michael's ketone is used. Can be mentioned.

The coloring material is a component contained in the core part in order to form an optically recognizable image, and various pigments and dyes are used as appropriate. Examples of such pigments and dyes include inorganic pigments such as carfozo black, yellow lead, molybdenum red, and red iron.
/X Nza Yellow, Benzidine Yellow, Brilliant Carmine 6B, Lake Red C, Permanent Ret F
Examples include organic pigments such as 5R, phthalocyanine blue, Victoria blue lake, and fast sky blue, and coloring agents such as leuco dyes and phthalocyanine dyes.

In addition, hydroquinone, P
-methoxyphenol, P-tert-butyricatechol 2,2'-methylene-bis(4-ethyl-6-ter
A stabilizer such as t-butylphenol) may also be included.

Furthermore, P-nitroaniline, 1,2-benzoanthraquinone, P-P'-dimethylaminopennephenol, anthraquinone, 2,8-dinitroaniline Michler's ketone, etc. are added to increase the energy activation of the reaction initiator. A sensitizer may be included in the core.

Materials used for the wall of the image forming element include gelatin and cellulose such as gum arabic, ethyl cellulose, and nitrocellulose.

Nylon, Tetron, polyurethane, polycarbonate, maleic anhydride copolymer, vinyldene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene.

Examples include polymers such as polystyrene and PET.

When forming a multicolor image using an uninvented transfer recording medium, the image forming element constituting the transfer recording layer needs to have wavelength dependence depending on the type of coloring material contained in the core portion. As mentioned before, when the transfer recording layer is composed of image forming elements of n types of colors, light of different wavelengths for each color exhibited by the image forming elements, that is, n types of different wavelengths. The distribution layer of the image-forming element is composed of a combination of sensitive components whose reaction speed changes rapidly. As a combination of such sensitizing components, for example, N -CH=C as a sensitizer.
Two-color recording is made possible by using one that is sensitive to light at about 400 to 500 nm, such as H-Q-, cH3 H3, and one that is sensitive to about 480 to 600 nm, such as Irizushimori r'12.

In this case, although the wavelength range of 480 to 500 nm overlaps in the photosensitive range of the two, it is also a region of low sensitivity, and by appropriately selecting a light source, it is possible to almost completely separate the two.

Further, by combining these with an azo compound sensitive to 340 to 400 nm or a halogen compound sensitive to 340 to 400 nm, it is possible to use a three-color image forming element, making it possible to develop full-color recording.

The transfer recording medium used in the present invention can be manufactured, for example, as follows.

So-called microcapsules, which are minute particles coated with a wall material, are formed from components such as a polymerizable prepolymer having a functional group, a photosensitive crosslinking agent, a reaction initiator, a sensitizer, a stabilizer, and a coloring material.

Furthermore, after thoroughly mixing the image forming element with a binder such as polyester resin in a solvent such as ethyl methyl ketone or ethylene glycol niacetate, Henlevent coating is performed on a film such as polyimide, and further heated at 80'C for 3 minutes. A desired recording medium can be obtained by drying and removing the solvent.

The above example shows a case where the melting temperature, etc. of the part to which multiple types of energy are applied becomes high, but as a transfer recording medium, a sensitive component that softens or has a low melting temperature, etc. upon receiving multiple types of energy is used. When used, the energized portion forms a transferred image. Such sensitive components include: - polymethyl vinyl ketone, skewered polyvinylphenyl ketone, - strong polymers of methyl vinyl ketone or methyl isopropenyl ketone and ethylene, styrene, etc.

・Copolymer of ethylene and carbon monoxide, ・Vinyl chloride,
Copolymer of acrylate etc. and carbon monoxide, 1.l? ribinylphenylketone, polyamide-imide.

e-polyamide, φ polysulfone, etc.

Next, several examples of processes for the multicolor image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the multicolor image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention. That is, the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 selectively drives a single heating means provided with a plurality of heating elements in accordance with a single image signal, and at least places a heating element at the position of the driven heating element.
This method is used to form a multicolored transfer image by irradiating different light tones depending on the tone of the image to be recorded. , an ink donor film (IDF), which is a multicolor transfer recording medium in which a transfer recording layer with an increased melting temperature or softening point is disposed on the film; 2 is a supply roll wound with IDFI; 3 is a supply roll that directs light to IDFI; A light irradiation means such as a low-pressure mercury lamp, a high-pressure mercury lamp, a metal halide, a fluorescent lamp, a xenon lamp, etc. is used to irradiate the images, and 4 is a heating means such as a thermal head that generates heat pulses by a control circuit 5 based on an image signal. It is also possible to use a transfer recording medium of an energizing type in which the transfer recording medium is energized to generate heat; in this case, 4 is an energizing head that generates an electric pulse for energizing. The heating means includes a plurality of heating elements (for example, when the heating means is a thermal head, it refers to a heating resistor shown in FIG. 2a; when the heating means is a current-carrying head, it refers to an electrode). There is. The heating elements may be arranged in a single row, in a matrix, or in multiple rows.

Further, the heating elements may be each separated, or may be a continuous rod-shaped current-generating heat generating material separated by a plurality of electrodes.

Reference numeral 8.9 is a transfer means, 8 is a heat roll having a heater 7 inside, and 9 is a transfer medium 10 such as plain paper, an OHP sheet, etc., which is arranged opposite to the heat roll 8, and an IDF.
A pinch roller 11 pinches and presses the IDF, and a take-up roll 11 winds up the IDF after transfer recording. A recorded image 12 is formed on the transfer medium 10 and separated from the IDF.

Now, the IDFl sent out from the supply roll 2 is given a heat pulse based on the image signal by the thermal head 4. At the same time that the thermal head 4 applies a heat pulse to the IDFI, light of different wavelengths is sequentially irradiated from the lamp 3 in synchronization with the heat pulse based on the (color) image signal. The principle of the transfer image forming process is as explained in FIGS. 3a to 3d. The lamp 3 shown in the figure is shown schematically, and it is preferable to irradiate light with different wavelengths using a plurality of lamps.

A transferred image is formed on the transfer recording layer 1a by the thermal head 4 and the lamp 3, and this transferred image is transferred to the transfer medium 10 by destroying the wall material of the image forming element with the heat roll 8 and pinch roller 9. .

In this case, as described above, it is basically one selective heating means such as a thermal head that is controlled based on the image signal, and the control circuit can therefore be simple. As a result, it becomes easy to realize a compact and highly reliable apparatus and to form stable images.

It is also possible to control both heating and light irradiation according to the image signal. Irradiate light to the location.

In other words, in the examples shown in Figures i3a to 3d, the light is uniformly irradiated, but when both heating and light irradiation are controlled, the light irradiation position is controlled so as to match the heat generation position of the thermal head. Ru. In this way, when a wavelength-dependent sensitive component is used as a sensitive component contained in the core part of the image forming element, 1
The wavelength of the light is sequentially changed according to the color exhibited by the image forming element, and when a temperature-dependent component is used as a sensitive component contained in the core of the image forming element, the color exhibited by one image forming element is changed. Change the heating temperature accordingly.

When both heating and light irradiation are controlled as described above, it is advantageous to increase the contrast of changes in physical properties of a transferred image, and it becomes easy to obtain a sharp image. Furthermore, since the influence on the image when one side deteriorates is halved, it is easy to obtain a highly reliable device.

In the above description of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the formation of a multicolor image has been described. However, if the transfer recording layer 1a contains one type of coloring material, the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 can form a monochrome image. It is also possible. In this case, the wavelength of the light emitted from the lamp 3 does not need to be changed.

When a multicolor image is formed using the transfer recording medium of the present invention, one image forming apparatus may be provided with a plurality of steps for forming a transfer image. In other words, as shown in FIG. 7, the heating means and the light irradiation means are used as one transfer image forming unit, and the transfer image forming section is formed by arranging a plurality of the transfer image forming units, and the transfer image forming section is formed by the transfer image forming section. A means for transferring a transferred image onto a recording medium is provided, and each transferred image forming unit forms a transferred image of one color. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the yellow process is performed by the lamp 3Y as a light irradiation means and the thermal head 4Y as a heating means, the magenta process is performed by a lamp 3M and a thermal head 4M, and the cyan process is performed by a thermal head 4C of the lamp 3C. In the process, a transferred image is formed sequentially by the lamp 3 and the thermal head 4K, and after passing through the black process and forming a multicolor transfer image, the image is transferred to the transfer medium 10 to obtain a multicolor image. .

An image forming method that includes a plurality of transfer image forming steps can be an advantageous means for increasing speed. Particularly when using a heating means such as a thermal head in response to an image signal, it is necessary for one image forming element to repeat heating and cooling at high speed in order to form an image at high speed. Assume now that the time required to heat and cool the image forming element is 4 m5ec. There is only one transfer image forming step, in which heating and cooling are performed four times for the above-mentioned Y, M, C,
If the process is divided into 2 processes, it will take at least 4 m5 ec to process 1 scanning line, or X4=16 mSec. On the other hand, there are four transfer image forming steps, and they are located sufficiently far apart from each other so that there is no thermal influence, and these are Y, M, and C, corresponding to the above example.

If the role of forming the transferred image of K is shared, 4mS e
It is possible to process l scanning lines in c, because the processing is done in parallel. In this way, high-speed processing is easy and a high-speed multicolor recording device can be obtained.

On the other hand, when the above-mentioned one-transfer image forming step is used, in principle, multicolor formation for each image is performed at one location, so that color shift is less likely to occur and a clear multicolor image can be obtained.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for carrying out another embodiment of the multicolor image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, light irradiation is controlled based on image signals and heat is uniformly applied. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 3a, one heating resistor 20b is used.

20d, 20e, and 20f, the entire thermal head 20 is uniformly heated, and the heating resistor 2
Wavelength (Y) light is irradiated to positions corresponding to 0b, 20d, 20e, and 20f. When irradiating light with wavelength (M), the light is irradiated to positions corresponding to the heating resistors 20a, 20e, and 20f. The same applies to the case of irradiating light with a wavelength in (C) or a wavelength in (K).

Therefore, 14 is a heater that uniformly heats the IDFI, and may be a heat roller like 8, or a heater arranged on a ceramic base material. Of course, a temperature sensor and a feedback heater control circuit may be provided for the purpose of highly accurate control of heating temperature. On the other hand, 15 is a lamp array that irradiates light by a control circuit based on the image signal, and is selected depending on the spectral sensitivity of the sensitive component contained in the core.
These include ED arrays, laser arrays, and liquid crystal shutter arrays. Furthermore, a laser scanning system may be used instead of the lamp array, and in the case of sensitivity in the ultraviolet region, an ultraviolet lamp array or a method of scanning ultraviolet light with an optical system may be used.

In this case, since the light that is basically controlled based on the image signal has excellent responsiveness and can be made less diffused, it is easy to obtain high speed and high image quality.

The formation of a multicolor image has been described above, but if the transfer recording layer 1a contains one type of coloring material, it is also possible to form a monochrome image with the apparatus shown in FIG. 8.

As an apparatus to which the multicolor image forming method using the transfer recording medium of the present invention is applied, a configuration in which a plurality of recording units each having a transfer image forming step and a transfer step are combined is also possible. In other words, the heating means, the light irradiation means, and the transfer means are treated as one recording unit, and a plurality of these recording units are provided, and transfer image formation and transfer are repeated for each recording unit, so that the transferred images are superimposed on the transfer medium. It is also possible to form an image together.
To explain this with reference to the drawings, as shown in FIG. 9, the first recording unit (I) forms a two-color image in this case, and then the second unit (11) further transfers two different color images to create a multicolor image. Get the image.

Of course, a one-color image may be formed by one recording unit, and the first recording unit I may form a Y-color image, for example.

It is conceivable that after forming three-color images of M and C, a black image is formed in the second recording unit II.

In this way, images are formed for each recording unit.

An image forming method in which transfer is repeated is advantageous in increasing speed and improving color separation. For example, it is equipped with a unit for recording YMC, and can transfer an MMC (7) image to a transfer medium, and in the next unit, a solid black transfer image is independently formed, and the black transfer image is superimposed on the MMC image. transcribe.

On the other hand, when forming a multicolor image in one unit consisting of one transfer image forming process and one transfer process as described above,
In principle, the factors that cause color misalignment in the transfer process are small, so 1
A high-quality multicolor image with small color shift can be obtained. Furthermore, since the conveyance path length of the transferred image can be configured to be short, it is easy to obtain a high-speed recording device.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, light irradiation can be performed after heating, or conversely, heating can be performed after light irradiation. The heating and light irradiation surfaces may be in the same direction or may be in the opposite direction from that shown. Further, in addition to pigments and dyes, the image forming element may be made to exhibit a color tone by using a coloring agent or a color developer that causes the coloring agent to develop color. The coloring reaction may be carried out in the transfer image forming step, or may be carried out during or after the transfer step. Further, a color developer may be added to the transfer recording medium, which develops color by reaction with the transferred color former. Examples of such color formers include leuco dyes, diazo groups, and the like.

On the other hand, when coloring materials such as pigments and dyes that do not use color reaction are included, they generally have excellent pre-recording medium storage stability and post-recording image storage stability, as well as high-quality printing with high color tone reproduction accuracy. It is easy to obtain color images.

Example 1 A microcapsule-shaped image forming element was prepared by the method shown below using the components shown in Table 1 as the core part.

In Table 1, 10 g of the ingredients shown in Table 1 were first mixed with paraffin oil, and mixed with a surfactant such as a cationic or nonionic surfactant with an HLB value of at least 10, 1 g of gelatin, and gum arabic Ig, and 200 m fL of water. and further stirred with a homomixer at 8000 to 1101OOOrp. Next, a microcapsule slurry is obtained by adding NH40H (ammonia) to make the pH above 11,
After that, solid-liquid separation was carried out using a touch filter, and 35% was removed using a vacuum dryer.
It was dried at 110°C for 110 hours to obtain a microcapsule-shaped image forming element. This image-forming element was a microcapsule in which the components listed in Table 1 mixed with paraffin oil were coated with gelatin and gum arabic, and had a particle size of 7 to 15 JL and an average particle size of 10°.

The resulting image-forming element was placed on a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film having a thickness of 6 ml using an adhesive made of polyester resin to form a transfer recording layer.

The transfer recording medium 1 thus created is wound into a roll and incorporated into the apparatus as a supply roll 2.

Thermal head 4 is an A-4 size line type with 8 dots/mm and has rows of heating elements arranged at the edges.
The base material side of the transfer recording medium was placed in contact with the heat generating resistor so that it was pressed against the heat generating resistor by the tension of the transfer recording medium l.

A high-pressure mercury lamp of approximately 2 KW was placed 2 cm away from the transfer recording medium at the opposing location.

Next, the heat generation of the thermal head is controlled fJH according to the image signal. In this case, since we are dealing with a zero image forming element whose glass transition point increases when light and heat are applied, negative recording is performed. That is, the thermal head is controlled such that it does not energize when the mark signal (black) is present, but energizes and generates heat when it is not the mark signal No. 243 (white). The superelectric energy during this heat generation is 0.8w/dotX2
．． It is 0m5ec. In this way, the thermal head is controlled and driven according to the image signal in the manner described above while uniformly irradiating light with a high-pressure mercury lamp, and the transfer recording medium is transferred to the stepping morph and the drive rubber roll in synchronization with a slight return cycle of 5m5ec/n1ne. It was transported by

After forming the transferred image in this way, the surface smoothness is 10 to 30 seconds. Place one sheet of paper over the transfer image surface.

It was conveyed by being sandwiched between heat rolls and pinch rolls. The heat roll has a 300W heater inside and the surface is 2mm.
The surface is coated with 90% aluminum roll coated with thick silicone rubber.
The heater was controlled to maintain the temperature at ~100°C. The pinch roll is a silicone rubber roll with a hardness of 50' and the suppression is 1 to 1.5.
K g /Cm2. In this way, the image obtained on plain paper was clear, and a high-quality image with good fixability could be obtained.

Example 2 A microcapsule-shaped image forming element was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 using the components shown in Tables 2 to 5 as a core part. As shown in FIGS. 10a and 1Ob, this image forming element 31 was dispersed in a binder 32 and provided on a base material 1b made of polyimide having a thickness of 6 hi, to form a transfer recording layer 1a. The particle size of the image forming element 31 constituting the transfer recording layer 1a was 8 to 12 mm. Transfer recording medium 1 created in this way
was wound into a roll and incorporated into the device as a supply roll.

The sensitizers or photoinitiators in the image forming element shown in Tables 2 to 5 are about 280 to 340 nm, about 340 nm, and about 340 nm, in order from Table 2.
~380 nm, approximately 380-450 nm, approximately 450-
It absorbs light in the 600 nm band and starts one reaction. The colors used during image formation are, in order, black (BK), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and magenta (M).

Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Next, as shown in Fig. 11, the thermal head 4 is a line type of A-4 size with 8 dots/mm and has heating resistor rows arranged at the edge part. The transfer recording medium 1 is placed so that the base material 1b side of the transfer recording medium 1 is in contact with the heating resistor.
It was made so that it was pressed against the heating resistor by the tension of.

- High color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3 in the area facing the perfect heat resistor
d, fluorescent lamp 3c, black light 3e, for diano copying machine;
! The original lamp 3f was placed. In particular, a sharp cut filter L-38 is installed in front of the fluorescent lamp 3c for the diazo copier.
18, and a sharp cut filter L-I A I 9 was placed in front of the Plancklite 3e in order to obtain desired spectral characteristics corresponding to the image forming elements of each color.

FIG. 12 shows the spectral characteristics of the light source in this example. The fluorescent lamp with the spectral characteristics shown in graph a is a fluorescent lamp for a diazo copying machine, and the phosphor is Eu2+ activated (S rMg
) 2P207 was used. A high color rendering green fluorescent lamp is used as the fluorescent lamp with the spectral characteristics shown in graph b, and the phosphor is as follows:
Tb3+ activated (La, Ce, Tb)203 ・0.
2S i02 0.9F205 was used. A fluorescent lamp manufactured by Main 2 was used as the fluorescent lamp exhibiting the characteristics of C and d.

In this way, the heat generation of the thermal head 4 is controlled according to the image signal. In this case, negative recording is performed to handle the transferred R layer whose glass transition temperature increases when exposed to light and heat. That is, the thermal head 4 is controlled such that it does not energize when there is a mark signal, but energizes and generates heat when there is no mark signal. The energy applied to this heating seed is 0.8 w/dot x2.0
It is m5ec.

Next, a process until a color image is obtained according to image signals corresponding to yellow, magenta, cyan, and black will be explained. First, the heat generating resistor corresponding to the yellow of the image signal is not energized, and the part corresponding to the white of the image signal is energized.
At the same time as energizing m5eC, uniformly irradiate the fluorescent lamp 3C for the diazo copying machine. The irradiation time was 4m5eC. After 1 m5 ec has passed after the completion of irradiation and reading, the heating resistor corresponding to the magenta of both signals is not energized, and the part corresponding to the white of the image signal is energized for 2 m5 ec, and at the same time, the high color rendering green fluorescent lamp 3d is uniformly turned on. was irradiated. The irradiation time is 4 msec as in the case of yellow. Similarly, the formation of latent images in all four colors is completed by irradiating the black light 3e for cyan and the health line lamp 3f for black. In the manner described above, the thermal head is controlled and driven according to the image signals of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, and the stepping motor and heat roll (not shown) move the transfer recording medium 1 in synchronization with the green cycle of 20 m5ec/ins. It was transported by 8. After the transfer image was formed in this manner, a recording paper 10, which is a plain paper with a surface smoothness of 10 to 30 seconds, was placed on the transfer image surface and conveyed while being sandwiched between a heat roll 8 and a pinch roll 9. The heat roll 8 contained a 300 W heater 7 and was an aluminum roll whose surface was coated with 2 mm thick silicone rubber, and the heater 7 was controlled so as to maintain the surface at 90 to 100°C. The pinch roll 9 is a silicone rubber roll with a hardness of 50' and has a suppression of 1 to 1.5 Kg/am''.The full-color image obtained on plain paper in this way has no color shift, has high color saturation, is clear, and has excellent fixing properties. We were able to obtain good high-quality images.

[Effects of the present invention]

As mentioned above, in the present invention, since a transfer recording medium whose properties change rapidly when multiple energies are applied simultaneously is used, only heat that is affected by the environmental temperature as in conventional methods is used. Compared to a method using a transfer recording medium whose characteristics can be changed only by the method or light energy, this method has higher environmental stability and makes it possible to consistently obtain high-definition images. Furthermore, for this reason, the storage stability of the transfer recording medium and the storage stability of recorded images have been improved.

For example, in a method that uses only heat, the recording speed may be controlled by the thermal responsiveness of the system, or the energy necessary for image formation may not be transferred using only one energy source. In contrast to the conventional method, which requires a large amount of time to apply energy to the medium, the present invention is suitable for high-speed recording because it controls multiple energies.

Furthermore, since a transferred image is formed using a plurality of types of energy, it is easy to adjust the process of physical property change in forming a transferred image in stages, thereby enabling halftone recording.

Furthermore, the method of forming a multicolor image according to the present invention is as follows.

By continuously irradiating light with different wavelengths in a short period of time, it is possible to form multicolor transfer images. In contrast, in the multicolor image forming method of the present invention, it is not necessary to make complicated movements of the transfer recording medium or the recording medium, and a multicolor image can be obtained at high speed.

In addition, since the process of forming a transferred image and the process of transferring it are independent, the conditions suitable for transferring the transferred image to the transfer medium in a high-quality and stable manner can be determined independently of the conditions for forming the transferred image. Can be set to Therefore, the transfer medium is of course plain paper,
It is possible to obtain high-quality images even when using a wide range of transfer media such as paper with low surface smoothness or transparent range. At the same time, it is also possible to obtain excellent fixing properties.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an example of the transfer recording medium of the present invention, and FIGS. 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d show transfer image formation when a transfer image is formed using light and thermal energy. Figures 3a, 3b, 3c, illustrating the principle of
Figures 3d and 5a are partial views showing the relationship between the transfer recording medium of the present invention and the thermal head, and Figures 3e and 5b are partial views showing the relationship between the transfer recording medium of the present invention and the medium to be transferred. , FIG. 84 is a diagram showing an example of a method for realizing halftone expression in the image forming method of the present invention, and FIG. 5C is a diagram showing a drive timing chart. FIG. 6, FIG. 7, FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. 11 are schematic views showing embodiments of the present invention, respectively. FIG. 10a is a plan view of image forming elements arranged on a support, FIG. 1Ob is a side view of the transfer recording medium of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing characteristics. 1 -------1 transfer recording medium 2-------1 supply roll 3--------Lamp 4--Thermal head 5------1 control circuit 7-- ---Heater 8 -1--Heat roller 9--------Pinch roller 10------1 recording paper 11--1 take-up roll 12--1--Recorded image 14 ----1 heater 15 ---1-- lamp array 17 ----1 lighting control circuit 18 --- sharp cut filter 19 ---
---Sharp cut filter 31 ------One image forming element 32 ------Binder Kurisan Kasumi point jf piece J Yoin 9

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Applying at least one type of energy among the plurality of types of energy in correspondence with recorded information to a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose physical properties governing transfer characteristics change when multiple types of energy are applied. An image forming method comprising the steps of forming a transferred image by applying the plurality of types of energy under certain conditions, and transferring the transferred image to a transfer medium. (2) The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the step of transferring the transferred image to the transfer medium applies either heat or pressure, or both heat and pressure.