Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
347213000 | Having an intermediate medium for transferring ink | 31 |
20080266374 | PRINTER AND INK SHEET - A printer transfers to one image formation area a plurality of single colors of ink repeatedly arranged in a longitudinal direction of the ink sheet, to thus produce in an image formation area of an intermediate transfer sheet a transfer image formed as a result of lamination of single color images, and also transfers the transfer image of the intermediate transfer sheet to a subject to be printed, thereby producing a desired image on the subject. During the course of a first single color of ink C being transferred from the ink sheet to an image formation area of an intermediate transfer sheet, to thus produce a single color image in the first color on the intermediate transfer sheet, a position mark is transferred by use of a black ink area provided at a widthwise edge of an area of the first single color of ink of the ink sheet and outside the image formation area of the intermediate transfer sheet. | 10-30-2008 |
20090015647 | TWO-SIDE THERMAL PRINTER - Methods of, and apparatus for, two-sided thermal printing comprising direct and/or thermal transfer print means are provided. In one embodiment, a combined direct thermal and thermal transfer printer and related media are disclosed wherein direct thermal printing is provided for on a first media side, and thermal transfer printing is provided on a second media side. In other embodiments, various two-sided thermal transfer printers and media are disclosed wherein thermal transfer printing is provided for on first and second media sides through use of, inter alia, a one- and/or a two-sided thermal transfer ribbon. | 01-15-2009 |
20090195633 | METHOD OF FORMING IMAGE BY THERMAL TRANSFER - A method of forming an image, containing superposing a heat-sensitive transfer sheet on a heat-sensitive transfer image-receiving sheet, and applying thermal energy from a side of a heat-resistant lubricating layer described below of the heat-sensitive transfer sheet, to form a thermally transferred image, | 08-06-2009 |
20110007122 | COLORING COMPOSITION, THERMAL TRANSFER RECORDING INK SHEET, THERMAL TRANSFER RECORDING METHOD, COLOR TONER, INKJET INK, COLOR FILTER, AND ARYLIDENE-PYRAZOLONE DYE - An arylidene-pyrazolone dye of the following formula (1): | 01-13-2011 |
20110032321 | TRANSFER MEDIUM MANUFACTURING METHOD AND TRANSFER MEDIUM - A transfer medium manufacturing method which manufactures a transfer medium in which a color material capable of being transferred to a target is attached to a base material, includes attaching first liquid containing the color material to the base material to form a colored layer, and attaching second liquid containing resin on the first liquid attached to the base material during the step of attaching the first liquid before the first liquid is dried, thereby forming a resin layer and forming a colored resin layer where the first liquid and the second liquid are mixed with each other. | 02-10-2011 |
20110122214 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PRINTING APPARATUS - A printing apparatus including a head holding unit movably configured to hold a thermal head so that the thermal head can be in a pressing state pressing against a platen and in a separated state separated from the platen, a conveyance mechanism configured to convey an ink ribbon and a recording sheet which are put on each other to a recording region between the thermal head and the platen, a reflection surface provided on the head holding unit, and a ribbon sensor configured to detect a marker applied on the ink ribbon, the ribbon sensor being provided on an opposite side to the reflection surface across a path of the ink ribbon which has passed through the recording region and been peeled from the recording sheet. The ribbon sensor includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The reflection surface is configured so that light incident from the light emitting element reaches the light receiving element in both the separated state and the pressing state. | 05-26-2011 |
20120056963 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A printing apparatus includes an ink ribbon on which a plurality of color inks are arranged frame-sequentially, a printing unit configured to be able to print by a predetermined length by transferring the plurality of color inks onto roll paper by one cycle of the ink ribbon, and a print control unit configured to control the printing apparatus to successively print two calendar sheets in case that the printing apparatus is instructed to print a calendar sheet having a length larger than the predetermined length. The calendar sheet includes an image area corresponding to the predetermined length and a date area having a length not larger than substantially 0.5 times of the predetermined length. The print control unit controls the printing apparatus to rotate, through 180°, one of the two calendar sheets to be successively printed, and print. | 03-08-2012 |
20120056964 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND PROGRAM - An image forming apparatus includes: a transport unit that transports a recording medium; a thermal transfer sheet that has an ink layer, and a protective material layer thermally transferred onto the recording medium to form a protective layer; a reforming sheet that has a printing opening portion for causing the ink layer and the protective material layer to come into contact with a surface of the recording medium, and a surface property reforming portion for reforming surface properties of the protective layer; and a thermal head that heats and causes the surface property reforming portion to come into pressing contact with the recording medium through the thermally transferred protective material layer, wherein a temperature limitation area is set in an outer peripheral portion of an area where the surface properties are reformed, and heating of the surface property reforming portion in the temperature limitation area is restricted. | 03-08-2012 |
20120176460 | PRINTING DEVICE AND PRINTING METHOD - The present invention provides a printing device which provides high printing quality. The printing device includes: an image forming section which has a thermal head | 07-12-2012 |
20120268545 | RIBBON CAPABLE OF ENHANCING CUTTING PRECISION - A ribbon includes at least one dye region, at least one separating region and at least one recognition dye region. Each of the dye regions includes a plurality of dye zones. The separating region is formed on a side of the dye region for separating different dye regions. The recognition dye region is formed on the separating region or formed within a range covered by the corresponding dye region. A thermal print head of a thermal sublimation printer transfers the dye region and the recognition dye region of the ribbon onto a print medium, so as to form an image area and a recognition mark on the print medium, correspondingly. A cutting mechanism of the thermal sublimation printer is used for cutting the print medium when a sensor of the thermal sublimation printer senses the recognition mark. | 10-25-2012 |
20130286138 | SYSTEM FOR MEASURING RIBBON TENSION - A ribbon includes a substrate film, wherein the film comprises a tensionable material; and an ink disposed on the ribbon. A length of the ribbon includes portions that have been tensioned to provide a code readable from the ribbon by measuring the tension over the length of the ribbon. | 10-31-2013 |
20140078235 | REVERSE TRANSFER COLOR PRINTERS FOR HISTOLOGICAL SPECIMEN SLIDES AND CASSETTES - A reverse transfer printer and method for printing information onto histological specimen containers such as slides and cassettes. One embodiment of the method includes printing an ink specimen information image onto a transfer medium, and transferring the transfer medium with the specimen information image onto a print zone of the specimen container, with the transfer medium covering the ink. | 03-20-2014 |
20140210933 | PRINTING RIBBON SECURITY APPARATUS AND METHOD - An apparatus and method of securing and maintaining the integrity of desired information on a ribbon and media subsequent to a printing operation is provided. The apparatus and method includes a thermal transfer printer having a print station and a printhead operable for performing a printing operation. The printhead is capable of performing an initial print operation and then being raised from the media, thereby allowing the used ribbon to be rewound a predetermined distance about a supply spindle. Thereafter, a second print operation is performed on the space previously printed upon using characters, designs or block-out patterns and the used ribbon is then wound onto a take-up spindle. In exemplary embodiments, the used ribbon can also be reprinted with a waste media several times thus further obscuring the image on the used ribbon. | 07-31-2014 |
20150029288 | SINGLE HEATING PLATEN DOUBLE-SIDED SUBLIMATION PRINTING PROCESS AND APPARATUS - A process and apparatus for sublimating printed images onto two or more sides of a product simultaneously using a single heating platen are disclosed. The apparatus is configured to print one or more images onto transfer media, then position the transfer media onto a substrate. A product to receive the sublimated image is positioned on top of the transfer media, and the apparatus manipulates the transfer media to substantially surround the product and place at least one image onto each side of the product to be sublimated. A single heating platen then engages the transfer media to sublimate the image. The heating platen is configured, using a control, to sublimate opposing sides of a product substantially simultaneously in a single thermal cycle. | 01-29-2015 |
20150035932 | PRINTING SYSTEM AND PRINTING APPARATUS - A printing system and printing apparatus are provided with improvements in the image quality of an image formed on a printing medium, a peel off region (PO) wherein a transfer layer of a transfer film is not transferred is set corresponding to a card, modified printing data is generated by modifying a gray-scale value of printing data inside a region that is larger than the PO region by predetermined dimensions and including the PO region in the printing data of Y, M, C and Bk into a gray-scale value of 0, an image is formed on the transfer film by heating a thermal head for an image formation panel of an ink ribbon according to the modified printing data. The transfer layer is peeled off by heating the thermal head for a peel off panel of the ink ribbon according to position information of the PO region. | 02-05-2015 |
20150097912 | RIBBON TENSION CONTROL SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A RIBBON PRINTING SYSTEM - A ribbon tension control system for a printing system includes a ribbon tension control apparatus. The ribbon tension control apparatus is configured to engage a print ribbon that extends through the printing system for applying one or more inks in the print ribbon to one or more target objects as the print ribbon is pulled from an unwind spindle to a windup spindle in the printing system. The ribbon tension control apparatus also is configured to control tension in the ribbon in response to change in a torque applied to the windup spindle that is used to pull the ribbon through the printing system. | 04-09-2015 |
20150116440 | RIBBON AND PHOTOGRAPH PRINTING METHOD - A ribbon includes a ribbon body, a plurality of first dye regions, a second dye region and a protecting dye region. The plurality of the first dye regions are sequentially arranged on the ribbon body. The dyes of the first dye regions are able to mix with each other. The second dye is located on a side of the plurality of the first dye regions, and the second dye region is located between the protecting dye region and the plurality of the first dye regions. The dye of the second dye region is unable to mix with the dyes of the first dye regions. | 04-30-2015 |
20150145939 | METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PRINT - The present invention is to provide a method for producing a print, which is able to prevent damages to the image-receiving sheet and generation of large wrinkles at the edges of the ink ribbon, to reduce printing unevenness, and thus to provide a high-quality print. Disclosed is a method for producing a print, in which a print is made on an image-receiving sheet by use of a specific thermal-transfer printer and an ink ribbon, wherein the ink ribbon has at least one color material layer and a protection layer; the image-receiving sheet has a receptor layer; and after printing all colors of the color material layers, the dynamic friction coefficient between the receptor layer surface of the image-receiving sheet before being coated with the protection layer and the outermost surface on the protection layer of the ink ribbon, is 0.4 or less. | 05-28-2015 |
20150336397 | PRINTING APPARATUS - To provide a printing apparatus that does not degrade the printing quality even when reciprocating shifts of a film-shaped medium are continued, an ink ribbon | 11-26-2015 |
20150375527 | Tape Printer for Forming Self-Laminating Printed Label, Tape Cassette and Ink Ribon Therefor - A tape printer with a thermal head and a tape cassette for forming a self-laminating printed label: wherein the tape cassette comprises; an ink ribbon including a print ink layer formed from opaque ink, a transparent ink layer formed from transparent ink and a longitudinal film base, the print ink layer and the transparent ink layer being coated on the film base in a longitudinal direction of the film base; a print tape including a longitudinal transparent film portion with a first surface side and a second surface side opposite to the first surface side, the opaque ink of the print ink layer and the transparent ink of the transparent ink layer being transferred to the first surface side of the transparent film portion from the ink ribbon; wherein, in the print tape, a transparent adhesive layer is coated on the second surface side of the transparent film portion, the opaque ink of the print ink layer is transferred on a first end side of the first surface side of the transparent film portion in a width direction from the ink ribbon and the transparent ink of the transparent ink layer is transferred on a second end side of the transparent film portion opposite to the first end side from the ink ribbon, and wherein the thermal head operates to transfer both the opaque ink of the print ink layer and the transparent ink of the transparent ink layer on the print tape from the ink ribbon. | 12-31-2015 |
20160023473 | SECURE PRINTING USING SLICED DATA - An image to be printed on a surface of a substrate that forms, or will be used in, a personalized security document is generated. The image to be printed is then sliced, divided, separated, etc. into a plurality of separate image portions. Each of the separate image portions is then printed onto the substrate. Together, the separate printed image portions form the desired image on the substrate. Each image portion contains only a portion of any confidential or personal information. Each separate image portion is printed using separate sections of a single print ribbon. Since each image portion is printed using a different section of the print ribbon, each ribbon section contains only a portion of any confidential or personal information. This makes it difficult for someone to obtain the confidential or personal information from just a brief or casual glance at the used print ribbon. | 01-28-2016 |
20160031227 | HIGH EFFICIENCY PRINTING METHOD FOR IMPROVED IMAGE QUALITY - Novel methods for calibrating a thermal printer by adjusting a look up table comprising the steps of receiving a test pattern to be printed on a receiver medium, printing the test pattern on the receiver medium, using a sensor to measure a depletion amount of donor material, and using a processor to adjust the lookup table based on the measured depletion amount are disclosed. | 02-04-2016 |
20160031237 | TAPE CARTRIDGE AND TAPE PRINTING DEVICE - A tape cartridge has a print tape accommodated in a cartridge case, a slit-like reel-off port through which the print tape is sent out, and first and second sub display sections which are provided on the wall surface of a forward peripheral wall of the cartridge case where the reel-off port is formed, and in which the type of the print tape is displayed in letters. In the first and second sub display sections, the type of the print tape is displayed in the form of at least one of normal letters formed according to the reel-off port as a horizontal reference and inverted letters formed by inverting the normal letters upside down. | 02-04-2016 |
20160031253 | CASSETTE FOR USE IN A LABEL PRINTER - A label printer cassette is provided. The label printer cassette includes at least one supply of printing medium and a housing. The housing has a first surface, a second surface, the second surface being opposite the first surface, and at least one side extending between said first and second surfaces, one side having a switch operating arrangement having a ramped surface which is configured, in use to operate a switch of a label printer. | 02-04-2016 |
20160046131 | PRINTER - Provided is a printer in which the rotating shaft of a ribbon roller can be connected to its driving unit with high accuracy by using a mechanism simple in structure, while preventing breakage that may occur when connecting the rotating shaft to the driving unit. The printer ( | 02-18-2016 |
20160152056 | Ink Ribbon, Ribbon Cartridge, and Printer | 06-02-2016 |
20160152057 | LONG SHEET MATERIAL HOLDING DEVICE AND PRINTER | 06-02-2016 |
20160185126 | THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTER - A method for operating a thermal transfer printer includes providing a ribbon, providing at least one spool configured to take up the ribbon, and providing a printhead. The substrate is moved relative to the printhead at a speed. The ribbon is moved relative to the printhead at a speed that is less than the speed of the substrate while using the printhead to selectively transfer ink from the ribbon to the substrate to print an image on the substrate. Data is captured from the ribbon after ink has been transferred to the substrate. The data is processed to control at least one property of the printer. | 06-30-2016 |
20160375710 | THERMAL PRINTER - A thermal printer comprises a sheet conveyance mechanism configured to convey a sheet formed by attaching labels on a mount; a ribbon conveyance mechanism configured to convey a ribbon; a thermal head configured to heat the ribbon to carry out printing of printing data on the sheet contacted with the ribbon; and a head moving mechanism configured to control the thermal head if a non-printing area is longer than a first distance based on the printing data to separate the ribbon from the sheet; wherein the ribbon conveyance mechanism stops the conveyance of the ribbon if the non-printing area is longer than the first distance; and the sheet conveyance mechanism controls, if the non-printing area is longer than the first distance, the sheet conveyance speed to a second speed slower than a first speed applied in a case of conveying a printing area. | 12-29-2016 |
20180022110 | RIBBON FEEDING APPARATUS, AND TAPE PRINTING APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME | 01-25-2018 |
20180022132 | PRINT HEAD WITH SPLIT RENDERING OF PRINT JOBS | 01-25-2018 |