Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kazuyuki Uetake

Satoshi Arai

Yoshihiko Hotta

Tomomi Ishimi

Ichiro Sawamura

Yasuroh Yokota

Takahiro Furukawa

Shinji Takano

Yoshiaki Matsunaga

Yoshikazu Kaneko

Kunihiko Hada

Michiyo Fukushima

An image recording apparatus includes: a laser emitting device configured to emit laser beams emitted from a plurality of laser light-emitting elements; an optical fiber array including a plurality of optical fibers provided corresponding to the laser light-emitting elements and configured to guide the laser beams emitted from the laser light-emitting elements to a recording object that relatively moves with respect to the laser emitting device, laser emitting portions of the respective optical fibers being arrayed in an array form in a predetermined direction; and an image recording unit configured to control the laser emitting device so as to irradiate the recording object which relatively moves with respect to the laser emitting device in a direction different from the predetermined direction, with laser beams via the optical fiber array, to heat the recording object and record an image.

Image recording apparatus and image recording method

An image recording apparatus that irradiates a recording target with laser light and records an image thereon, that includes: a laser irradiation device that has plural laser emitting elements, and irradiates the recording target with laser light emitted from the plural laser emitting elements; an irradiation condition adjusting unit that causes the laser irradiation device to emit laser light such that a part of an image dot recorded on the recording target moving relatively to the laser irradiation device overlaps an image dot adjacent thereto, and makes a laser irradiation condition for when image dots forming a boundary between a colored portion and a non-colored portion are recorded, different from a laser irradiation condition for when the other image dots are recorded; and an output control unit that controls the irradiation with the laser light, based on the laser irradiation condition adjusted by the irradiation condition adjusting unit.

Recording method including emitting laser light from optical fiber array to record image formed of writing units with moving recording target and the optical fiber array relatively using recording device including laser light-emitting elements and emitting unit including the optical fiber array where optical fibers configured to guide laser light emitted from the laser light-emitting elements are aligned, wherein the image includes convex-concave shapes formed by aligning convex portions relative to, as standard, vertical line to the writing units where the vertical line includes the nearest contact points at endmost side of the image in sub-scanning direction where the image is formed by overlapping or adjoining at least part of the writing units in main-scanning direction and satisfies formula below:&#x2264;0.4where T is average height of the convex portions and X is minimum distance between centers of the adjacent writing units in the image.

Recording method and recording device

An image recording apparatus includes a plurality of laser emission parts disposed side by side in a predetermined direction for emitting laser light; an optical system configured to collect a plurality of beams of laser light emitted by the laser emission parts onto the recording target moving relative to the laser emission parts in a direction crossing the predetermined direction; and an output control unit configured to perform control such that energy of laser light emitted from an outermost end laser emission part of the laser emission parts is greater than energy of laser light emitted from a center laser emission part, the outermost end laser emission part emitting laser light to be transmitted through vicinity of an end portion of the optical system, the center laser emission part emitting laser light to be transmitted through a portion other than vicinity of the end portion of the optical system.

An image recording device includes a laser irradiation device that emits laser lights output from a plurality of laser light emitting elements to different positions in a predetermined direction; and an image recording unit that controls the laser irradiation device to irradiate a recording object moving relative to the laser irradiation device in a direction different from the predetermined direction with laser so as to heat the object, form image dots, and record an image. The image recording unit controls the laser irradiation device, conducts recording such that at least one of the image dots, recorded alongside at different positions in a direction perpendicular to a relative moving direction of the object, is shifted relative to other ones of the image dots in the relative moving direction, and records a solid image on the object such that the image dot is partially overlapped with all adjacent image dots.

Image recording device and image recording method

Recording method including emitting laser light from optical fiber array to record image formed of writing units with moving recording target and the optical fiber array relatively using recording device including laser light-emitting elements and emitting unit including the optical fiber array where optical fibers for guiding laser light from the laser light-emitting elements are aligned wherein (A'D/A&#x2032;C) that is ratio of length of diagonal line A&#x2032;D to length of diagonal line A&#x2032;C in the image formed in a manner that at least part of the writing units are overlapped one another in the main-scanning direction is 1.05 or greater.

An image recording apparatus includes: a laser irradiation device including a plurality of laser output sections arranged side by side in a certain direction and configured to irradiate positions different from one another in the certain direction with laser light output from the plurality of laser output sections, the image recording apparatus being configured to irradiate a recording target moving relatively to the laser irradiation device in a relative movement direction different from the certain direction, with laser light to heat the recording target, and record a visible image on the recording target; and an image correction unit configured to adjust an irradiation condition of the laser light output from the plurality of laser output sections and correct distortion of an image recorded on a recording surface of the recording target based on a shape of the recording surface.

A recording method including: emitting laser light from an optical fiber array to record an image formed of writing units with moving a recording target and the optical fiber array relatively using a recording device including a plurality of laser light-emitting elements and an emitting unit including the optical fiber array, in which a plurality of optical fibers configured to guide laser light emitted from the laser light-emitting elements are aligned, wherein a maximum length of the writing unit along a sub-scanning direction is controlled with set values of: a duty ratio and a cycle of a pulse signal input to the emitting unit; recording energy applied to the recording target; and a spot diameter of the laser light, to record with overlapping an edge of the writing unit with an edge of the adjacent writing unit in the sub-scanning direction.

To provide a heat-sensitive recording material, including: a substrate; a heat-sensitive color developing layer on the substrate, the heat-sensitive color developing layer containing at least a leuco dye and a developer; and a protective layer on the heat-sensitive color developing layer, the protective layer containing at least a binder resin, wherein the binder resin in the protective layer contains diacetone-modified polyvinyl alcohol resin, the degree of polymerization of the binder resin in the protective layer is 1,000 to 1,800 and the degree of saponification of the binder resin is 90% or greater and less than 98%.

Heat-sensitive recording material and production method thereof

The present invention provides a heat-sensitive recording material having a support, a heat-sensitive color-developing layer containing a leuco dye and a developer, and a protective layer, the heat-sensitive color-developing layer and the protective layer being formed on the support, wherein carboxylic-acid-modified polyvinyl alcohol with a weight average degree of polymerization of 100 to 400 and a modification degree of 0.2 mol % to 1.0 mol % is used as a dispersing agent for dispersing the leuco dye.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Kazuyuki Uetake