Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Video Engineering, Incorporated

Kentaro Hamma

Toshihiko Gotoh

Yasunori Kobori

Hiroyuki Kimura

Naohiro Ozawa

Hiroshi Shimizu

Mikio Shiraishi

Takeshi Nomura

Takashi Omata

Hideo Nishijima

Satoshi Yoshida

Yoshinori Okada

Kazutaka Sato

Shigeru Obata

Michihiro Watanabe

Taisaku Seino

Seiji Okunomiya

Shoji Ohno

Munetoshi Zen

Youichi Narui

Kotaro Kawamura

Koichi Tomatsuri

Koutarou Tanno

Yoshiaki Mochimaru

Osamu Numata

Seizi Okunomiya

Maya Arai

Kazuhiko Atou

Katsunori Oki

During the playback operation for freezing and storing a specific frame of a picture in a memory and thereafter printing the frame, the recording medium is turned reversely for a prescribed amount according to an instruction from a printer in response to the entry of the freeze command in order to accurately search the frame at the entry of the freeze, and thereafter the recording medium is played back in normal mode. The amounts of reverse turn and the successive forward turn in normal playback are counted and compared, and when the difference has become a prescribed value, a freeze signal is produced and the frame of the picture selected by the freeze command is stored in the memory and printed when required. This control method for use in a video print system is designed so that the recording medium is turned reversely for a prescribed amount according to an instruction from the printer and then stopped until the next command is entered.

Method and apparatus for controlling a video signal print system

A thick film type thermal head produced by consecutively forming, on an insulator substrate, a heat-resistant layer, an electrode, a heating resistor and a protective layer, wherein the protective layer comprises an electrically insulating protective layer covering the heating resistor and that portion of the electrically insulating protective layer which corresponds to a medium comprises a heat-diffusing coating having a high thermal conductivity over the electrically insulating protective layer.

Thick film type thermal head and thermal recording device

White balance adjusting apparatus for controlling the levels among RGB signals of the video signals and adjusting the white balance of the video image is provided in a color video printer apparatus which receives the video signals and prints out. Prior to color printing, the white balance is adjusted, thereby enabling a good color reproduction to be obtained.

Signal processing circuit including a white balance adjusting circuit in

A video printer is disclosed. An input video signal is converted into a digital signal and stored in a memory. The write/read operation and memory addresses of the memory are controlled by a memory control unit. The signal read out of the memory is converted into print data, and an image is printed by a printer. The print data and the printing operation are controlled by a print control unit, and at least a part of the memory areas of the memory is controlled in the write operation by an area control unit.

Video printer with separately stored digital signals printed in separate

A thermal transfer printing apparatus includes a reading device for reading a code registered section provided on an ink sheet cassette, and a color discrimination device, a part of which is provided on a thermal head. The apparatus acts to heat an ink sheet superposed on a print paper by means of the thermal head to print an image on the print paper. The ink sheet cassette includes a pair of ink shafts on which both ends of a continuous ink sheet having a continuous film or paper with inks applied thereon are wound, and a cassette case in which the ink shafts are received, at least one of the ink shafts being adapted to be drivingly connected in the axial direction to a torque supply shaft inserted from the outside of the cassette case so that driving torque is supplied from the torque supply shaft to the ink shaft. The code registered section is composed of a first pattern portion of alternating white and black patterns and a second pattern portion in which information connecting the ink sheet is coded and recorded in line with the first pattern portion. The code registered section is provided on one of the ink shafts in the cassette case.

Thermal transfer printing apparatus and ink paper cassette

A video signal processing circuit for a video printer operating to sample an analog video signal, to convert the video signal into digital data, to store the data in a memory, and to read out the contents of memory to a printer for printing. The circuit includes an oscillation circuit which generates a pixel clock in response to the horizontal sync signal in the video signal, a frequency division phase shift circuit which divides the frequency of the pixel clock provided by the oscillation circuit and shifts the frequency divided clock with the pixel clock, a selection circuit which selects one of frequency divided clocks having different phases provided by the frequency division phase shift circuit, and a selection control circuit which operates on the selection circuit to alter the clock selection at each arrival of vertical sync signal, so that the sampling of the video signal is implemented in response to the clock output of the selection control circuit.

Video signal processor and video signal processing method for a video

A video printer comprises a main memory unit for storing data of a first picture, a sub-memory for storing data for an overlay region to be overlaid on the first picture and also indicative of a second picture to be displayed in the overlay region, a memory data processing unit for generating a synthesized picture by selectively controlling the picture data for the overlay region on the basis of the data stored in the sub-memory, a system control circuit for controlling the data storage in the main memory unit, the data storage in the sub-memory circuit and operation of the memory data processing circuit, and a print circuit for producing a hard copy on the basis of the output of the memory data processing circuit.

Video printer having data are stored in main and sub memories are read

An ink paper cassette has ink paper, a supply shaft for supplying the ink paper, a take-up shaft for winding the ink paper, a front connecting portion for rotatably supporting first ends of the supply and the take-up shafts and a rear connecting portion for rotatably supporting second ends of the supply and the take-up shafts. The ink paper cassette is to be loaded into a printer. The printer performs thermal prints of characters and/or pictorial images onto a transfer paper with the ink paper loaded in the ink paper cassette. The front connecting portion has a depth so greater than that of the rear connecting portion that the front connecting portion is brought into abutment with a front face of a printer mechanism, whereby preventing the ink paper cassette from being loaded into the printer.

Thermal transfer recording apparatus with ink paper cassette

An inked sheet cassette suitable for use in printer such as a multi-color thermal transfer-type printer. The cassette has a cassette case encasing an inked sheet constituted by a thin web-like film or paper sheet with at least one type of ink applied thereto, and a pair of reels disposed in the cassette case and constituting a supply reel and a take-up reel on which are wound the respective ends of the inked sheet. The cassette has a window provided at least in one of a portion of said cassette case adjacent to the supply reel and portion adjacent to said take-up reel so as to enable the user to visually check the diameter of the roll of the inked sheet on the reel adjacent to said window. Disclosed also is a printer suitable for use in combination with this cassette.

Inked sheet cassette and thermal transfer-type recording apparatus

In a combination of a thermal transfer recording apparatus and an ink sheet cassette therefor, a take-up shaft of the ink sheet cassette has an outer diameter smaller than that of a supply shaft. A new ink sheet wound about the supply shaft to a location close to an inner wall surface of a supply shaft housing section of a cassette case is changed to a used ink sheet wrinkled due to heating by a thermal head. The used ink sheet having an increased thickness due to the wrinkles is taken up in the form of a roll about the take-up shaft. The roll of the used ink sheet entirely wound about the take-up shaft has such an outer diameter as to be out of contact with an inner wall surface of a take-up shaft housing section to thereby prevent contact of the take-up shaft with an inner wall surface of the cassette case due to an increase in the diameter of the roll of the used ink sheet wound about the take-up shaft.

Thermal transfer recording apparatus and ink sheet cassette therefor

In a video printer, a suffer memory for memorizing picture data corresponding to one line includes a memory addressed by a first address and a second address. And the video printer includes a memory write circuit having a first address generation circuit for generating a first address depending upon gradation of picture data on the basis of inputted picture data and for supplying said first address to the memory and a second address generation circuit for generating an address signal depending upon the number of printing dots of the thermal head and for supplying said address signal to the memory. The video printer also includes a memory read circuit for successively generating the second address for each of the first address and supplying the second address to the memory.

Control circuit for video printer

A thermal-transfer recording method and an apparatus used for this method in which ink on an ink tape is heat-transferred in the form of a mirror image of a desired image to an intermediate recording sheet having a base film and an ink absorbing adhesive layer formed on the base film, and in which the intermediate recording sheet to which the mirror image has been heat-transferred is bonded to a desired recording medium at the surface of the ink absorbing adhesive layer.

Thermal-transfer recording apparatus

A thermal transfer printing apparatus comprises a recording sheet conveying passageway of a chuckless type which does not require a chuck mechanism for affixing a recording sheet to a platen roller. The recording sheet conveying passageway is constituted in loop form by at least one guide member and at least one roller for conveying the recording sheet and has at one end a recording sheet ejector for ejecting the recording sheet to outside from the conveying passageway. The recording sheet is moved through the conveying passageway repeatedly for a number of times required to perform superimposing printing by means of a thermal head. Upon completion of printing, the recording sheet is ejected from the apparatus to outside via the recording sheet ejector.

Growing community of inventors

Katsuta, Japan

Kentaro Hamma