Dye diffusion thermal transfer printing
First Claim
1. A dye diffusion thermal transfer printing system comprising a dye pad consisting of a solid body portion throughout which a thermally diffusible dye may diffuse, a receiver for receiving dye from said dye pad, and a heater for heating selective regions of said dye pad to cause dye in the heated regions to transfer to the receiver, wherein means are provided for replenishing, with thermally diffusible dye, regions of the dye pad which have become depleted of dye through printing, said dye depleted regions being supplied with dye from other regions of said dye pad.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dye donor, such as a transfer ribbon, comprises a supporting substrate and a relatively thick dye layer consisting of a dye dispersed within a dye binder. A heater, such as a modulated scanning laser beam, heats selected pixel regions of the ribbon and causes dye to diffuse from the heated regions to a receiver sheet and print a number of pixels thereon which build up to form an image. In order to allow the donor to be reused, it is passed between a pair of heated rollers to cause dye in the dye layer to diffuse to an even density whereby the regions depleted of dye during the print process are replenished. Instead of the replenishment dye coming from the body of the donor, it may be supplied by a separate source.
-
Citations
10 Claims
- 1. A dye diffusion thermal transfer printing system comprising a dye pad consisting of a solid body portion throughout which a thermally diffusible dye may diffuse, a receiver for receiving dye from said dye pad, and a heater for heating selective regions of said dye pad to cause dye in the heated regions to transfer to the receiver, wherein means are provided for replenishing, with thermally diffusible dye, regions of the dye pad which have become depleted of dye through printing, said dye depleted regions being supplied with dye from other regions of said dye pad.
- 5. A dye diffusion thermal transfer printing system comprising a dye donor carrying an amount of thermally diffusible dye, a receiver for receiving dye from said donor, and a heater for heating selective regions of said donor to cause dye in said heated regions to transfer to said receiver, wherein means are provided for replenishing, with thermally diffusible dye, regions of said donor which have become depleted of dye through printing, and wherein said receiver comprises an intermediate carrier which bulk transfers a printed image to one or more further receivers.
Specification