Re-transfer printing machine and method thereof

1. A re-transfer printing machine comprising:

an ink film having a sublimation-ink area of at least one sublimation ink and an invisible-ink area of an invisible ink;

an intermediate-transfer film having a protecting layer and an ink receptor layer laminated on the protecting layer to enable the sublimation ink and the invisible ink to be received therein;

the ink receptor layer having a plurality of transfer areas corresponding to the area of an object to be printed;

a transfer mechanism for transferring the sublimation ink and the invisible ink to the plurality of transfer areas segmentalized in the ink receptor layer thereby to form a sublimation-ink image of the sublimation ink and an invisible-ink image of the invisible ink in the ink receptor layer, based on a print image for the object to be printed;

a re-transfer mechanism for re-transferring the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to the object thereby to form the print image thereon;

a controller for controlling respective operations of the transfer mechanism and the re-transfer mechanism; and

an overlap detecting unit connected to the controller to detect whether the print image for the object contains an overlapping between the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image or not, wherein

when the overlap detecting unit detects that the print image contains the overlapping, the controller allows the transfer mechanism to transfer the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to different transfer areas in the receptor layer, and

when the overlap detecting unit detects that the print image does not contain the overlapping, the controller allows the transfer mechanism to transfer both the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to a same transfer area in the receptor layer.

2. The re-transfer printing machine of claim 1 , wherein

the ink film further includes a fusible-ink area of a fusible ink,

the transfer mechanism further transfers the fusible ink to the plurality of areas segmentalized in the ink receptor layer thereby to form a fusible-ink image in addition to the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image,

the overlap detecting unit further detects whether the print image for the object contains an overlapping between the fusible-ink image and the invisible-ink image or not,

the controller controls the operation of the transfer mechanism so that a transfer order of the fusible ink and the invisible ink to the intermediate-transfer film changes corresponding to a detection result of the overlap detecting unit with respect to the overlapping between the fusible-ink image and the invisible-ink image.

3. The re-transfer printing machine of claim 1 , wherein

the invisible ink is an ultraviolet-emitting-ink, and

the protecting layer of the intermediate-transfer film is adapted so as to suppress a transmission of light radiated from the invisible-ink image thereby to protect the sublimation-ink image from the light.

4. The re-transfer printing machine of claim 3 , wherein

the protecting layer of the intermediate-transfer film is made from resinous material mixed with ultraviolet absorbent or ultraviolet-diffusion material.

5. The re-transfer printing machine of claim 1 , wherein

the invisible-ink image to be printed in the invisible ink contains information inherent to the re-transfer printing machine.

6. The re-transfer printing machine of claim 5 , wherein

the information inherent to the re-transfer printing machine comprises either a manufacturer's serial number thereof or a media access control (MAC) address for enabling the re-transfer printing machine to be connected to a network.

7. A re-transfer printing method using an ink film having a sublimation-ink area of at least one sublimation ink and an invisible-ink area of an invisible ink and an intermediate-transfer film having a protecting layer and an ink receptor layer laminated on the protecting layer to enable the sublimation ink and the invisible ink to be received therein, the ink receptor layer having a plurality of transfer areas corresponding to the area of an object to be printed, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting whether a print image for the object to be printed contains an overlapping between a sublimation-ink image printed in the sublimation ink and an invisible-ink image printed in the invisible ink or not;

transferring the sublimation ink and the invisible ink to the plurality of transfer area segmentalized in the ink receptor layer thereby to form a sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image of the invisible ink in the ink receptor layer, based on the print image for the object to be printed; and

re-transferring the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to the object thereby to form the print image thereon, wherein

when it is detected at the detecting step that the print image contains the overlapping, the transferring step includes a step of transferring the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to different transfer areas in the receptor layer in a longitudinal direction thereof, and

when it is detected at the detecting step that the print image does not contain the overlapping, the transferring step includes a step of transferring both the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image to a same transfer area in the receptor layer.

8. The re-transfer printing method of claim 7 , wherein

the ink film further includes a fusible-ink area of a fusible ink, and

the transferring step further includes a step of transferring the fusible ink to the plurality of areas segmentalized in the ink receptor layer thereby to form a fusible-ink image in addition to the sublimation-ink image and the invisible-ink image.

9. The re-transfer printing method of claim 8 , further comprising a step of detecting whether the print image for the object contains an overlapping between the fusible-ink image and the invisible-ink image or not, wherein

the transferring step includes a step of changing a transfer order of the fusible ink and the invisible ink to the intermediate-transfer film changes corresponding to a detection result at the detecting step about whether the print image for the object contains the overlapping between the fusible-ink image and the invisible-ink image.

10. The re-transfer printing method of claim 7 , wherein

the invisible ink is an ultraviolet-emitting-ink, and

the protecting layer of the intermediate-transfer film is adapted so as to suppress a transmission of light radiated from the invisible-ink image thereby to protect the sublimation-ink image from the light.

11. The re-transfer printing method of claim 10 , wherein

the protecting layer of the intermediate-transfer film is made from resinous material mixed with ultraviolet absorbent or ultraviolet-diffusion material.

12. The re-transfer printing method of claim 7 , wherein

the invisible-ink image to be printed in the invisible ink contains information inherent to a re-transfer printing machine carrying out the transferring and re-transferring steps in accordance with the re-transfer printing method.

13. The re-transfer printing method of claim 12 , wherein

the information inherent to the re-transfer printing machine comprises either a manufacturer's serial number thereof or a media access control (MAC) address for enabling the re-transfer printing machine to be connected to a network.