According to one embodiment, an ink which can be decolored upon heating is provided. Colored images can be formed with the ink by various methods, such as ink jetting or the like, then later the images can be decolored with heat. An ink according to an embodiment contains a color developable compound, a color developing agent that causes the color developable compound to develop a color, a nonaqueous solvent, and a decoloring agent that is insoluble in the nonaqueous solvent and decolors the color developable compound upon heating.

In accordance with an embodiment, an image decoloring apparatus comprises a conveyance path configured to convey a sheet on which an image is formed with a coloring agent that is decolored by heat; a first heat roller configured to be arranged at the upstream side of the conveyance path; and a second heat roller configured to be arranged at the downstream side of the conveyance path. Each of the first heat roller and the second heat roller includes a cylindrical portion and a heat source. The thickness of the cylindrical portion constituting the first heat roller is larger than the thickness of the cylindrical portion constituting the second heat roller. In this way, the heat capacity of the first heat roller is also larger than the heat capacity of the second heat roller.

An erasing apparatus according to an embodiment includes an erasing unit that erases an image formed on a sheet and a scanning unit that scans a surface of a sheet. A control determines whether or not an image on the sheet has been erased based on the scanned surface and count the number of sheets on which images are determined to have been erased, with respect to each size of the sheets. A network interface transmits information including the counted number of the sheets and a size of the sheets on which images are determined to have been erased to a managing apparatus that manages points associated with the erasing of the images on the sheets.

A method of removing ink from a film includes unrolling the film from a first roll, exposing the film to a cleaning composition, and scraping the cleaning composition from the film. The film and the cleaning composition pass adjacent a first nonabrasive cloth to spread the cleaning composition over a width of the film, and adjacent at least one additional nonabrasive cloth to scrub the ink from the film. The film may be polymeric, metallic, or a metalized polymer. A system includes a means for unrolling a film, at least one nozzle configured to expose the film to a cleaning composition, and a blade configured to scrape the cleaning composition from the film. The system also includes a first nonabrasive cloth configured to spread the cleaning composition over a width of the film, and at least one additional nonabrasive cloth configured to scrub the ink from the film.

Provided is an image erasing method including heating a thermoreversible recording medium with laser beams to erase an image which has been recorded on the thermoreversible recording medium, the thermoreversible recording medium reversibly changing between a colored state and a decolored state depending on a heating temperature and a cooling time; and measuring at least one of a surface temperature of the thermoreversible recording medium and an erasing environmental temperature before a beginning of erasing the image to obtain a measured temperature value and controlling a heating time with the laser beams to be emitted for erasing the image depending on the measured temperature value.

A method of manufacturing an embossing element for decorative surfaces includes the steps of: a) UV curable inkjet printing a decorative pattern on a metallic surface; and b) forming a relief by etching metal from the metallic surface.

A decoloring apparatus includes a sheet conveying unit, a scanner, a decoloring unit, and a controller. The decoloring unit decolors the image on the sheet conveyed through the sheet conveying unit. The decoloring unit is positioned downstream of the scanner in a sheet conveying direction. A distance along the sheet conveying direction between the scanner and the decoloring unit is shorter than a length of a first predetermined sheet size and longer than a length of a second predetermined sheet size. A controller determines whether the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit is the first predetermined sheet size or the second predetermined sheet size. The controller performs a mode limiting process if the sheet size is determined to be the first predetermined sheet size.

A system for erasing an ink from a medium includes the medium having the ink printed on a surface thereof, and an erasure fluid directly or indirectly applied to the surface, wherein the medium further includes another surface opposed to the surface upon which the ink is printed. An electrochemical cell includes an anode and a cathode. The anode formed from a semi-conductive or conductive carbon-containing material is positioned adjacent to one of: the surface of the medium upon which the ink is printed, or the other surface of the medium. The cathode formed from a semi-conductive or conductive carbon-containing material is positioned adjacent to another of: the other surface of the medium, or the surface of the medium upon which the ink is printed. The system further includes a power source to apply a voltage across the medium.

An embodiment includes a method of determining whether or not to perform a decoloring process on a sheet. A front position of a sheet fed in a sheet transport direction is detected. A presence or absence of an identification mark on a front portion of the sheet outside of an image forming area of the sheet is detected, after detecting the front position of the sheet. A determination is made of whether an image formed with decolorable color material is printed on the sheet based on whether an identification mark is detected on the front portion of the sheet. When the image formed with decolorable color material is determined to be printed on the sheet, the image is decolored.

An enhanced paper for printing, comprising: a polymer fiber; wherein the enhanced paper is ablation resistant so that it is not damaged by a light beam that illuminates enhanced paper with a fluence that ablates ink or toner but would damage standard printing paper that is made from cellulose fiber and is non-ablation resistant; and wherein the enhanced paper has physical properties of the standard printing paper for printing with laser printers and ink printers.