JP2001255606A - Stereoscopic image forming device and method for forming stereoscopic image using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and method for easily forming lenticular lenses and stereoscopic images. SOLUTION: This device has a head A29 for color printing and a head B30 for discharging a resin for forming the lenticular lenses. The surface of a recording medium M is printed with stereoscopic parallax images by a head A29 and the hot meltable resin for forming the lenticular lenses is successively discharged by a head B30 from above the region formed with the stereoscopic parallax images and the lenticular lenses 41 are formed in accordance with a lenticular lens formed pitch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming a lenticular lens by an ink-jet method to form a three-dimensional image and a forming method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for forming a three-dimensional image by a photographic method has been put to practical use, but it has not been possible to easily create a three-dimensional image at home. Therefore, as disclosed in JP-A-7-281327, an image is printed from the back of the lenticular sheet on which a lenticular lens is formed by an inkjet method, or as disclosed in JP-A-5-216138. In addition, there is a method of irradiating a beam on a photosensitive layer of each color, which is a recording layer on the back surface of a lenticular sheet, and performing printing.

[0003]

However, in these conventional techniques, the lenticular lens itself is formed by heating and pressing a plate made of vinyl chloride or the like, so that it cannot be easily manufactured at home. In addition, when printing an image from the back of a lenticular sheet, the lens pitch of the lenticular sheet is scanned and printing is performed in accordance with the pitch, so a sensor for sensing the pitch must be provided. There was a problem that complexity and cost increased. Further, when an image is printed from the back of a lenticular sheet by inkjet, there is a disadvantage that the image quality is poor when the image is viewed from the lens side.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a first head for discharging color ink and a second head for forming a lenticular lens are provided.
And the second head discharges a resin, which is a material for forming a lenticular lens, onto a recording medium.

In the first aspect, a lenticular lens can be formed directly on the stereoscopic parallax image formed by the first head without displacement.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a second head includes:
The present invention is configured to form a lenticular lens by discharging and laminating a resin a plurality of times.

In the second aspect, a curvature suitable for a lenticular lens can be obtained with high accuracy.

[0008] In a third aspect of the present invention, the second head comprises:
This is because one lenticular lens is formed in one process by printing the resin in a thick film.

In the third aspect, a lenticular lens can be formed on a stereoscopic parallax image at high speed.

A fourth aspect of the present invention relates to a second head for forming a resin layer on which a lenticular lens is formed on a recording medium, and a shape and shape of a lenticular lens for forming a lenticular lens by rolling on the resin layer. And a lenticular lens forming roller corresponding to the lenticular lens forming pitch.

In the fourth aspect, a curvature suitable for a lenticular lens can be obtained with high accuracy.

A fifth aspect of the present invention resides in that the first head and the second head are mounted on one carriage.

In the fifth aspect, the first head for forming a stereoscopic parallax image and the second head for forming a lenticular lens are mounted on an integral carriage.
A compact three-dimensional image forming apparatus can be provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the carriage is provided with a first carriage.
The distance from the carriage to the recording medium varies between when the head is driven and when the second head is driven.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a second head is disposed downstream of the carriage in the recording medium transport direction.
The first head is disposed on the upstream side, and the distance from each head to the recording medium is different.

In the sixth and seventh aspects, the distance between the head and the recording medium suitable for driving the first and second heads is obtained without the lenticular lens formed on the recording medium coming into contact with the head. be able to.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the first head and the second head are mounted on separate carriages, respectively, and the carriages can scan independently.

In the eighth aspect, the first head and the second head
Since these heads can be driven independently, a stereoscopic image can be formed at high speed.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is that the resin is a hot-melt resin which solidifies at room temperature.

In the ninth aspect, the resin for forming the lenticular lens filled in the second head is liquefied by applying heat to the resin, and can be easily discharged onto the recording medium.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first step of forming a stereoscopic parallax image by a first head for discharging color ink, and discharging of resin from above the stereoscopic parallax image by the second head. And a second step of forming a lenticular lens thereby forming a stereoscopic image.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the first step of forming a stereoscopic parallax image by a first head that discharges color ink, and the step of discharging a resin by a second head, the stereoscopic parallax image is formed. A second step of forming a resin layer on the image, and a third step of forming a lenticular lens by rolling a lenticular lens forming roller formed on the resin layer in accordance with the shape of the lenticular lens and the pitch of forming the lenticular lens. And forming a three-dimensional image by the above steps.

In the tenth and eleventh aspects, since the lenticular lens can be directly formed by the second head from the stereoscopic parallax image formed by the first head without displacement, a stereoscopic image excellent in image quality and accuracy can be obtained. Can be obtained.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The three-dimensional image forming apparatus 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 has a cartridge holder 3 capable of holding a plurality of ink cartridges and a cartridge filled with a hot-melt resin for forming a lenticular lens, color recording, and the present invention. Head 29 corresponding to the formation of the lenticular lens of
The carriage 5 provided with 30 is provided.

The carriage 5 is mounted on the housing 11
Are movably attached to guide members 6 provided on the left and right sides of the camera, and are reciprocated by a scanning mechanism of the head.

The scanning mechanism of the head includes a housing 11
A step motor 7 attached to the left and right ends of the
The drive pulley 8 connected to the rotation shaft of the step motor 7, the idle pulley 9 provided at the other left and right end portions of the housing 11, and are bridged between the drive pulley 8 and the idle pulley 9. It comprises a timing belt 10 connected thereto, a controller (not shown) for controlling the rotation of the step motor 7, and the like. That is, the head scanning mechanism operates the stepping motor 7 to operate the carriage 5, that is, the heads 29 and 30.
Is reciprocated in the width direction of the recording medium M. The moving direction of the head 4 is the main scanning direction.

The three-dimensional image forming apparatus 1 includes a recording medium M
Is provided in the paper feed direction. The paper feed mechanism includes a paper feed motor 13 and a paper feed roller 14.
And so on. The recording medium M is sequentially sent out in conjunction with the main scanning to perform sub-scanning.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes an electronic image supply device (S1 in FIG. 3) for supplying a two-dimensional electronic image to the PC 21, such as a digital camera and a scanner.
The electronic image sent by 0 is used to select whether or not to create a stereoscopic image by a user operation (not shown) (S2 in FIG. 3). The electronic image is sent to the stereoscopic parallax image forming unit 23 after the image embossing unit is determined. The stereoscopic parallax image forming unit 23 creates a right-eye electronic image and a left-eye electronic image by an arithmetic unit (not shown),
This is synthesized according to a preset lenticular lens formation pitch (S3 in FIG. 3). Any of the methods for forming a stereoscopic parallax image from a two-dimensional image, such as those described in JP-A-5-232890 and JP-A-8-1922, can use known techniques. The stereoscopic parallax image 42 created by the stereoscopic parallax image forming unit 23
(See FIG. 5) is transmitted to the printer driver 24 and converted into print data (S4 in FIG. 3), and the print data is transmitted to the three-dimensional image forming apparatus 1 via the I / F unit.

The print data transmitted from the PC 21 is temporarily stored in the RAM 26 of the three-dimensional image forming apparatus 1 (S5 in FIG. 3), and the control unit 25 develops it into dot pattern data while referring to the ROM 27 (S6 in FIG. 3). S7).
The ROM 27 stores a later-described lenticular lens forming pitch, various control routines, font data and graphic functions, various procedures, and the like.

The dot pattern data of the stereoscopic parallax image 42 thus developed is supplied to the color printing head A29 and the lenticular lens forming head B3 via the I / F section.
0 is transmitted to the carriage 5 provided. The dot pattern data transmitted to the carriage 5 is transmitted to the color print head A29, and the color print head A29 prints the stereoscopic parallax image 42 on the recording medium M based on the data.
(FIG. 3S8). Further, after the stereoscopic parallax image 42 is printed,
The control unit 25 refers to the ROM 26 (S6 and S7 in FIG. 3).
The lenticular lens forming head B30 is driven in accordance with the previously defined lenticular lens forming pitch, and a lenticular lens is formed on the stereoscopic parallax image 42 by a method described later (S9 in FIG. 3).

If it is selected not to create a stereoscopic parallax image in FIG. 3S2, the electronic image is sent directly to the printer driver 24 (FIG. 3S4), converted into print data, and normal printing is performed.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 30 denotes a head B30 for forming a lenticular lens which constitutes the present invention. The head B30 is filled with a hot-melt resin which is in a liquid state by a heater (not shown). Arrow N
Numeral 1 indicates the transport direction of the recording medium M. From the area where the above-mentioned stereoscopic parallax image 42 on the recording medium M has already been printed by the head A29 for color printing, the hot-melt resin which forms the lenticular lens 41 by the head B30 sequentially on the stereoscopic parallax image 42 Dispensed,
The lenticular lens 41 is formed based on the lenticular lens formation pitch. Also, 5 in FIG.
Reference numerals 0 and 51 denote stereoscopic parallax images 42 each including a right-eye image and a left-eye image printed on the recording medium M, and are printed corresponding to a preset lenticular lens pitch. In response to the right-eye image 50 and the left-eye image 51, the hot-melt resin is ejected from the head B30 a plurality of times, solidified on the recording medium M as indicated by reference numeral 52, and laminated, thereby forming the lenticular lens 41.
Get. The heat-meltable resin may be a thermoplastic resin having high transparency and being solid at room temperature, but it is preferable to use a vinyl chloride resin having a relatively low melting point for safety. In addition, since the heat-fusible resin is in a liquid state for a while even after landing on the recording medium M, a curved surface suitable for a lens can be formed by surface tension. The curvature of the curved surface depends on the lamination number and the viscosity of the heat-fusible resin, but the lamination number and the viscosity suitable for forming the lenticular lens may be appropriately adjusted.

The head B30 is mounted on the carriage 5 together with the head A29, and the head B30 may be driven each time the head A29 forms a stereoscopic parallax image 42 of one lenticular lens pitch. Alternatively, after forming a plurality of pitch or all stereoscopic parallax images, the paper may be conveyed to a predetermined position by the paper feed roller 14 and then driven.

Further, since both the head B30 and the head A29 are mounted on the carriage 5, when the head B30 and the head A29 are driven, the carriage 5 is moved by the arrow N.
2 so that the distance between the head and the recording medium M is larger when the head B30 is driven than when the head A29 is driven, or as shown in FIG. It is arranged on the downstream side, the head B30 is arranged on the upstream side, and the distance of the head B30 from the recording medium M is slightly larger than the distance of the head A29 from the recording medium M, so that the head B30 can be used for color printing. The head A29, which is the head, does not rub against the formed lenticular lens, and a distance between the head and the recording medium suitable for driving each head can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the head B30 is
The heads A29 are both mounted on the carriage 5,
As shown in FIG. 7, the head B30 and the head A29 are mounted on separate carriages 5A and 5B, and the carriage on which the head A29 is mounted is arranged on the upstream side in the recording medium conveyance direction.
Even if the carriage on which the head B30 is mounted is arranged on the downstream side in the paper transport direction, the same effect as the above-mentioned effect can be obtained.

The head A29 used in this embodiment is
The head B30 can discharge the color ink forming the stereoscopic parallax image 42 and the hot-melt resin forming the lenticular lens, respectively, by a known method using a pressure generating element such as a piezoelectric element or a heating element.

In FIG. 8 showing a lenticular lens forming process according to a second embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 60 denotes a lenticular lens forming head constituting the present invention, which is not shown in the head B60. The heater is filled with a heat-fusible resin that is in a liquid state. The arrow N3 indicates the transport direction of the recording medium M. From the area on the recording medium M where the above-described stereoscopic parallax image 42 has already been printed, a hot-melt resin forming a lenticular lens is sequentially discharged from the top of the stereoscopic parallax image by the head B60 based on the lenticular lens forming pitch. Thus, a lenticular lens 41 is formed. Here, the head B60 corresponds to the right-eye image 50 and the left-eye image 51, which are the stereoscopic parallax images 42 printed according to the preset lenticular lens pitch, by a thick film printing method such as an air pump. One lenticular lens can be formed in one process. The thick film printing may be a method in which a head B60 using a known thick film printing method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-109992 is mounted on the carriage 5 and the hot melt resin is printed in a thick film. . The heat-meltable resin may be a thermoplastic resin having high transparency and being solid at room temperature, but it is preferable to use a vinyl chloride resin having a relatively low melting point for safety. Further, even if a thick film is printed on a recording medium, this hot-melt resin is in a liquid state for a while, so that a curved surface suitable for a lens can be formed by surface tension. The curvature of the curved surface depends on the ejection amount of the hot-melt resin, and the viscosity, but the ejection amount suitable for forming a lenticular lens,
And the viscosity may be appropriately adjusted.

The head B60 is mounted on the carriage 5 together with the head A29.
It may be driven every time a stereoscopic parallax image 42 of one pitch of the lenticular lens pitch is formed by 29, or after forming a plurality of pitches or a full stereoscopic parallax image,
It may be driven after being transported to a predetermined position by the paper feed roller 14.

Further, since both the head B60 and the head A29 are mounted on the carriage 5, the distance of the head B60 from the recording medium M is made slightly larger than the distance of the head A29 from the recording medium M, or When the head B29 and the head A29 are driven, the carriage 5 is moved by the arrow N4.
The head A is a color print head by increasing the distance between the head and the recording medium when the head B60 is driven compared to when the head A29 is driven.
29 does not rub against the formed lenticular lens.

In this embodiment, the head B60 and
The heads A29 are both mounted on the carriage 5,
The head B60 and the head A29 are mounted on separate carriages, and the carriage on which the head A29 is mounted is disposed on the upstream side in the recording medium transport direction, and the carriage on which the head B60 is mounted is disposed on the downstream side in the paper transport direction. The same effect as the operation effect can be obtained.

In FIG. 9 showing a lenticular lens forming process according to a third embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 70 denotes a lenticular lens forming head B70 for discharging a resin for forming a lenticular lens. Are mounted on the carriage 5 together with the head A29 for color printing. The head B70 is filled with a hot-melt resin which is in a liquid state by a heater (not shown).

The arrow N6 indicates the direction in which the recording medium M is conveyed. In the recording medium M, the stereoscopic parallax image 42 is removed from the area where the stereoscopic parallax image 42 is already printed.
The hot melt resin is discharged from the head B70 from above. The head B30 is driven by the head A29, the stereoscopic parallax image 42 corresponding to one pitch of the lenticular lens pitch.
Each time is formed, the heat-fusible resin forming the lenticular lens is sequentially discharged onto the recording medium M uniformly to form the heat-fusible resin layer 71. This heat-fusible resin has high transparency, and may be any thermoplastic resin that is solid at room temperature.
It is preferable to use a vinyl chloride resin having a relatively low melting point for safety.

Reference numeral 72 denotes a lenticular lens forming roller, which is disposed downstream of the carriage 5 on which the head B 70 is mounted in the recording medium transport direction. Since the heat-meltable resin layer 71 formed by the head B70 is in a liquid state for a while even after landing on the recording medium, the lenticular lens forming roller 72 is rotated by a driving unit (not shown), or The lenticular lens 41 can be formed by spinning over the hot-melt resin layer 71 as shown by the arrow N5. This lenticular lens forming roller 7
Reference numeral 2 denotes a gear-shaped roller corresponding to the shape of the lenticular lens and the pitch at which the lenticular lens is formed, and is rotated by being brought into contact with the heat-meltable resin layer 71 from a predetermined position on the recording medium M.

The head A29 used in this embodiment is
The head B70 can discharge a color ink for forming a stereoscopic parallax image and a hot-melt resin for forming a lenticular lens by a known method using a pressure generating element such as a piezoelectric element or a heating element.

[0046]

The three-dimensional image recording apparatus of the present invention includes a first head for discharging color ink and a second head for forming a lenticular lens, and the second head includes a lenticular lens. By discharging a resin as a material to be formed onto a recording medium, a lenticular lens is formed directly on a stereoscopic parallax image, thereby eliminating the need for a user to separately prepare and attach a lenticular lens and a stereoscopic parallax image. It is possible to easily form a lenticular lens that can precisely correspond to a stereoscopic parallax image. Conventional ink jet recording apparatuses have had problems such as image deterioration and water resistance because the printed color image is exposed to the atmosphere, but a lenticular lens is provided on the color printed side of the recording medium. Has an additional effect that the problem can be solved.

Further, in the three-dimensional image recording apparatus, the second head is configured to discharge the resin a plurality of times and form a lenticular lens by stacking the resin, so that the lenticular lens is By forming a lenticular lens that precisely corresponds to a stereoscopic parallax image without using a sensor or the like, it is possible to easily provide a user with a high-precision stereoscopic image in addition to the above-described effects.

Further, in the three-dimensional image recording apparatus, the second head is formed such that one lenticular lens is formed in one process by printing a thick film of resin. An effect that a lenticular lens precisely corresponding to a stereoscopic parallax image can be formed at high speed without using a sensor and the like, and in addition to the above-described effects, a high-precision stereoscopic image can be easily provided to a user. Having.

In the three-dimensional image recording apparatus, the second head for forming the resin layer on which the lenticular lens is formed on the recording medium, and the shape and shape of the lenticular lens for forming the lenticular lens by rolling on the resin layer By having a lenticular lens forming roller corresponding to the lenticular lens forming pitch,
The curvature and the shape of the lenticular lens can be formed more accurately, and in addition to the above-mentioned effects, there is an effect that a highly accurate stereoscopic image can be easily provided to the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a stereoscopic image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a stereoscopic image formation on a recording medium according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process in forming a stereoscopic image on a recording medium according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a process of forming a lenticular lens using the inkjet head according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a lens forming step according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a head arrangement in the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another example of the head arrangement in the first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a process of forming a lenticular lens according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a process of forming a lenticular lens according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 stereoscopic image recording device 5 carriage 6 guide member M recording medium 29 head A 30, 60, 70 head B 41 lenticular lens 42 stereoscopic parallax image 71 resin layer 72 lenticular lens forming roller

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A lenticular lens comprising: a first head for discharging color ink; and a second head for forming a lenticular lens, wherein the second head records a resin serving as a material for forming the lenticular lens. A three-dimensional image forming apparatus characterized by discharging onto a medium. 2. The lenticular lens according to claim 1, wherein the second head discharges the resin a plurality of times and laminates the resin to form a lenticular lens.
The stereoscopic image forming apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second head is formed such that one lenticular lens is formed in one process by printing the resin in a thick film.
The stereoscopic image forming apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 4. The shape of a lenticular lens and a lenticular lens formed by forming the lenticular lens on the recording medium by forming the resin layer on which the lenticular lens is formed, and forming the lenticular lens by rolling on the resin layer. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lenticular lens forming roller corresponding to the pitch. 5. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first head and the second head are mounted on one carriage. 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a distance between the carriage and the recording medium varies when the first head is driven and when the second head is driven. 3D image forming device. 7. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the second head is disposed downstream of the carriage in a recording medium conveyance direction, and the first head is disposed upstream of the carriage, and a distance from each head to the recording medium is provided. 6. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the three-dimensional image forming apparatus is configured to be different. 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first head and the second head are mounted on separate carriages, and the carriages can scan independently. Item 3. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to any one of Items 4. 9. The three-dimensional image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resin is a hot-melt resin that solidifies at room temperature. 10. A first step of forming a stereoscopic parallax image by a first head that discharges color ink,
A step of forming a lenticular lens by discharging resin from above the stereoscopic parallax image by the head of (1), thereby forming a stereoscopic image. 11. A first step of forming a stereoscopic parallax image by a first head that discharges color ink, and a step of forming a resin layer on the stereoscopic parallax image by discharging resin by a second head. A three-dimensional image is formed by the second step and the third step of forming a lenticular lens by rolling a lenticular lens forming roller formed on the resin layer in accordance with the shape of the lenticular lens and the lenticular lens forming pitch. A method for forming a three-dimensional image.