JP2003001442A - Method for controlling laser marking - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the expressiveness of a laser marking by controlling the density of the marking. SOLUTION: A letter part 212 specified by user is densely marked by repeating several times of marking operation with which the same region of the letter part 212 is irradiated with a laser beam and the shadow 213 of the letter part corresponding to the letter part 212 is sparsely marked by being irradiated with the laser beam only once using the same marking data as that of the letter part 212 after dislocating the marking position, thus the marking including a letter decoration or the like such as a letter having shadow 211 or the like is simply realized with the same marking data and the expressiveness of the laser marking is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser marking control technique, and more particularly to a technique effectively applied to a laser marking technique for information processing equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a personal computer (P
In C) and peripheral devices, as well as information processing devices such as mobile phones and PDAs, personalization services using markings of management information such as user-specific logos and serial numbers on product housings have become widespread.

By the way, as a method of marking a logo or the like on a product casing, it is conceivable to use a laser marking technique capable of stable marking regardless of the material of an object such as resin or metal.

That is, marking data composed of characters, figures and images is developed into a bit image corresponding to a laser pulse, and a marking (marking) area is raster-scanned in the horizontal direction (main scanning) and main scanning in the vertical direction. Laser marking is performed by scanning in raster order by step movement (sub-scanning) of the scanning start position.

By the way, as one of the improvements in the expressiveness in laser marking, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-203 is disclosed.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 692, by utilizing the fact that a material can be removed by a laser, a multicolor layer containing different dyes is provided in advance, the multicolor layer is selectively removed, and a laser for a color image is used. It is known to achieve marking.

[0006]

In the above prior art, for example, in order to carry out multicolor marking, it is necessary to apply as many multicolor layers to the substrate as there are colors. For this reason,
When performing laser marking on a marking object such as a PC case, it is necessary to partially or entirely coat a multicolored layer, and an increase in marking cost is a technical issue.

Further, since the number of colors developed depends on the number of layers applied, there is a limit to the expression color of marking.

Here, as is commonly used in printers, there is also a method of performing full-color marking by constructing a multicolor layer of three primary colors of RGB or CMY, but in this case, a laser marking spot is used. Need to be finely controlled. Further, in the case of a character / graphic, a plurality of spots form one dot (pixel) of the character / graphic, so that there is a technical problem that the resolution is reduced and the quality is reduced.

Further, in the multicolor marking according to the prior art, individual marking data is required for each color, and when marking modified characters such as shaded characters,
There is also a technical problem that it is necessary to create the data of the shadow portion of the character, which imposes a heavy burden on the user who creates the data.

An object of the present invention is to improve the expression capability in laser marking without incurring an increase in cost or an increase in the burden of creating marking data.

Another object of the present invention is to realize multi-gradation laser marking without incurring an increase in cost and a decrease in quality.

Another object of the present invention is to improve the expressive ability such as designation of decorative characters in laser marking without imposing a burden on a user for creating extra data.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a laser marking control method for marking a marking object by scanning the laser with the laser, and controlling the number of times of laser scanning or irradiation of the marking area of the marking object. This controls the shading of the marking pattern formed in the marking area.

Further, the present invention is a laser marking control method for performing marking by scanning a laser on an object to be marked, in which multi-tone marking data for forming a marking area is irradiated with laser according to the tone level. Expanded to multiple planes showing the presence or absence of, the laser scanning or laser irradiation according to each of the developed multiple planes,
Execute in the marking area by duplicating the number of unfolded planes.

Further, the present invention is a laser marking control method for performing marking by scanning a laser on a marking object, wherein multi-gradation marking data composed of a plurality of pixels is provided for each pixel according to a gradation level. Laser irradiation is performed multiple times.

That is, the inventors of the present invention, when irradiating a marking object such as a resin base material with laser, the level of discoloration of the base material according to the amount of laser irradiation energy, that is, the number of times of laser irradiation to the same region. Found that they are different.

Utilizing this phenomenon, as an example, (1) multi-gradation marking data is decomposed for each gradation level, laser is irradiated according to the decomposed marking data, and laser marking is performed. . Alternatively, (2) multi-gradation marking data consisting of a plurality of dots is laser-irradiated a plurality of times according to the gradation level for each dot to perform laser marking.

Further, in the case of marking a modified character such as a shaded character, (3) character data serving as a reference for the modified character designated by the user is regarded as marking data having a large gradation level, and one dot is used. In this way, the marking is performed by laser irradiation multiple times according to the gradation level, and the shadow part of the character is used as the marking data of the character data with a small gradation level, and the dot position different from the character data is thinly marked. .

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an information processing device on which logo marking is carried out by a laser marking control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a laser marking device in which the laser marking control method according to the present embodiment is implemented, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the configuration of a laser irradiation system in the laser marking device of the present embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing equipment in which laser marking is carried out in this embodiment is
As an example, the personal computer 100 is a notebook type personal computer. This personal computer 10
0 is a main body 101 provided with a keyboard 102 and the like,
A lid 104 is foldably connected to the main body 101 via a hinge 103 and has a liquid crystal display 105 on the inner surface side.

In the case of the present embodiment, the marking region 210 and the marking region 220, which are marked by the laser marking technique of the present embodiment as described later, are provided on the outer surface of the lid 104 made of resin or the like. Is provided.

The marking area 210 is, for example, marked with logo information consisting of a name, a figure, an image, etc. peculiar to the owner of the personal computer 100, and the marking area 220 is a user such as an asset management number of the owner. Serial number information is marked.

On the other hand, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the laser marking apparatus 300 of the present embodiment has a laser irradiation system 3
10. A control computer 33 for controlling the processing table 320 on which a marking object 400 such as a product or a part such as the personal computer 100 described above is placed, the laser irradiation system 310, and the processing table 320.
0, a storage device 340 in which a control program input to the control computer 330, marking data, etc. are stored,
Etc.

The processing table 320 is a laser irradiation system 31.
It is provided with a moving mechanism (not shown) capable of moving (vertical movement) of 0 in the optical axis direction and horizontal and horizontal movement in the xy direction in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis direction, and commands from the control computer 330, etc. The displacement in each of the above directions is controlled in accordance with.

When performing laser marking on a marking area having a size exceeding the irradiation range of the laser irradiation system 310, the laser irradiation system 310 moves in the XY directions in accordance with an instruction from the control computer 330. This makes it possible to achieve laser marking of a large marking area.

The laser irradiation system 310 of the present embodiment has a control computer 3 as shown in FIG. 3 as an example.
A laser light source 311 whose oscillation operation is controlled by 30 and which emits a laser 312 is provided.

On the optical path of the laser 312, the galvano mirror 31 controls the scanning position of the laser 312 in the x direction of the processing table 320 by swinging by the motor 313a whose rotation operation is controlled by the control computer 330.
3 are arranged.

Laser 3 via galvanometer mirror 313
A galvanometer mirror 314 for controlling the scanning position of the laser 312 in the y direction of the processing table 320 by swinging by a motor 314a whose rotation operation is controlled by the control computer 330 is arranged on the optical path of 12. There is.

Laser 3 via galvanometer mirror 314
An fθ lens 315 that focuses the laser 312 and irradiates the marking object 400 is arranged on the optical path of 12.

Then, by the combination of the rocking control of the galvano mirror 313 and the galvano mirror 314, the raster scan of the laser 312 (steps in the y direction (sub scanning direction) each time one scan in the x direction (main scanning direction) is completed). It is possible to perform both raster marking by moving and performing scanning in the x direction from a new scanning point) and vector marking by vector scanning of the laser 312 (scanning in a single stroke).

The storage device 340 stores marking data designated by the user and multi-gradation marking data composed of a plurality of dots as required.

The control computer 330 has a storage device 34.
The marking data stored in 0 is read out, the marking data is developed, and the laser irradiation system 310 is controlled according to the principle illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 described later so that the marking object can be shaded. , Perform laser marking of multi-gradation data. In addition, the character data of the character that is the base of the decorative character such as the shaded character is read out by the method such as overlapping marking on the same area with the same marking data or marking with shifting the entire position, and Control so that shadows are marked.

Here, with reference to FIG. 4, an example of a marking density control mechanism in the present embodiment will be described.

An example is given in which the laser marking device 300 described above is used to perform light and shade marking on a marking object 400 such as a resin. More specifically, when the marking object 400 is a metal silver ABS resin in which calm silver and limestone are mixed, the marking object 400 is irradiated by the laser 312 as shown in FIG. 4A.
The irradiation site 401 of is colored white gray. When the number of times of irradiation of the laser 312 is increased, the color changes to gray (irradiation site 402) and further brown (irradiation site 403).

That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4C, the same position is irradiated three times with different irradiation patterns. When the irradiation is performed up to three times, three data frames (1: irradiation, 0: irradiation is not made) are created. Frame 1,
2 and 3 are data used for one irradiation of the laser 312, respectively. Therefore, if the spot (irradiation site) is desired to be irradiated three times, 1 is set in every frame.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 4A, the surface of the marking object 400 is changed in quality and discolored depending on the irradiation amount (number of times) of the laser 312, and white gray, gray, The three shades of brown can be represented by markings.

Looking at the cross section of the material at this time, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, the material is altered or discolored in the depth direction according to the irradiation amount (number of times) of the laser 312.

In FIG. 4 (a), the same position is scanned three times with different patterns, but the number of times of irradiation at the same position may be controlled depending on the shading. That is, in one scan, the white-gray portion of FIG. 4A performs laser irradiation once, and the gray portion performs laser irradiation twice.
The brown portion may be irradiated with laser three times.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), an example of a method of realizing character modification of a shaded character or the like in the present embodiment will be shown.

In the present embodiment, the character portion 212 designated by the user, which is composed of a character pattern such as "E", is applied to the same area by laser irradiation.
Marking in brown is performed by repeating the operation of marking in three times.

In addition, the character shadow part 2 corresponding to the character part 212
For No. 13, the same marking data as that of the character part 212 is used as it is, the marking position is slightly shifted, and one marking (laser irradiation) is performed to obtain a white-grey marking result.

Thus, the shaded character 211 can be easily provided by the user's designation of the character data and the instruction as to whether or not to make the shade (and the information on the direction such as upper right and lower right).
Can be marked, and the user and the complicated data creation work in the marking process for the shaded character 211 can be omitted (FIG. 5A).

At this time, the character portion 212 is irradiated with laser light 4 times (a portion overlapping the marking area of the shaded character 211) or 3 times (a portion not overlapping the marking area of the shaded character 211), but 3 times. If the laser irradiation conditions are set so that the marking density can be sufficiently obtained by the laser irradiation of 1), the marking density is saturated even if the laser irradiation is performed four times, so that the difference between the two is not conspicuous (see FIG. )).

In the above example, the character shadow portion 213 is marked after the character portion 212 is marked, but the same result can be obtained even if the marking order of both is reversed.

By such marking control, the lid 104 of the personal computer 100 illustrated in FIG.
Logo with shadowed text 211 on (marking area 21
0) can be easily formed.

FIG. 6 shows a method as shown in FIG.
An example of the flowchart of the marking process of the shaded character in the laser marking device of this Embodiment is shown.

That is, the control computer 330 takes in character data as marking data from the storage device 340 (step 501), and uses the data to perform duplicate marking on the same area, for example, three times (step 502, step). 503, step 50
4). As a result, the character portion 212 is marked.

Then, the presence / absence of the shaded designation is determined (step 505). If the designation is made, the position of the irradiation area is shifted by moving the processing table 320 or the like (step 506). Step 5
Marking is performed once by using the same data as 02 to 504 (step 507).

As a result, it is possible to mark the shaded character 211 including the character part 212 and the corresponding character shadow part 213 without requiring complicated data.

FIG. 7 shows various examples of the method for shifting the position of the character shadow portion 213 with respect to the character portion 212 in marking the shaded character 211 as described above.

FIG. 7A shows an example in which the character shadow portion 213 is marked by shifting the character portion 212 to the left or right. FIG. 7B shows an example in which the character shadow portion 213 is marked by shifting the character portion 212 in either the upper or lower direction. In FIG. 7C, the character shadow part 2 is shifted in either diagonal direction (lower right or upper left) of the character part 212.
An example of marking 13 is shown. The shadow portion may be shifted in multiple stages for marking. The number of times of laser irradiation and operation may be changed in each stage.

Next, an example of generating laser marking data from general gradation image data in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

Here, the case where the marking density control method described with reference to FIG. 4 is developed on a surface (pattern) will be described.

When the shading marking consisting of a plurality of dots 600 is performed by laser irradiation three times, a pattern having three levels of shading of white gray, gray and brown is developed on the frame 1, the frame 2 and the frame 3. In each frame of FIG. 8, “1” represents the dot 600 which is irradiated with laser, and “0” represents the dot 600 which is not irradiated with laser.

In the present embodiment, as an example, a raster scan vector that can be generated and controlled by the laser irradiation system 310 or a vector scan vector is arranged in a length corresponding to the dot size to perform marking. By controlling the presence / absence, it is possible to control the presence / absence of laser irradiation for each dot 600.

Since the brown dot 600 is marked by laser irradiation three times, the corresponding dot 600 is laser-irradiated in all frames. Gray dot 600
Since marking is performed by laser irradiation that is repeated twice, laser irradiation is performed on the corresponding dots 600 in frame 1 and frame 2. That is, the target gray marking is obtained by superimposing frames indicating whether or not a plurality of laser irradiations are performed.

In FIG. 8, the appearance of marking is the light and shade that is visually recognized as the marking result. Nothing indicates the background color of the marking object 400.

FIG. 9 exemplifies a flowchart showing an example of a method for generating laser marking data for contrast control of this embodiment from general gradation image data.

That is, the control computer 330 takes in general gradation image data input from the outside (step 701) and develops it into marking data of each of a plurality of frames 1 to 3 (step 702, step 7).
03, step 704).

After that, the control computer 330 performs the marking operation using each of the plurality of frames 1 to 3 individually in order within the same marking area (step 705, step 706, step 707).

As a result, a marking image (marking appearance) having a shading distribution corresponding to shading of each dot of the original gradation image data is formed on the marking object.

Next, with reference to FIG. 10, an example of shading control in the case of performing laser marking of higher gradation by the multi-value / halftone dot method in the present embodiment will be described.

When it is attempted to obtain a pattern of 16 gradations by simple binary laser marking with or without marking as in the conventional case, one dot (pixel) is 4 × 4 = 16 laser spots (or vectors). Size), depending on the minimum size of pixels required,
It may be difficult to realize in some cases because the laser spot (or vector size) needs to be extremely small.

On the other hand, if the density control technique by overlapping marking in the same area according to the present embodiment as described above is applied, one pixel is composed of 2 × 2 = 4 laser spots and one pixel is formed. By marking the spots in 4 gradations (overlapping irradiation in 4 steps of 0 to 3 times), the same laser spot (or vector size) can be used to achieve higher definition and the same level of gradation. It is possible to obtain the image, and the gradation expressing ability of the image by the laser marking is remarkably improved.

As described above, according to the laser marking control technique of the present embodiment, the density of the marking image is controlled by controlling the number of overlapping markings in the same marking area, which increases the cost. It is possible to improve the expressive ability in laser marking without increasing the burden of creating marking data.

Further, it is possible to realize multi-tone laser marking without causing an increase in cost and a decrease in quality.

Further, by combining the control of the number of times of overlapping marking on the same marking area with the same marking data and the movement of the marking position, shaded characters and the like can be easily realized, and extra data for the user can be obtained. It is possible to improve the expressive ability for designating decorative characters and the like without imposing a burden such as creation.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

The information processing device of the marking object is not limited to the personal computer exemplified in the above-mentioned embodiment, but its peripheral devices, the mobile phone, the PD.
It can be widely applied to general information processing equipment such as A.

[0071]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that the expression ability in laser marking can be improved without incurring an increase in cost or an increase in burden of creating marking data.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that multi-gradation laser marking can be realized without causing an increase in cost, a deterioration in quality and the like.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an effect that it is possible to improve the expressive ability such as designation of decorative characters in laser marking without imposing a burden on a user for creating extra data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an information processing device in which logo marking is performed by a laser marking control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a laser marking device in which a laser marking control method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a configuration of a laser irradiation system in the laser marking device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4C are explanatory views illustrating an example of a marking density control mechanism in a laser marking control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing an example of a method for realizing character modification of a shaded character and the like in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a shadowed character marking step in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

7A to 7C are explanatory diagrams showing various marking examples of shaded characters in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a method of generating laser marking data from general gradation image data in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing an example of a method for generating laser marking data for light and shade control in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of shading control when performing laser marking of higher gradation by a multi-value / halftone dot method in the laser marking control method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Personal computer, 101 ... Main body, 10
2 ... Keyboard, 103 ... Hinge, 104 ... Lid, 10
5 ... Liquid crystal display, 210 ... Marking area, 21
1 ... Shaded characters, 212 ... Character part, 213 ... Character shadow part,
220 ... Marking area, 300 ... Laser marking device, 310 ... Laser irradiation system, 311 ... Laser light source, 31
2 ... Laser, 313 ... Galvano mirror, 313a ... Motor, 314 ... Galvano mirror, 314a ... Motor, 31
5 ... fθ lens, 320 ... Processing table, 330 ... Control computer, 340 ... Storage device, 400 ... Marking object, 401 ... Irradiation site, 402 ... Irradiation site, 403
... irradiated area, 600 ... dots.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B23K 101: 36 B41J 3/00 Q (72) Inventor Takayuki Matsui 810 Shimoimaizumi, Ebina City, Kanagawa Stock Company Hitachi, Ltd. Internet Platform Division (72) Inventor Kazuto Setsuzu 810 Shimoimaizumi, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Stock Company Hitachi Ltd. Internet Platform Division (72) Inventor, Kotonori Ito, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Imaizumi 810 Hitachi, Ltd. Internet Platform Division F-term (Reference) 2C362 CB66 4E068 AB01 CA09 CB01 CE03 DA09 4E360 AB03 EE15 FA08 GA51 GA54 GB43

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A laser marking control method for performing marking by scanning a laser on a marking object, comprising controlling the number of times of scanning or irradiating the marking area of the marking object to the marking area. A laser marking control method comprising controlling the density of a marking pattern to be formed. 2. The laser marking control method according to claim 1, wherein the scanning number or the irradiation number is controlled by shifting the scanning position or the irradiation position of the laser based on the same marking data, and the marking pattern is shaded. A method for controlling laser marking, which comprises: 3. A laser marking control method for performing marking by scanning a laser on a marking object, wherein multi-gradation marking data forming a marking area is indicated according to the gradation level and whether or not laser irradiation is performed. A laser marking control method, wherein the marking area is developed on a plurality of planes, and laser scanning or laser irradiation according to each of the plurality of developed planes is performed on the marking area by overlapping the number of the developed planes. . 4. A laser marking control method for performing marking by scanning a laser on a marking object, wherein in marking using multi-gradation marking data composed of a plurality of pixels, a plurality of units forming the pixels are provided. A laser marking control method characterized in that a plurality of overlapping laser irradiations are performed for each region according to a gradation level. 5. The laser marking control method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein the marking object is a product or a part of an information processing device, and the marking area is a product or a part of the individual product. A laser marking control method comprising at least one of a character and an image unique to an owner and a frame shape.