JP2003054095A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect print results accurately when the print results are inspected by matching a print image read out from a printed matter with original print image data by correcting skew through a simple method such that the image data can correspond appropriately. SOLUTION: A reference mark adding section 130 adds a reference line to the left end of print image data stored in a print image memory 120 and a head section 150 prints the print image data on a print sheet 800 through a print section 140. A scanner section 160 reads in the printed image and stores it in an inspection image memory 170 and a position correcting section 180 reads out that image line by line and then corrects the position by shifting the data, i units of line, such tat the leftmost pixel is aligned with the reference line added at the reference mark adding section 130. An inspecting section 190 inspects the print results by collating the corrected image data with original image data stored in the print image memory 120.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device capable of appropriately inspecting a print result, and as a result, capable of printing arbitrary data on a print medium such as a printing paper at high speed and accurately. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Documents such as billing documents, securities, lottery tickets, etc. on which different information (hereinafter referred to as variable data) is printed for each printed matter are laser printers,
It is printed by a printer such as an inkjet printer. However, the above-mentioned documents do not allow for defective data such as duplicated or missing print contents, defective printing such as scratches and crushing, and low-quality printing such as variations in line width and shading, so accurate data is not allowed. Is required to be printed in high quality. Therefore, inspection of the print result is essential.

As an apparatus for inspecting such a printing result up to now, for example, an apparatus relating to the applicant of the present application, which captures an image of the printing result with a scanner or the like, and uses the bitmap data for printing. There is known a device for inspecting the print quality by inspecting for the presence or absence of stains or white spots by performing a bit matching method with the above. In addition, for example, information indicating the print content is printed on a printed matter with OCR-readable characters (for example, OCR-B font), the character portion is read from the printed matter, recognized by OCR, and the printed data is There is also a device that inspects whether it is proper or not. There is also an apparatus in which a bar code is printed in the same manner and the bar code is read to inspect the print content.

[0004]

By the way, in such a printer device, when an image is read from a printed matter due to the fact that the paper is being conveyed, etc. Is often slightly skewed. Further, there is a problem in that even such a slight skew as to be judged as an appropriate printed matter as a printed matter has a great influence when the inspection is carried out, and becomes an adverse effect for the proper inspection.

For example, in the method of matching the image data for printing and the read image data in bit (pixel) units, the number of pixels that do not match even with a slight deviation or skew of the image data becomes a considerable number, and is inspected. There is a problem that the result becomes poor and the inspection cannot be performed properly. If a criterion that allows such a number of non-coincidences is adopted, the detection capability when a defective printing area actually appears will be lowered, and again there will be a problem that proper inspection cannot be performed. Occurs. In addition, even in the method of recognizing characters and barcodes and inspecting the print contents, if there are such deviations and skews, it is often impossible to accurately recognize characters or barcodes, such as a reduction in the character recognition rate. Therefore, there is a problem that the inspection cannot be performed properly.

In order to deal with such a problem, for example, a portion of an image that is more characteristic than the read image data is detected, and the read image is made so that this position coincides with the corresponding portion of the image for printing. A method of converting the position of data can be considered. However, such a process is a very large amount of processing and takes a long time,
In a printer device that performs high-speed printing, when high-speed inspection is required, it cannot be applied with sufficient accuracy. In particular, in the case of important printed matter such as the securities listed above, there is no limit to the possibility that defective printed matter will appear.
Therefore, there is a demand for a highly reliable printer system capable of performing a stricter inspection and outputting only a proper printed matter.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to easily correct the deviation or skew of the image data read from the printed matter, so that the printed contents and the result can be properly and efficiently inspected. The object is to provide a highly reliable printer device.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the printer apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reference mark adding means for adding a reference mark to a predetermined position of input image data, and the reference mark adding means. Printing means for printing the added image data on a printing medium, image reading means for reading the printed image from the printed printing medium, and data for the read image Image data correction means for making correction based on the reference mark and inspection means for making inspection of the printing result based on the corrected image data are provided.

Preferably, the image data correction means includes reference mark detection means for detecting image data of the reference mark from the read image data.
So that the position of the reference mark is the predetermined position,
And a position correction means for correcting the position of the read image data.

Preferably, the reference mark adding means adds a mark having a predetermined shape to at least one side portion in the main scanning direction of each predetermined number of lines in the main scanning direction, and the reference mark detecting means. Detects the mark from the end portion of the read image data, and the position correcting means corrects the position of the image data for each of the predetermined number of lines based on the detected mark.

More preferably, the reference mark adding means adds, as the mark, a substantial line extending in the sub-scanning direction to at least one side portion in the main scanning direction of the printing medium, and the reference mark is added. The mark detecting means detects a pixel forming the line from the end portion of the read image data, and the position correcting means corrects the position of the image data based on the position of the detected pixel. .

Specifically, the line is any one of a predetermined number of solid lines having a width of 1 pixel or more, a broken line, a dashed line, or a combination thereof.

More specifically, the reference mark adding means adds a solid line extending in the sub-scanning direction to at least one side of the print medium in the main scanning direction as the mark, and detects the reference mark. The means detects a pixel forming the line from the image data for each line of the read image data in the main scanning direction, and the position correcting means detects the pixel based on the position of the detected pixel. The position of the image data for each line in the main scanning direction is corrected.

Specifically, the reference mark adding means is
The reference mark is added to the image data that is sequentially input and different for each print medium, and the printing unit prints the image data for each print medium to which the reference mark is added on the print medium. The image reading unit reads the printed image from each of the printing target media on which the printing is performed, and the correction unit corrects each of the read image data based on the reference mark. Then, the inspection unit inspects the printing result for each of the print target media based on the pre-corrected image data.

More specifically, the reference mark adding means adds a predetermined reference mark defined in bit units to a predetermined position of the input bitmap image data, and the printing means The image data in the bitmap format to which the reference mark is added is printed on a printing medium, and the image reading unit prints the printed image in the bitmap format from the printing medium on which the printing is performed. The reading, the correction means corrects the position of the bitmap-format data of the read image in bit units with the reference mark as a reference, and the inspection means based on the corrected bitmap-format image data. Inspect the result of the printing.

Specifically, the inspecting means inspects the result of the printing by collating the corrected image data with the input image data in bit units.

Further preferably, the inspection means extracts an image of an area in which a desired character or character string is printed from the corrected image data, recognizes the character or character string, and uses the recognition result as the recognition result. Character inspection means for inspecting the result of the printing based on the above, and an image of a region in which a desired bar code is printed from the corrected image data is extracted, the bar code is recognized, and based on the recognition result One or both of bar code inspection means for inspecting the result of the printing is provided, and the print content of the print is inspected.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, variable data sequentially input from an external device is printed at high speed using a plurality of inkjet heads, and at the same time, the print content and print state are inspected from the print result so that a defective print can be detected. The present invention will be described by exemplifying a printer device.

First, regarding the configuration of the printer device,
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printer device 100 of this embodiment. The printer device 100 includes a paper transport unit 110 and a print image memory 1
20, reference mark adding section 130, printing section 140, head section 150, scanner section 160, inspection image memory 170,
It has a position correction unit 180, an inspection unit 190, a control unit 200, and an operation unit 210.

The paper transport unit 110 is a paper transport mechanism that sequentially transports the print paper 800, which is the medium to be printed. The paper transport unit 110 is a paper feed unit that sequentially feeds continuous paper, a print unit paper transport unit that transports print paper under the print head of the head unit 150, and an inspection unit paper that transports print paper under the scanner of the scanner unit 160. The transport unit and the winding unit that winds the discharged print sheet are integrally connected to each other, and thereby the print sheet is stably transported at a high speed and a predetermined speed.

Specifically, the paper transport unit 110 is composed of rollers and guides for feeding the print paper 800, a sensor for detecting the position of the print paper, an encoder for detecting the paper transport speed from the rotation speed of the roller, and the like. Based on a control signal input from the unit 200, conveyance / stop of printing paper,
Adjust speed, etc. In addition, the pulse from the encoder of the paper transport unit 110 is output to the printing unit 140 as a signal that generates timing at the time of printing. The paper transport unit 110 according to the present embodiment transports the print paper at about 3 m / s.

The print image memory 120 is a memory that sequentially stores image data to be printed on a print sheet, which is sequentially input from the outside, in a bitmap format, and is a dual port RAM in the present embodiment. The stored image data is sequentially read by the reference mark adding unit 130 and is used for printing. Further, it is sequentially read by the inspection unit 190 and used as correct answer data for collation when inspecting the print result. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that bitmap image data is directly input from the outside. The print image memory 120 has a storage capacity capable of storing image data for several pages of print paper.

The reference mark adding section 130 reads out the image data recorded in the print image memory 120,
A reference mark is added and output to the printing unit 140. The processing in the reference mark adding unit 130 will be described with reference to FIG. The reference mark adding unit 130 sequentially reads bit data for each line in the main scanning direction of the print head of the head unit 150 described later from the print image memory 120. For example, an image 810 as shown in FIG.
Is stored in the print image memory 120, X
The data for each line is read in the direction. Note that FIG.
In (A), a line 805 is a line indicating the leftmost pixel of the printing area, and an area 811 is a blank area corresponding to the outside of the effective area of the printed matter formed on the printing paper 800.

Then, the reference mark adding unit 130 causes the blank area 81 of the read bit data for each line.
The predetermined pixel of 1 is converted into a black pixel as an image of the reference mark and output to the printing unit 140. In this embodiment, one pixel from the left end 805 to the third pixel is converted into a black pixel. By performing such processing in the reference mark adding unit 130, the print image memory 12
The image data as shown in FIG. 2A stored in 0 is converted into the image data with the reference mark 803 as shown in FIG. 2B and output to the printing unit 140.

The printing unit 140 sequentially prints the image data input from the reference mark adding unit 130 on the printing paper 800 via the head unit 150 based on the control signal input from the control unit 200. Specifically, the printing unit 1
The control unit 40 controls the operation timing of the head unit 150 and the ink dropping speed with respect to the conveyed printing paper, based on the pulse input from the encoder of the paper conveyance unit 110. The head unit 150 described later is configured by arranging four ink jet heads 150 _{-1 to} 150 _-4 so that the printing range thereof is continuous in the main scanning direction. Therefore, the printing unit 140 divides the image data input from the reference mark adding unit 130 into image data for each inkjet head and outputs the image data to each head, and the above-described head control is also performed individually for each inkjet head. Control so that desired printing can be performed as a whole.

The head unit 150 actually prints the image data input from the printing unit 140 on a printing paper. Each of the head portions 150 has a dot density of 240 dpi.
4 inkjet heads with a print width of 4 inches
As shown in FIG. 3, 0 _{-1 to} 150 _-4 are arranged so that the print areas of the respective heads are continuous, and the total print area is 16
The printing width of inch (4 inches x 4) can be printed on the printing paper. Each inkjet head 1
Image data for each inkjet head is input to 50 _-i (i = 1 to 4) and controlled by the printing unit 140 to print desired image data.
Note that FIG. 3 shows the head unit 150 and the scanner unit 160.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the arrangement of each head and scanner.

Here, the ink jet head 150
_-i (i = 1 to 4) printing method, Figs.
Will be described with reference to. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operating principle of the head 150 _-i . In head 0.99 _-i, ink 154 _-i in the ink bottle 151 _-i is a nozzle 152 _-i corresponding to each dot, with a period of 100kHz, i.e., is added dropwise at a rate per second 100,000 drops.
For each of the inks 154 _-i , if the corresponding position of the printing paper 800 conveyed under the nozzles 152 _-i is the position where black should be printed, the ink 154 _-i
-i is dropped on the printing paper 800 as it is, and the printing paper 8
The position of 00 is blackened.

If the position is not a position to be printed, an electric field is applied by an electric field applying means (not shown) to draw the ink 154 _-i toward the catcher 153 _-i . As a result, the ink 154 _-i is collected in the catcher 153 _-i and is not dropped on the printing paper 800. By such a method, the head 150 _-i is moved to the position shown in FIG.
, Dots with a dot pitch of about 0.1 mm and a dot size of about 0.1 mm are printed as appropriate.
Print the desired image. In addition, the head 150 _-i
It is also possible to drop a plurality of inks 154 _-i at the same position, and the printer device 100 thereby expresses pseudo gradation.

A desired printing process is performed on the printing paper 800 by the processes of the print image memory 120 to the head unit 150. An example of this print result is shown in FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an image printed on one page of the printing paper 800. The printing paper 800 is continuous paper,
Effective print content 8 that is later cut into individual prints
04 is printed on each page in order. A cue mark 801 serving as a reference for the print position is written near the beginning of each page. In addition, a code for identifying the page and the front and back is described as a barcode 802 on each page. Then, a reference line 803, which is a mark serving as a reference of the print image, is provided in an area on the left side of the printing paper 800 and outside the effective printing area 804.
Is described.

The scanner section 160 reads the image printed on the printing paper by the head section 150, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, and stores it in the inspection image memory 170 as bitmap image data. Scanner unit 160
Will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the scanner unit 160. The scanner unit 160 includes four scanner units 161 ₋₁ to
It is composed of 161 _-4 . Each scanner unit 161 _-i (i =
A control signal is input from the control unit 200 to 1 to 4). Further, from each scanner unit 161 _-i (i = 1 to 4),
The read image data is output to the inspection image memory 170.

Each scanner unit 161 _-i (i = 1 to 4) is
Cue mark detection sensor 162 _-i , encoder unit 163
_-i , a light irradiation unit 164 _-i , a CCD camera 165 _-i, and a control unit 166 _-i . Cue mark detection sensor 162
_-i is installed near the CCD camera 165 _-i ,
The cue mark 801 printed on the conveyed printing paper 800 after the printing by the head unit 150 is completed is detected. When the cue mark 801 is detected, a signal to that effect is output to the control unit 166 _-i .

The encoder unit 163 _-i, like is provided near the CCD camera 165 _-i, for detecting the transport speed of the printing paper 800 is detected by the cue mark detection sensor 162 _-i. The configuration of the encoder unit 163 _-i will be described with reference to FIG. The encoder unit 163 _-i includes the encoder 167 _-i , the counter 168 _-i, and the speed calculation unit 1.
69- _i . The encoder 167 _-i rotates integrally with, for example, the printing paper transport roller of the paper transport unit 110,
A predetermined pulse corresponding to the rotation angle is output. The pulse is counted by the counter 168 _-i , and the speed calculation unit 169 _-i calculates the transport speed of the printing paper 800 based on the count value within a predetermined time.

Light irradiation unit 164_-iIs the CCD camera 165
_-iSelect an appropriate area on the print paper to capture the image.
Gives the amount of light. In this embodiment, it is provided inside the housing.
The light of the halogen lamp that is generated is proposed by the fiber cable.
Inside, CCD camera 165 _-iTo the imaging range of.
CCD camera 165_-iWhen capturing images in
Is the amount of light required when the printing paper 800 is transported faster.
Also grows. That is, the conveyance speed of the printing paper 800 and
The required amount of light has a substantially proportional relationship. Therefore, light irradiation
Part 164_-iThe amount of light emitted by_-iTo
Control based on the detected transport speed of the printing paper
Be done.

The CCD camera 165 _-i reads the printed image and outputs it to the inspection unit 190. CCs of the four scanner units 161 _{-1 to} 161 _-4 of the scanner unit 160
As shown in FIG. 3, the D cameras 165 _{-1 to} 165 _-4 are arranged such that the reading areas of the respective sensors are substantially continuous, so that the entire print width range of the head unit 150 can be read as a whole. It has become.

The control section 166- _i is a control means for controlling each section of the scanner section 161- _i . In the control unit 166 _-i , based on the control signal from the control unit 200, the cue mark detection information by the cue mark detection sensor 162 _-i as described above, and the print sheet conveyance speed information by the encoder unit 163 _-i. The control of the light amount of the light irradiation unit 164- _i and the reading of the image of the CCD camera 165- _i are performed.

The inspection image memory 170 includes the scanner unit 16
It is a memory that sequentially stores in a bitmap format that is sequentially input from 0. In the present embodiment, it is a dual port RAM and has a storage capacity capable of storing image data of several pages of printing paper. . The stored image data is sequentially read by the position correction unit 180 and used for print inspection. As described above, the scanner unit 160 includes the four scanner units 161 _{-1 to} 161 _-4.
The inspection image memory 170 is provided with the CCD cameras 165 of the four scanner units 161 _{-1 to} 161 _-4.
Image data is input from _{-1 to} 165 _-4 .
In the inspection image memory 170, the four image data are transferred to the CCD camera 165 in the inspection image memory 170.
By storing at a predetermined address based on the arrangement of _{-1 to} 165 _-4 , the image from the printing paper 800 is reconfigured as image data of one frame and sequentially output to the position correction unit 180.

The position correction unit 180 is provided in the inspection image memory 17
The image data recorded in 0 is read, the reference mark added by the reference mark adding unit 130 is detected, the read image data is corrected by this, the detected reference mark is deleted, and the obtained image data is obtained. Is output to the inspection unit 190 as image data to be inspected.

Regarding the processing in the position correction unit 180,
This will be described with reference to FIG. The position correction unit 180 sequentially reads bit data for each line in the main scanning direction of the print head of the head unit 150 from the inspection image memory 170.
For example, if the image shown in FIG. 9A is stored in the print image memory 120, the data for each line is read in the X direction. Next, based on the information from the reference mark adding unit 130, the reference mark adding unit 130
The reference mark added in step 1 is detected. In the present embodiment, the reference mark is added as a line in the sub-scanning direction with a width of 1 pixel to the margin area 811 of the printing paper 800 on the further left side of the printing image 810. Therefore, the position correction unit 180 scans the data for each line in the main scanning direction from the left end to detect the first black pixel, and regards that one pixel as a reference mark.

Next, the position correction section 180 corrects the position of the image data for each line so that the reference mark is at the same position as when it was added by the reference mark adding section 130. That is, the reference mark adding unit 130
Then, the reference mark was set at the third pixel from the left end. Therefore, the data for each line is adjusted in the line direction so that the reference mark of the image data read from the inspection image memory 170, that is, the leftmost pixel is the third pixel from the left. Then, the pixel of the reference mark, that is, the pixel from the third pixel from the left is invalidated (in this embodiment, is a white pixel), and the resulting image data is output to the inspection unit 190.

By performing such processing in the position correction section 180, the image data stored in the inspection image memory 170 as shown in FIG.
The position is corrected and the reference mark 803 as shown in FIG.
Is converted to image data in which the
Is output to.

The inspection unit 190 inspects the print content and print state of the printing performed on the print paper 800 based on the image data read from the print paper 800 input from the position correction unit 180. First, the inspection unit 190
Compares and collates the print image stored in the print image memory 120 with the image input from the position correction unit 180, and determines the appropriateness of the printing state, that is, the character Checks for print defects such as misalignment, thin characters, thick characters, printing position differences, white spots, pinholes, character skew, dirt, density differences, streakers, and missing characters, and the inspection results are controlled by the control unit. 200 and the upper external device.

In the inspection unit 190, the position correction unit 18
The bit image data for each line input from 0 and the bit data of the corresponding line read from the print image memory 120 are sequentially compared on a bit-by-bit basis, and the number of mismatched pixels is accumulated. Then, when the accumulated number of mismatched pixels becomes larger than a predetermined threshold value THL, it is determined that there is a large difference between the image data read from the printed matter and the original print image data, that is, there is a problem in print quality. Then, a signal indicating that the print result is defective is output. In addition, the accumulated number of mismatched pixels is the threshold value T
When the collation is completed for all the areas of the page of the printing paper 800 without exceeding HL, it is determined that the print quality is normal, and a signal indicating that the print result is good is output.

The inspection unit 190 also inspects whether or not the print contents on the front and back of each page of the printing paper 800 are appropriate based on the barcode 802 printed on the printing paper 800. The inspection unit 190 extracts the image data of the bar code 802 from the image input from the position correction unit 180, reads the bar code, and sequentially inputs the read data and the data in accordance with the printing order of the printed matter from the outside. It collates with the data for specifying the printed matter, inspects whether the print content is appropriate, and outputs the inspection result to the control unit 200 and the upper external device.

The control unit 200 controls the printer device 100 so that the printer device 100 performs a desired operation as a whole.
Control each part of. Printing conditions and control conditions are input to the control unit 200 from an upper host computer via an Ethernet I / F (not shown). Control unit 200
Sets operating conditions of the paper transport unit 110, the head unit 150, the scanner unit 160, and the like based on the conditions, and the transport of the printing paper 800, the printing on the printing paper, and the reading of the printed image are synchronized. And control so that it can be done appropriately. Further, the control unit 200 is in the process of printing, and when a signal indicating that the print result is defective is input from the inspection unit 190, the control unit 200 immediately stops the printing work so that the printing work is stopped. The section 140, the head section 150, and the like are controlled.

The operation unit 210 is an operation terminal for performing relatively simple operations such as setting work conditions and print parameters on the printer device 100, and notifying the operator of data notified from the printer device 100. is there. In the present embodiment, a general-purpose personal computer is used by being connected with the RS232C interface. The operation unit 210 also outputs a log file of the inspection result of the printing state and the like. In addition, the operation unit 210,
It has a monitor for selectively displaying the image data read by the scanner unit 160. This monitor is usually used to help an operator visually grasp a rough situation, and is used to confirm a print result when an abnormality occurs.

Next, the operation of the printer device 100 will be described. First, print contents, print conditions, etc. are set in the control unit 200 via the operation unit 210 or a host computer of a higher level. As a result, the control unit 200 sets the operating conditions of the components such as the paper transport unit 110, the printing unit 140, the head unit 150, and the scanner unit 160. When the setting of the conditions is completed and the printing operation is started, the print image data is sequentially input to the print image memory 120 from the host computer in the bitmap format. Further, to the inspection unit 190, data that specifies the printed matter and indicates the print content and that is described in the form of the barcode 802 on the printing paper 800 is sequentially input.

The image data stored in the print image memory 120 is sequentially read line by line by the reference mark adding section 130, and a reference line 803 as shown in FIG. The print is performed on the printing paper 800 from the head unit 150 via the. Then, the printed image data is transferred to the scanner unit 16
0, scanned, read, inspection image memory 170
Memorized in.

The image data stored in the inspection image memory 170 is sequentially read line by line in the main scanning direction by the position correction unit 180, and the reference mark which is the leftmost pixel is determined by the position correction unit 180. Of the image data, that is, the third pixel from the left, the image data is shifted in the line direction and the position is adjusted. Then, further, the fiducial mark is erased, and the reference mark is substantially deleted.
Image data as shown in (B) is generated and sequentially output to the inspection unit 190 line by line.

Then, the adjusted image data at this position is matched in bit units with the original image data used for printing stored in the print image memory 120 in the inspection unit 190, and the number of mismatch bits is counted. To be done. If the number of unmatched bits is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value, it is determined that there is some problem with the print quality of the print image data on the print sheet 800, and a signal to that effect is output to the control unit 200.

Further, from the image data whose position has been adjusted by the position correction unit 180, the inspection unit 190
The area in which the barcode is written is extracted, the barcode is read, collated with the data input from the outside and indicating the print content, and it is confirmed that they match. If the data do not match, it means that at least the content to be printed on the page is not printed, for example, pages are swapped or the front and back sides are printed inconsistently. Therefore, it is determined that the print content of the print image data on the print sheet 800 is not appropriate, and a signal to that effect is output to the control unit 200. Then, in the control unit 200, when the result indicating that the print quality is poor is input, the printing is immediately stopped.

As described above, in the printer 100 of the present embodiment, the leftmost black pixel is simply detected in the data for each line, and the position of this pixel is set to a predetermined position. Only by adjusting the data for each line, it is possible to easily correct the deviation or skew of the image data read from the printing paper 800. As a result, the image data read from the printed matter and the image data for printing can be appropriately associated with each other, and the image data in bit units can be appropriately matched. Further, the barcode can be read more accurately, and the inspection of the printed content can be performed more appropriately.

Since these correction processes are very simple processes, a characteristic part is detected from the conventional read image data and this position is made to coincide with the corresponding part of the reference image data for printing. , Is a remarkably simple process compared to the case of performing a very complicated process,
It is possible to significantly reduce the inspection time of the printed matter, and thus the printing time, and it is possible to reduce the cost of the printer device.

The present invention is not limited to the present embodiment, and various suitable modifications can be made. For example, in the present embodiment, the reference mark is a straight line attached to the left end of printing paper 800, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any mark may be added. For example, a line may be printed on the right edge of the printing paper 800. Also, the width of the line may have two or more pixels, or the line may be a broken line. Further, in the present embodiment, using the reference mark, only the method of correcting the skew of the image in the main scanning direction, that is, the direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction is shown.
That is, it is obvious that the skew in the paper transport direction can be corrected by the same method.

Further, although the present embodiment has an ink jet type printing section as a printing means, it can be applied to an electrophotographic type printer such as a laser beam printer. Further, the inspection unit 190 inspects the print result by the bit matching of the image data and the collation of the bar code, but an inspection method other than this may be used, and any inspection may be performed. It is obvious that it is effective to apply the invention of the present application and use appropriate image data whose skew is corrected. Specifically, for example, a printed character or a pattern may be extracted, recognized, and used for inspecting the print content.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention,
(EN) A printer device that sequentially prints variable data, and in particular, can provide a highly reliable printer device that can efficiently inspect a print content and a print state and efficiently output only a proper printed matter. it can. Further, it is possible to provide a printed matter inspection apparatus capable of efficiently inspecting a print medium on which variable data is sequentially printed by combining print contents and print states and appropriately eliminating defective printed matter.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a process of a reference mark adding unit of the printer device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an arrangement of heads and scanners of a printer unit shown in FIG. 1 and a scanner unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the structure and operating principle of the head of the print head unit of the printer device shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram for explaining a print result by the head shown in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing an example of a print image printed by the printer device shown in FIG.

7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a scanner of the printer device shown in FIG.

8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an encoder unit of the scanner shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram for explaining a process of a position correction unit of the printer device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Printer device 110 ... Paper transport unit 120 ... Print image memory 130 ... Reference mark adding unit 140 ... Printing unit 150 ... Head unit 151 ... Ink bottle 152 ... Nozzle 153 ... Catcher 154 ... Ink 160 ... Scanner unit 161 ... Scanner 162 ... Cue mark detection sensor 163 ... Encoder unit 164 ... Light irradiation unit 165 ... CCD camera 166 ... Control unit 167 ... Encoder 168 ... Counter 169 ... Velocity calculation unit 170 ... Inspection image memory 180 ... Position correction unit 190 ... Inspection unit 200 ... Control unit 210 ... Operation unit 800 ... Printing paper 801 ... Cue mark 802 ... Bar code 803 ... Reference line (reference mark) 804 ... Effective print area (printed content) 805 ... Left edge 810 ... Print image 811 ... Margin area

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C061 AP01 JJ02 JJ14 KK04 KK18                       KK28                 5C076 AA14 AA24 BA02 BA06 BA08                       CA09                 5C077 LL01 LL11 PP05 PP23 PP43                       PP58 PP59 TT05

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A reference mark adding unit for adding a reference mark to a predetermined position of input image data, a printing unit for printing the image data with the reference mark on a print medium, An image reading unit that reads the printed image from the printed medium that has been printed, an image data correction unit that corrects the data of the read image based on the reference mark, and the corrected image data. A printer device having an inspection means for inspecting the result of the printing based on the above. 2. The image data correction means, a reference mark detection means for detecting image data of the reference mark from the data of the read image, and a position of the reference mark becomes the predetermined position,
A printer device having a position correction unit that corrects the position of the read image data. 3. The reference mark adding means adds a mark of a predetermined shape to at least one side portion in the main scanning direction of each predetermined number of lines in the main scanning direction, and the reference mark detecting means comprises: Detecting the mark from the end of the data of the read image, the position correcting means, based on the detected mark,
The printer device according to claim 2, wherein the position of the image data is corrected for each of the predetermined number of lines. 4. The reference mark adding means adds a substantial line extending in the sub-scanning direction to at least one side of the printing medium in the main scanning direction as the mark, and the reference mark detecting means. 3. The position detecting unit corrects the position of the image data based on the position of the detected pixel, the pixel detecting the pixel forming the line from the end of the read image data. Alternatively, the printer device according to item 3. 5. The printer device according to claim 4, wherein the line is one of a predetermined number of solid lines having a width of 1 pixel or more, a broken line, a dashed line, or a combination thereof. 6. The reference mark adding means adds a solid line extending in the sub-scanning direction to at least one side of the print medium in the main scanning direction as the mark, and the reference mark detecting means sets the reference mark detecting means. From the image data of the read image data for each line in the main scanning direction, the pixel forming the line is detected, and the position correction unit detects the position of the detected pixel for each line. The printer device according to claim 2, wherein a position of image data in the main scanning direction is corrected. 7. The reference mark adding means adds the reference mark to the image data that is sequentially input and is different for each print medium, and the printing means adds each reference medium to the print medium. Image data is printed on a print medium, the image reading unit reads the printed image from each of the print media on which the printing has been performed, and the correction unit corrects the read image. 7. Each of data is corrected based on the said reference mark, The said inspection means inspects the said printing result for every said to-be-printed medium based on the pre-corrected image data. The printer device described. 8. The reference mark adding means adds a predetermined reference mark defined in bit units to a predetermined position of the input bitmap image data, and the printing means adds the reference mark of the reference mark. The added bitmap format image data is printed on the print medium, and the image reading unit reads the printed image from the print medium in the bitmap format, and the correction is performed. The means corrects the position of the bit-mapped data of the read image in bit units with the reference mark as a reference, and the inspecting means, based on the corrected bit-mapped image data, of the printing. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the result is inspected. 9. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the inspection unit inspects the corrected image data and the input image data in bit units to inspect the printing result. apparatus. 10. The inspection means extracts an image of an area in which a desired character or character string is printed from the corrected image data, recognizes the character or character string, and based on the recognition result, A character inspection means for inspecting a printing result, and an image of an area in which a desired barcode is printed from the corrected image data is extracted, the barcode is recognized, and the printing of the printing is performed based on the recognition result. 10. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising one or both of bar code inspection means for inspecting a result and inspecting the print content of the printing.