JP2004042336A - Printing method, equipment and program used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print even characters of peculiar styles, to arbitrarily change the thickness of lines and also to make clear prints of fine characters or the like, in printing equipment wherein printing is conducted by hot stamping or laser engraving. <P>SOLUTION: After a printing material 14 is set at an operating position, a printing means 11 is moved relatively for the printing material 14 on the basis of character data inputted from a computer 2 and characters corresponding to the character data are printed on the material 14. As for a printing method for this constitution, three-dimensional coordinates data having virtual depth data on the assumed engraved characters are used for control of the moving extent of the printing means 11, in addition to longitudinal and lateral two-dimensional coordinates data at a large number of sample points set on the center lines of the lines constituting the characters, and the line widths of the characters are set in proportion to the depth data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing technique such as foil stamping used in the field of bookbinding and the like, and more specifically, a unique character can be easily printed, and even a character at the same point can be freely changed in line thickness and fine. The present invention relates to a technology that allows even characters to be clearly expressed. In the present invention, "letter" and "letter" are used to include symbols, designs, and the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a foil stamping machine used in the field of bookbinding and the like, there is one disclosed in JP-A-11-216998. In this method, an image of a character or the like is created on a display screen by a computer, an image signal of the created image is taken out, and the taken out image signal is supplied to a heating stamping section head that performs foil stamping. The head is relatively moved vertically to perform foil pressing.
[0003]
However, the way the foil is stamped, that is, the movement of the heating engraving head, is based on the outline character, which is represented by a set of coordinates and outlines of reference points, because the original character data is the outline character. It is a method of drawing and painting the inside.
[0004]
Therefore, only characters of a certain typeface can be printed. Also, since the character data to be used is that of the outline font, the thickness of the line constituting the character at the same point is constant, and the line should be thickened or thinned as illustrated in FIG. Will make the characters larger or smaller. That is, the thickness of the line cannot be changed.
[0005]
In addition, since the contours of characters and the like are traced, the characters tend to swell outwards, and in the case of foil stamping or laser printing, the characters may be crushed and become difficult to see. there were.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, the present invention is capable of printing characters with a unique typeface by devising the character data that is the basis of the printing work, the line thickness can be freely changed, and the printing of fine characters can be clearly performed. Is the main task.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
Means for this is that, after the material to be printed is placed at the working position, the printing means is moved relative to the material to be printed based on the character data input from the computer, and the character corresponding to the character data is printed. A printing method for printing on the top, in which the engraving character is assumed in addition to the two-dimensional coordinate data of the vertical axis at a large number of sample points set on the center line of the line constituting the character for controlling the moving range of the printing means. This is a printing method using three-dimensional coordinate data having virtual depth data, and setting a line width of a character in proportion to the depth data.
[0008]
The center line is an imaginary line that becomes the center when drawing a character. When a character has a relatively large area such as a design, a plurality of lines are assumed to draw the design. Since each of these lines has a center line, the number of the center lines is not limited to one.
[0009]
The printing by the printing means may be performed by drawing the outline of a line having a line width set based on the depth data.However, in the case of printing by foil stamping or laser engraving, the character of the character is centered on the sample point. It is preferable to draw a circle or polygon having a diameter corresponding to the line width. A circle includes an ellipse in addition to a perfect circle. Also, when drawing the above circles and polygons, for example, when printing with raster data, it is sufficient to paint or draw outlines with circles and polygons.When printing with vector data, it is sufficient to draw circles and polygons. Draw a square outline. When drawing contours, if they are drawn densely continuously, the result is similar to that of painting.
[0010]
Another means is a printing device for performing printing by the above-described printing method.
[0011]
The printing means may perform foil pressing using a heating pin that presses from above a transfer foil placed on the material to be printed, or a laser using a laser irradiation device that irradiates a laser to the material to be printed. Carving may be done.
[0012]
Still another means includes a character data search step of searching for corresponding character data from a character data storage unit based on an input character designation signal, and inputting a drive signal to the character data searched in the character data search step. A printer driving step of waiting and outputting an operation signal to the printing means side, wherein the character data storage unit stores a number of sample points set on the center line of a line constituting the character. In addition to the two-dimensional coordinate data of the upright, three-dimensional coordinate data having virtual depth data assuming engraving characters is stored, and before the printing device driving step, the three-dimensional vertical depth of the sample point is stored. A printing apparatus driving program provided with a line width calculation step of performing a calculation using the depth data of the coordinate data and calculating a line width proportional to the depth data; It is characterized in.
[0013]
The calculation in the line width calculation step is preferably to multiply depth data by a thickness parameter, and when performing foil stamping or laser engraving, an operation output in the printing device driving step. The signal may be a signal for drawing a circle or a polygon based on the line width data calculated in the line width calculation step.
[0014]
Another means is a storage medium storing the printing device driving program.
[0015]
【The invention's effect】
That is, according to the above-described configuration, the sample point serving as a reference for the relative movement of the printing unit is set on the center line of the line forming the character, and the setting of the line thickness of the character to be printed is deeply carved. Since printing is performed using virtual depth data assuming thicker engraved characters, printing can be performed in the same manner as writing characters, unlike printing performed by drawing an outline. In other words, the thickness of the line can be freely changed.
[0016]
Also, unlike the case where character data of an existing outline font is used, unique characters can be printed. This effect is particularly effective when printing on a tile. That is, since a peculiar typeface character called a pallet character has been used for the pallet for a long time, the character of the pallet is not lost. There is a case where one couple is made in the case where the couple is separately lost in time, but printing is performed using character data, so it is possible to print in the same typeface even when printing is different. That effect can also be achieved.
[0017]
Further, since the sample points of the character data are set on the center line of the line constituting the character, printing can be performed without tracing the outline. As a result, in the case of foil stamping or laser engraving, compared to the conventional method of tracing the contour, the printed characters have no swelling feeling and can be printed with a good appearance. In addition, even small characters can be printed clearly without collapsing.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a printing device, more specifically, a foil stamping device 1 for printing by foil stamping. That is, it comprises the personal computer 2 and the foil press machine 3.
[0019]
The personal computer 2 outputs information for printing to the foil stamping machine 3 in accordance with the storage medium 4 such as a CD-ROM, an MO, or the like, and a printing device driving program installed and stored in the hard disk from the storage medium 4. Drive. Further, the information input by the input device 5 is displayed on the monitor 6.
[0020]
The foil-pressing machine 3 includes a flat base body 7, a work table 8 slidably mounted on the upper surface of the base body 7 in the front-rear direction, and a gate-shaped support portion 9 erected on the base body 7. A slider 10 that slides on the support 9 in the left-right direction, a heating spindle 11 attached to the slider 10, a vertical movement mechanism 12 that moves the heating spindle 11 up and down, and controls the operation of the foil stamping machine 3. And an operating device 13 that performs the operation.
[0021]
On the upper surface of the work table 8, there is provided a holder 15 for holding the material to be printed 14 therebetween. After holding the material to be printed 14 on the holder 15, the transfer foil 16 (see FIG. 3) is placed thereon, and then the heating spindle 11 is pressed to slide the slider 10 left and right and move the work table 8 back and forth. By sliding and appropriately controlling these movements, desired foil pressing (printing) is performed.
[0022]
The heating spindle 11 is configured as shown in FIG. 2 so that the sliding is good and the foil pressing can be performed neatly, and the durability of the heating spindle 11 itself is also good. That is, a hollow conical tip member 18 is attached to the lower end of the hollow main body member 17, and the tip of the pressing member 19 is projected from a hole opened at the tip of the tip member 18. A rollable ball 20 is mounted on the tip of the pressing member 19. In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a heater for heating the pressing member 19.
[0023]
Further, a compression coil spring 23 is mounted on the outer periphery of the mounting member 22 to which the main body member 17 is mounted, and the upper end of the compression coil spring 23 is supported by an annular body 24 that can advance and retreat in the axial direction. It is elastically supported in the axial direction. This makes it possible to cope with subtle irregularities on the surface of the material 14 to be printed, and to perform fine foil pressing (printing).
[0024]
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the foil pressing. The transfer foil 16 is placed on the material to be printed 14, and heat-resistant and slippery paper 25 is further placed thereon and fixed, and the heating spindle 11 is pressed from above onto the portion to be printed. The transfer foil 16 is a well-known one and has a release layer, a transfer layer, and an adhesive layer formed by heat below a base film on the surface.
[0025]
After the printing operation is completed by pressing the heating spindle 11 to the required position and range, the transfer foil 16 is peeled off, and the transfer layer of the transfer foil 16 is transferred to the surface of the material 14 to be printed.
[0026]
The hard disk (storage device) of the personal computer 2 has a character data storage unit for storing character data of characters to be printed. The character data storage unit stores the three-dimensional coordinate data of the character as shown in FIG.
[0027]
The three-dimensional coordinate data of a character is defined as two-dimensional coordinates of a large number of sample points set on a center line of a line constituting a character (or an appropriately set line in the case of a design having a relatively large area). It has virtual depth data assuming engraved characters in addition to the coordinate data. More specifically, when there is a character “heaven” as shown in FIG. 5, a number of sample points P are set on the center line of each line constituting the character, and the coordinates of these sample points P are Capture in three dimensions. The three dimensions are vertical, horizontal, and vertical, and the vertical, that is, the X-axis and the Y-axis are the same as in the related art, but are otherwise assumed to be engraved characters as shown in FIG. Using depth data.
[0028]
An operation is performed using the depth data z among the character data composed of such three-dimensional coordinate data to set the line width of the character. The principle will be described with reference to FIG. The position of each sample point P on the plane is determined by the values of x and y. If a circle or a polygon having a radius r centered on the point P is continuously and densely drawn, a line having a thickness R is obtained. Can be That is, by using the value of the depth z and multiplying it by an appropriate thickness parameter (parameter) Pa, a required thickness R and a radius r required for the calculation are calculated.
[0029]
When the value of the depth data z changes, the thickness R of the line also changes. In addition, when a thick character or a thin character is used, the value of the thickness parameter Pa may be appropriately changed.
[0030]
FIG. 9 shows an operation for performing the above-described printing. FIG. 8A shows an example in which lines of the same width are printed. A large number of circles of the same diameter centered on each sample point P are drawn continuously as a single stroke, so that the lines of the same width are drawn. Can be formed. FIG. 8B is an example of printing a line having a different thickness. If the diameter of a circle drawn for each sample point P is changed, a line having a different thickness can be drawn.
[0031]
Note that a desired line thickness R may be obtained based on the value of the depth data z, and a contour line having the line width may be drawn.
[0032]
If continuity is impaired by the length between sample points, interpolation may be performed between sample points. For example, when interpolating between the sample points P1 and P2, first, the distance between P1 and P is set to L, and the gradient between the depths z1 and z2 is calculated.
That is, the gradient of z (K) = (z2-z1) / L
Then, the depth data of the point Pn between P1 and P2 is obtained using the gradient (K) of z.
Assuming that the depth of Pn is zn,
zn = K × Ln + z1
Ln is the distance between P1 and Pn z1 is the depth data at P1 Therefore, the radius (rn) of interpolation point Pn = Pa × zn
Similarly, if interpolation is appropriately performed on a curved portion, smoother and more beautiful printing can be performed.
If necessary, the outline may be traced after printing by drawing a circle or a polygon.
[0033]
Hereinafter, the control operation performed by the computer will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this example, the tile 26 is given as an example of the material to be printed 14 and will be specifically described. Since the tile 16 needs a special font character called a tile letter, it is suitable for explaining the present invention.
[0034]
As shown in FIG. 10, the tile 26 is constructed by assembling a tile upper plate 27 on a pedestal 28. The foil pressing is performed before assembling to the pedestal 28 and detaching from the pedestal 28.
[0035]
First, after fixing the tablet upper plate 27 (material to be printed) to the holder 15 of the work table 8, a printing character and a printing character designation signal for designating a printing character and a line thickness and arrangement related thereto are input from the input device 5 to the computer. When input (step n1), the character data of the corresponding character is retrieved from the character data storage unit (step n2). Subsequently, a line width calculation is performed by multiplying the depth data z of the searched character data by a thickness parameter corresponding to the line thickness set when the character designation signal is input (step n3). Is displayed on the monitor 6 (step n4).
[0036]
When a drive signal for driving the foil press 3 is input (step n5), necessary information is determined from the character data retrieved in step n2 and the line width data calculated in step n3 (step n6). The necessary information is output to the foil press 3 as an operation signal (step n7).
[0037]
The foil stamping machine 13 that has received the operation signal starts printing processing with the vector data. The heating spindle 11 is pressed from above the transfer foil 16 onto the tile upper plate 27 (material to be printed) and relatively moved so as to draw a continuous dense circle or polygon, and the line width is appropriately determined according to the character data. The desired printing is performed while changing.
[0038]
Since printing is performed in this manner, a character having a desired font can be printed according to character data stored in advance. In addition, the sample points for character data are set on the center line of the lines that make up the characters, and the line thickness of the characters to be printed is set as a virtual Unlike data that is drawn using contour data, printing can be performed in the same way as writing characters, and the thickness of the line can be freely changed as shown in FIG. Can be
[0039]
Furthermore, since the sampling points of the character data are set on the center line of the line constituting the character, printing can be performed without tracing the outline.In the case of the above-described foil stamping, the conventional method of tracing the outline is used. In comparison, printed characters do not have a feeling of swelling and can be printed with a good appearance. In addition, even small characters can be printed clearly without collapsing.
[0040]
Further, when printing is performed on the tablet 26 as in the above-described example, the effect of printing a unique character as described above is high. That is, since a peculiar typeface character called a pallet character has been used for the pallet since ancient times, it does not lose its likeness as a pallet. Further, there is a case where one pair is made in a case where the couple has been separately broken down in time. In this case, even if one of them is printed later as shown in FIG. 10, printing is performed using character data. Therefore, there is an advantage that printing can be performed in the same typeface irrespective of a difference in printing timing.
[0041]
The foil pressing device 1 in the above configuration corresponds to the printing device of the present invention,
Although the heating spindle 11 corresponds to a printing unit, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above-described embodiment.
[0042]
For example, if a laser engraving machine 29 as shown in FIG. 12 is attached instead of the foil stamping machine 3, a laser engraving device 30 (printing device) for performing laser engraving can be obtained. In the drawing, reference numeral 31 denotes a laser irradiator as a printing means of the present invention, which performs printing by traveling vertically and horizontally. In the case of laser engraving, in addition to the printing process using vector data as in the case of the foil stamping in the above-described example, the printing process can also be performed using raster data. In the case of performing the printing process using the raster data, it is preferable to draw a circle or a polygon as well as to draw a contour of a circle or a polygon as described above.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a foil pressing device.
FIG. 2 is a partially sectional front view showing the structure of a heating spindle.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of foil pressing.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the contents of a character data storage unit.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of character data.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of character data.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a line width calculation.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a printing method.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a control operation performed by a computer.
FIG. 10 is a front view of a tablet.
FIG. 11 is a front view of a printing state.
FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a printing apparatus according to another example.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of conventional printing.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Foil stamping device 2 ... PC 3 ... Foil stamping machine 4 ... Storage medium 11 ... Heating spindle 14 ... Printed material 16 ... Transfer layer 29 ... Laser engraving machine 30 ... Laser engraving device 31 ... Laser irradiator

Claims (8)

After the material to be printed is placed at the working position, the printing means is moved relative to the material to be printed based on the character data input from the computer, and the character corresponding to the character data is printed on the material to be printed. The method,
The control of the movement range of the printing means includes, in addition to the two-dimensional coordinate data of the levers at a large number of sample points set on the center line of the line constituting the character, three-dimensional data having virtual depth data assuming an engraved character. Using coordinate data,
A printing method for setting the line width of characters in proportion to the depth data. 2. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing by the printing unit is performed by drawing a circle or a polygon having a diameter corresponding to the line width of the character. A printing device that performs printing by the printing method according to claim 1. 5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit is a heating pin that presses from above a transfer foil placed on the material to be printed, or a laser irradiation device that irradiates a laser to the material to be printed. 6. Printing method or printing device. A character data search step of searching the character data storage unit for corresponding character data based on the input character designation signal; and transmitting the character data searched in the character data search step to the printing unit after inputting a drive signal. And a printing device driving step for outputting an operation signal.
The character data storage unit includes three-dimensional coordinate data having virtual depth data assuming engraved characters, in addition to the two-dimensional coordinate data of the levers at a number of sample points set on the center line of the line constituting the character. Remember
In the preceding stage of the printing device driving step, of the three-dimensional coordinate data of the vertical length of the sample point, a line width calculating step of performing an operation using the depth data and calculating a line width proportional to the depth data Printer driving program provided with. The printing device driving program according to claim 5, wherein the calculation in the line width calculation step is to multiply depth data by a thickness parameter. 7. The printing device drive according to claim 5, wherein the operation signal output in the printing device drive step causes a circle or a polygon to be drawn based on the line width data calculated in the line width calculation step. program. A storage medium storing the printing device driving program according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

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