JP2004188840A - Printing device and printing method for rotary recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing device which corrects biased loading due to the weight of ink, on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium by a simple means, and to provide a printing method. <P>SOLUTION: The printing device is comprised of a dividing means for dividing the printing surface of the rotary recording medium into two or more divided regions, an ink amount measuring means for measuring an amount of coating of printing ink in each printing region of the divided region, and an ink amount correcting means for generally equalizing the amount of ink in each divided region. Thus, the printing device and the printing method for the rotary recording medium, that easily cancel the biased loading, are obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and a printing apparatus for printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium, and more particularly to a printing method and a printing apparatus for optimizing the amount of printing ink on a rotary recording medium.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, it is known that a rotational load (eccentricity) is generated in a rotational recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, and a DVD-R due to various influences with respect to the rotation center of the recording medium. .
[0003]
As one of the factors, it is known that an eccentric load is also generated by printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium, and uneven rotation of the rotary recording medium due to uneven amount of ink adhesion causes reproduction of an information signal. It is pointed out that the quality is lost. Conventionally, in order to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience, there has been proposed a method of measuring a bias of a load and attaching a weight so as to cancel the measured bias load (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-10-188364 (pages 2-3)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-mentioned conventional method, it is necessary to rotate the rotary recording medium to measure the bias of the load, and it is necessary to measure a large amount of information at home, such as a CD-R or DVD-R. There is a problem that it is not suitable for a printing device used by a home user, such as printing a label on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium. Further, by attaching the weight for canceling the biased weight to the 180 ° opposite side of the rotary recording medium, a problem arises in that the printing surface becomes uneven.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method for correcting uneven load due to ink weight on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium by simple means.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to the present invention, the dividing means for dividing the printing surface of the rotary recording medium into two or more divided areas, and the application amount of the printing ink in each print area in the divided area is measured. The present invention is a rotary recording medium printing apparatus including an ink amount measuring means for performing the printing and an ink amount correcting means for making the respective ink amounts of the divided areas substantially uniform. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain a rotary recording medium printing apparatus capable of canceling out partial loads.
[0008]
Further, in the rotary recording medium printing apparatus of the present invention, the printing surface of the rotary recording medium is divided into two or more divided areas, the ink application amount of each print area in the divided area is measured, and each divided area is measured. This is a method of printing on a rotary recording medium that corrects the amount of ink in each area so as to be substantially uniform. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain a method for printing on a rotary recording medium that cancels out biased loads.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
A printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to a first aspect of the present invention is a printing apparatus for printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium, and divides a printing surface of the rotary recording medium into two or more divided areas. A dividing unit; an ink amount measuring unit for measuring an application amount of the printing ink in each printing region in the divided region; and an ink amount correcting unit for substantially equalizing the ink amount in each divided region. This is a rotary recording medium printing apparatus characterized in that the data is corrected and printed so that the amount of ink in each of the N divided print areas is substantially uniform, thereby easily canceling the partial load. It has the effect of being able to. Here, “to make the ink amount substantially uniform” means to adjust the moment of each divided area with respect to the weight of the ink or the center of the rotary recording medium within the range of ± 10%.
[0010]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium, wherein the ink amount correcting unit is configured to set the amount of the ink in the divided region having the small amount of ink substantially equal to that of the divided region having the large amount of ink. 2. The rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink is applied substantially uniformly, and the data is corrected and printed so that the ink amounts of the divided areas are made substantially uniform. As a result, there is an effect that the biased load can be easily canceled.
[0011]
Further, in the printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to the third aspect of the present invention, the correction ink has lower visibility than the printing ink. This is an apparatus that has an effect that the biased load can be easily canceled without damaging the design of the user. Here, low visibility means that a difference in any one of lightness, chroma, and hue between the printing surface and the correction ink is small, and it is particularly preferable that the lightness difference is small.
[0012]
The printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to the fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention uses yellow ink as the correction ink. 4. A rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the coating ink is used as the apparatus or the correction ink, and the correction ink is printed without damaging the design of the user. This has the effect that the biased load can be easily canceled.
[0013]
Further, in the printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to claim 6 of the present invention, the ink amount correcting means generates a repetitive pattern for reducing the application amount to a predetermined amount, and applies correction ink according to the repetitive pattern. A rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the application range and weight of the correction ink can be set freely, and the user can apply the ink. This has the effect that the biased load can be easily canceled without impairing the design.
[0014]
Further, in the printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to claim 7 of the present invention, the ink correction means reduces the amount of the color ink constituting the black component of the printing ink. The present invention provides a printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium as described above, and has an effect that the amount of ink in a printing area can be reduced and the biasing load can be easily canceled.
[0015]
The method of printing on a rotary recording medium according to claim 8 of the present invention is a method of printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium, wherein the printing surface of the rotary recording medium is divided into two or more divided areas. A method for printing on a rotary recording medium, wherein an ink application amount of each print area in each divided area is measured, and the ink amount of each divided area is corrected so as to be substantially uniform. By printing data corrected so as to make the ink amounts of the divided print areas substantially uniform, the partial load can be easily canceled.
[0016]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a print data input unit for inputting print data to be printed on a rotary recording medium by a user, and 102 denotes rotary printing for printing at a predetermined position on a recording surface of the rotary recording medium. A print medium transport unit for transporting the medium; 103, a processing unit (CPU) for analyzing print data and generating correction data to control the entire printing apparatus; 104, a printing unit for printing on a rotary recording medium; Reference numeral 105 denotes a memory (RAM) for holding print data, correction data, and the like, and reference numeral 106 denotes a program storage memory (ROM) for storing programs executed by the processing device 103, correction patterns, and the like.
[0018]
The print data input unit 101 may have an interface such as an external storage device or communication, or may generate print data internally using the processing device 103. The processing device 103 may be a processing device that analyzes print data and generates correction data, and may be a plurality of processing devices that exclusively control the printing unit 104 and the print medium transport unit 102. It is also conceivable that the print medium transport unit 102 does not transport the print medium but instead moves the print unit 104 in accordance with the print medium. Further, the recording method of the printing unit 104 is not particularly specified, but the composition and fixing of the ink are suitable for printing on the recording surface of the rotary recording medium. In the present embodiment, the printing unit 104 will be described as an inkjet type.
[0019]
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a rotary recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention. A rotary recording medium such as a CD-R or a DVD-R generally has a hole 201 at the center thereof so that it can be held by a rotating holder. The intersection 203 of the vertical and horizontal broken lines in the figure indicates a circular center point O. In printing, it is not possible to print on the entire surface of such a circular donut shape, and the printable printing surface 202 has a donut shape excluding the inner peripheral portion and the outer edge portion of the rotary recording medium. Here, the moment F when the ink is applied to a certain point P204 on the printing surface 202 is represented by F = (α · V) d. d is the distance between the center point O and the point P204, V is the amount (volume) of the ink applied to the point P204, and α is the specific gravity of the ink. That is, the weight m of the ink is m = α · V.
[0020]
Hereinafter, the flow of processing for printing on a rotary recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
[0021]
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing processing of the rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing print correction of a rotary recording medium according to one embodiment of the present invention. The print source data 301 to be printed by the user is input by the print data input unit 101 and stored in the memory 105 by the data storage unit 302. The print source data 301 stored in the memory 105 is divided into print data by a print data analysis unit 303, which is an example of a dividing unit and an ink amount measuring unit, and calculates the amount of ink applied to the divided area. Analyze media balance. The analysis result is stored in the memory 105 through the data storage unit 302. The print data correction unit 304 determines whether or not correction is necessary, and if necessary, how much, by referring to the analysis result. When it is determined that the correction is necessary, the correction data generation unit 305 generates correction data for canceling the partial weight of the rotary recording medium. The print data correction unit 304 generates print data 308 by superimposing the correction pattern on the print source data stored in the memory 105 through the data storage unit 302. Here, the correction pattern may be generated using the correction pattern generation unit 306 each time depending on the correction amount and the number of divisions, or a plurality of correction patterns may be stored in advance as a table in the storage memory 106 or the memory 105 for the program or the like. May be used. In addition, by using a pattern that is difficult for a human to visually recognize as this pattern, it is also possible to use the pattern as a tracking mark unique to the printing apparatus. The correction pattern may be a repetitive pattern that reduces the application amount to a predetermined amount, for example, a dot pattern applied to 10 to 90% of a predetermined area, or a linear or wavy pattern formed at a predetermined pitch. Can be formed. When the printing range of the correction pattern is predetermined, the ink amount and moment can be adjusted by selecting a predetermined repetitive pattern.
[0022]
Note that the print data correction unit 304, the correction data generation unit 305, and the printing unit 104 constitute an ink amount correction unit.
[0023]
Here, as shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that print areas 401, 402, and 403 are arranged as print source data 301 that the user intends to print. FIG. 4 shows an example in which the printing surface of the rotary storage medium is divided into two parts by broken lines dividing a circle into upper and lower parts, and divided into divided areas 405 and 404, respectively. The print data analysis unit 303 calculates the amount of ink in the print areas 401 and 402 located above the circle. At this time, since the specific gravity of the ink may be different for each color or the amount of the ink droplet may be different, there is a method in which the total weight calculated in consideration of these points is used as the ink amount. For more detailed calculation, there is a method of calculating the moment of each impact point based on the amount of ink and the distance from the center point O. Next, similarly, the ink amount or moment of the print area 403 below the circle is obtained. Assuming that the weight ratio of the upper and lower inks in FIG. 4 is 70:30, the weight ratio of the upper and lower inks is 1: 1 in the lower half divided region 404 of the circle. That is, the correction is performed as follows.
[0024]
At this time, in the present embodiment, the description has been made assuming that the correction region (not shown) for printing the correction ink in the divided region 404 includes the print region 403, but there is also a method not including the print region 403. When the print area 403 is included in the correction area, the print area 403 is coated with the correction ink together with the print ink.
[0025]
As the ink to be printed in the divided area 404, yellow ink that is difficult to visually recognize has local regularity, but by performing correction printing with a random pattern, the user's design is not impaired. , Uneven load can be prevented. Even if the yellow ink is difficult to visually recognize, if the correction amount increases, the density of the corrected yellow ink in the divided area 404 may increase, and the yellow ink may become visible. Therefore, a method of using a transparent coating ink instead of the yellow ink is also conceivable, and a method of using the yellow ink up to a certain threshold for the correction ink amount and using the coating ink when the threshold is exceeded is also conceivable. . In either case, printing is performed on the entire surface of the divided area 404 in a pattern that is difficult to visually recognize.
[0026]
Hereinafter, the flow of processing for correcting the partial weight of the rotary recording medium will be described with reference to the processing flowchart of the rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. First, the print data analysis unit 303 forms a virtual division line along the radial direction of the print surface 202 when the print data to be printed by the user is projected on the print surface 202 of the rotary recording medium, The print surface 202 is equally divided (step S501). Next, the print data analysis unit 303 calculates the ink amount for each of the divided areas (step S502). The necessity of the correction of the print data is determined based on the calculation result of the ink amount (step S503). If it is determined that correction is necessary, the amount of ink to be corrected is calculated according to the divided area (step S504). A correction pattern corresponding to the calculated ink amount is generated or a correction pattern is selected from a plurality of ink correction tables prepared in advance according to the ink amount (step S505). Finally, final print data in which the correction data is added to the print source data is generated (step S506).
[0027]
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating print correction of a rotary recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0028]
FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which the print surface is equally divided into four and correction data is added to all divided areas. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the printing surface of the rotary storage medium is divided into four divided regions 604, 605, 606, and 607 by broken lines dividing a circle into upper, lower, left, and right parts. The print area 601 at the top of the circle extends over the divided area 606 and the divided area 607, and the print area 602 is included only in the divided area 607. The print area 603 extends over the divided area 604 and the divided area 605. The amount of ink in the included print area is calculated for each of the divided areas. The calculation of the ink amount is performed in the same manner as in FIG. Assuming that the weight ratio of the ink in the divided areas 604 to 607 in FIG. 6 is 10: 10: 30: 40, the correction to equalize the ratio of the area 607 to the area 604 and the area 605 is performed. Correction for equalizing the ratio of the area 606 to the area 607 is performed. As a result, the weight ratios of the inks are balanced. At this time, there is a method of including the print regions 601 to 603 in the correction regions (not shown) of the divided regions 604 to 607, and a method of not including the print regions. As the ink to be printed in the divided areas 604 to 606, yellow ink that is difficult to visually recognize has local regularity, but is printed in a random pattern, thereby correcting the user's design. Can be prevented without impairing the load. Even if the yellow ink is difficult to visually recognize, if the correction amount increases, the density of the corrected yellow ink in the divided areas 604 to 606 may increase, and the yellow ink may become visible. Therefore, a method of using a transparent coating ink instead of the yellow ink is conceivable, and a method of using the yellow ink up to a certain threshold for the correction ink amount and using the coating ink when the threshold is exceeded is also conceivable. . Further, it is conceivable that a boundary between the divided areas 607 and 605 can be visually recognized by increasing the amount of correction ink in the divided areas 604 and 605. In this case, a predetermined correction amount of ink is also added to the divided region 607, and correction is performed by adding the predetermined correction amount to the divided region 604, the divided region 605, and the divided region 606, so that the correction ink is printed. Since the coating is applied to the entire area, the correction can be performed so that the boundary between the divided areas is not conspicuous.
[0029]
FIG. 7 shows a processing flowchart of the rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
[0030]
First, the print surface 202 when the print data to be printed by the user is projected on the print surface 202 of the rotary recording medium is equally divided (step S701). Next, the print data analysis unit 303 calculates the ink amount for each of the divided areas (step S702). In addition, an overlapping portion of the ink and the amount of the overlapping are calculated for each divided region. For example, the number of points where black K, cyan Y, and magenta M overlap in the same location in the divided area is collected as data represented by a histogram, so that the ink overlap amount can be calculated. Based on the calculation result of the ink overlap amount, in a divided area where the amount of ink is large, a certain portion of the color ink other than black is thinned out (step S704). As the thinning rate, a threshold or a thinning pattern set in advance according to the amount of ink may be used, or the threshold may be adaptively calculated based on the rate of ink. At this time, it is also possible to change the type of color ink to be thinned out depending on how the inks overlap.
[0031]
After the thinning of the color ink, the calculation of the ink amount for each divided area is performed again (step S705). The necessity of the correction of the print data is determined based on the calculation result of each ink amount (step S706). If it is determined that correction is necessary, the amount of ink to be corrected is calculated according to the divided area (step S707). A correction pattern corresponding to the calculated ink amount is generated or a correction pattern is selected from a plurality of ink correction tables prepared in advance according to the ink amount (step S708). Finally, final print data is generated by adding correction data to the print source data (step S709). If the final print data 308 is printed on the print area of the rotary recording medium by the printing unit 104, it is possible to cancel the imbalanced load caused by the imbalance of the ink amount generated when the print source data 301 is printed as it is.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the rotation can be performed in a simple manner and without impairing the design intended by the user without using a special device for detecting the biased weight generated by printing on the rotary recording medium. It is possible to obtain a printing apparatus and a printing method for a rotary recording medium capable of performing printing on a recording medium.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the rotary recording medium. FIG. 3 shows processing of the rotary recording medium printing apparatus. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a printing correction of the rotary recording medium. FIG. 5 is a processing flowchart of a printing apparatus of the rotary recording medium. FIG. 6 is a printing of a rotary recording medium according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing correction. FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart of a printing apparatus for the rotary recording medium.
101 print data input unit 102 print medium transport unit 103 processing unit (CPU)
104 Printing unit 105 Memory (RAM)
106 Program etc. storage memory (ROM)
201 Hole 202 Print surface 203 Intersection 301 Print source data 302 Data storage unit 303 Print data analysis unit (division unit, ink amount measurement unit)
304 print data correction unit 305 correction data generation unit 306 correction pattern generation unit 307 correction table 308 print data 401 to 403, 601 to 603 print areas 404, 405, 604 to 607 divided areas

Claims (8)

In a printing apparatus for printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium,
Dividing means for dividing the printing surface of the rotary recording medium into two or more divided areas;
Ink amount measuring means for measuring the application amount of the printing ink of each printing area in the divided area,
A printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium, comprising: an ink amount correction unit for making the respective ink amounts of the divided areas substantially uniform. 2. The rotary recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said ink amount correction unit applies substantially uniformly an amount of ink which is substantially equal to the divided region having a large amount of ink, to the divided region having a small amount of ink. Printing equipment. The printing apparatus for a rotary recording medium according to claim 1, wherein the correction ink has lower visibility than the printing ink. 4. The rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein yellow ink is used as the correction ink. 4. The rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a coating ink is used as the correction ink. 6. The ink amount correction unit according to claim 1, wherein the ink amount correction unit generates a repetitive pattern for reducing the application amount to a predetermined amount, and applies the correction ink according to the repetitive pattern. Rotary recording medium printing device. 2. The rotary recording medium printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink correction unit reduces an amount of a color ink constituting a black component of the printing ink. A method of printing on a printing surface of a rotary recording medium, wherein the printing surface of the rotary recording medium is divided into two or more divided areas, an ink application amount of each printing area in the divided area is measured, and A method for printing on a rotary recording medium, wherein the correction is performed so that the ink amounts of the divided areas are made substantially uniform.

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