JP2007136647A - Reading-cutting complex device and cutting method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enter easily the cutting line information of prescribed shape into a cutting part 40. <P>SOLUTION: A reading-cutting complex device is equipped with a reading part 20 to read a reading image 52 recorded in a sheet-form medium 180, a cutting line information producing part 60 to extract the cutting line image 186 from the reading image 52 read by the reading part 20 and produce the cutting line information, and the cutting part 40 to cut the medium 180 in accordance with the cutting line information. The reading image 52 is completed by writing additionally the cutting line image 186 to the image 51 recorded in the medium 180 initially. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reading / cutting composite apparatus and a cutting method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a reading / cutting composite apparatus including a reading unit that reads an image from a sheet-like read medium, and a cutting unit that cuts or cuts the sheet-like cut medium and cuts a section. The present invention also relates to a medium cutting method that can be performed using a reading device and a cutting device.

  There is a cutting device called a cutting machine or a cutting plotter that cuts out or cuts a section from a sheet-like medium such as paper, cloth, or resin film according to cutting line information of a desired shape. The cutting device includes a cutter head that can change the direction of the cutting edge and the height relative to the medium, and performs a cutting operation on the medium by moving the cutter head relative to the medium.

  Patent Document 1 describes an example of a cutting device. The cutting device described in this document includes a spindle head that reciprocates in the Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis with respect to the fabric conveyed by the table running in the X-axis direction. Further, the entire fabric can be scanned by the spindle head by combining the conveyance in the X direction by the table and the reciprocating movement of the spindle head in the Y direction. Therefore, by attaching a knife (cutter) to the spindle head and drawing an appropriate shape on the fabric, it is possible to cut out a desired shape from the fabric.

Further, Patent Document 2 describes a drawing / cutting plotter capable of cutting out a desired cut piece from a sheet-like medium. This drawing / cutting plotter also includes a drawing head that reciprocates and a group of rollers that convey the medium in a direction orthogonal to the reciprocating direction of the drawing head, and can scan the drawing head over the entire surface of the medium. . Therefore, when a writing tool is attached to the drawing head, a desired figure can be recorded on the medium, and when a blade is attached to the drawing head, a cut piece having a desired shape can be cut out from the medium. Further, this Patent Document 2 also refers to connecting a drawing / cutting plotter to a host computer to form a cutting system.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-90511 JP 2001-225297 A

  When the cutting medium is cut using the cutting device, cutting line information is input to the cutting device in order to indicate the shape of the slice to be cut. However, the generation of cutting line information is not an easy task. For example, drawing a complicated cutting line as desired using the operation unit of the cutting apparatus or the input device of the information processing apparatus connected to the cutting apparatus is considerably difficult for a user who has not received specialized training. When an image recorded on the medium to be cut is cut out, it is necessary to indicate not only the shape of the image but also the position of the image to be cut on the medium. As described above, the generation of the cutting line information is a big barrier in spreading the cutting apparatus.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, as a first embodiment of the present invention, a reading unit that reads an image recorded on a sheet-like read medium, and a cutting line is extracted from the read image read by the reading unit. A reading / cutting composite apparatus is provided that includes a cutting line information generation unit that generates cutting line information and a cutting unit that cuts a medium to be cut according to the cutting line. Accordingly, the cutting line information can be generated by the cutting line information generation unit by writing the cutting line on the read medium and causing the reading unit to read it. Further, since the object to be cut can be cut at the cutting unit based on the generated cutting line information, it is very easy to input the cutting line information to the cutting apparatus.

  According to one embodiment, in the above-described reading / cutting composite apparatus, the read image is an image obtained by adding a cutting line to the image originally recorded on the cutting medium. As a result, when an image on a cut medium is cut out, cutting line information corresponding to the cut-out image can be generated and input very easily.

  Furthermore, according to another embodiment, in the above-described reading / cutting composite apparatus, the reading medium is a copying medium on which a copy image obtained by copying an image originally recorded on the cutting medium is recorded. Thereby, the cutting line information corresponding to the cut-out image can be input without fouling the original cut medium.

  According to another embodiment, the saturation of the copy image is significantly lower than the saturation of the cutting line in the reading and cutting composite apparatus. Alternatively, the copy image is an image obtained by converting the colored image originally recorded on the cut medium into a gray scale. Thus, by using the writing tool with high saturation to write the cutting line in the copy image, the cutting line information generation unit can easily identify the cutting line and generate information.

  According to another embodiment, in the above-described reading / cutting composite apparatus, the brightness of the copied image is significantly higher than the brightness of the line to be cut. Thus, by using a writing tool with extremely low lightness to write a cutting line in the copy image, the cutting line information generation unit can easily identify the cutting line and generate information.

  Furthermore, according to another embodiment, the cutting line is included in the read image as a region outside at least one of the saturation range, brightness range, and chromaticity range of the entire read image. Thereby, a cutting line can be reliably extracted from the read image.

  Further, as a second embodiment of the present invention, a reading procedure for reading an image recorded on a sheet-like read medium, and a cutting line for extracting cutting lines from the read image read by the reading unit and generating cutting line information A cutting method including a generation procedure and a cutting procedure for cutting a medium to be cut according to a cutting line is provided. Thereby, a function equivalent to the above-described reading / cutting composite apparatus can be realized without depending on a specific device.

  It should be noted that the above summary of the invention does not enumerate all the necessary features of the present invention. Sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be an invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention, but the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. In addition, not all the combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential for the solving means of the invention.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a composite apparatus 10 including a reading unit 20 and a recording cutting unit 30. As shown in the figure, the composite apparatus 10 includes a reading unit 20 and a recording cutting unit 30 that are housed in a common housing 170. In addition, the reading unit 20 is disposed on the recording cutting unit 30 in an overlapping manner. Therefore, when the medium 180 is moved from the reading unit 20 to the recording cutting unit 30 described later, the medium is moved by the user's hand. However, a part of information on a specific medium can be shared between the reading unit 20 and the recording cutting unit 30.

  The reading unit 20 includes a document table 110 for placing a medium 180 on which an image is formed, and a document pressing unit 120 for pressing the medium 180 placed on the document table 110 from above. Most of the central portion of the document table 110 is formed by a transparent glass plate 112.

  A line sensor 190 having a length substantially the same as the short side of the glass plate 112 is disposed immediately below the glass plate 112 in parallel with the short side of the glass plate 112. Further, the line sensor 190 reciprocates over substantially the entire length of the long side of the glass plate 112. Thereby, an image formed in an arbitrary region on the lower surface of the sheet-like medium 180 placed on the document table 110 can be read through the glass plate 112.

  The recording cutting unit 30 formed in the lower part of the composite apparatus 10 is formed by stacking an upper recording unit 32 and a lower cutting unit 40 as will be described later. In this figure, in the configuration of the recording cutting unit 30, a paper support 310 disposed on the rear side and a lift tray 360 that protrudes horizontally and moves up and down are visible. The paper support 310 is fixed to the rear of the housing 170, and after the media 180 loaded therein are taken into the recording unit 32 one by one and an image is recorded inside the recording unit 32, the paper support 310 is in the raised position. It is discharged onto a certain lift tray 360.

  An operation panel 130 is provided on the front surface of the composite apparatus 10. Here, a power switch for interrupting the power supply of the entire composite apparatus 10, a display for displaying an operation state, and the like are arranged. The operation panel 130 also serves as an operation unit when the multifunction apparatus 10 is used as a stand-alone copying machine. The composite apparatus 10 can be used as a stand-alone copying machine or the like, but it can also be used as an output apparatus (printer) or an input apparatus (scanner) by connecting to an information processing apparatus (not shown). it can.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the structure of the reading unit 20 in the composite apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the inside of the housing of the reading unit 20 which is a part of the housing 170 has a substantially cubic space, and includes a guide shaft 150 and a timing belt 160 arranged in the longitudinal direction thereof. The timing belt 160 is hung on a pulley 162 pivotally supported on the housing 170 side at one end in the longitudinal direction of the housing 170.

  A driving wheel train unit 164 including a motor 166 is disposed at the other end of the casing 170 in the longitudinal direction. The other end of the timing belt 160 is hung on another pulley mounted on the drive wheel train unit 164. Thereby, the timing belt 160 travels in parallel with the guide shaft 150 between a pair of pulleys including the pulley 162.

  In addition, a line sensor 190 is disposed in the housing 170 so as to be orthogonal to the guide shaft 150. A guide shaft 150 is inserted under the line sensor 190. Further, the line sensor 190 is coupled to the timing belt 160 at a lower portion thereof. The driving wheel train unit is equipped with a motor 166 and rotationally drives one of the pulleys 162. Accordingly, the line sensor 190 is moved horizontally along the guide shaft 150 by operating the motor 166.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the recording cutting unit 30 extracted as a part of the internal mechanism of the composite apparatus 10. As shown in the figure, the recording cutting unit 30 is formed by integrating an upper recording unit 32 and a lower cutting unit 40 by an internal housing 380. Further, a lift tray 360 that conveys the medium 180 from the recording unit 32 to the cutting unit 40 is provided on the front surface as a member common to the recording unit 32 and the cutting unit 40.

  The recording unit 32 includes a paper support 310 attached to the rear of the internal housing 380, a recording conveyance unit 344 including a conveyance roller 340 and a conveyance driven roller 342, a recording platen 350, and a recording discharge unit including a discharge driven roller 372. 374. The paper support 310, the recording transport unit 344, and the recording discharge unit 374 form a transport system. Thus, the medium 180 loaded in the paper support 310 as a recording medium is fed one by one onto the recording platen 350 by the recording transport unit 344 and further lifted on the front surface of the internal housing 380. It is sent out by the recording discharge unit 374.

  Above the recording platen 350, a pair of guide rails 320 and 322 parallel to each other are horizontally disposed so as to be orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the medium 180. Further, a recording carriage 330 that is inserted through the guide rails 320 and 322 and moves horizontally on the recording platen 350 is disposed. The recording carriage 330 is driven by driving means (not shown) and reciprocates along the guide rails 320 and 322. At this time, since the recording carriage 330 is inserted through the pair of guide rails 320 and 322, the recording carriage 330 can be prevented from tilting forward or backward.

  The recording carriage 330 includes an ink cartridge 332 mounted from above and a recording head 334 suspended on the lower surface. As a result, ink is ejected toward the medium 180 above the recording platen 350. Here, by combining the reciprocating movement of the recording carriage 330 and the conveyance of the medium 180 by the recording conveyance unit 344, an image is recorded by ejecting ink to an arbitrary area on the surface of the medium 180.

  The medium 180 on which the image is recorded on the recording platen 350 is sequentially sent out to the lift tray 360 by the recording discharge unit 374 including the discharge driven roller 372. The lift tray 360 moves up and down on the front surface of the internal housing 380 while maintaining a constant angle with respect to the internal housing 380. As a result, the medium 180 on which the image is recorded in the recording unit 32 is automatically moved to the front of the lower cutting unit 40. Further, if the medium 180 sent to the lift tray 360 is taken out from the composite apparatus 10 as it is, the recording cutting unit 30 can be used as the simple recording unit 32.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the structure of the cutting unit 40 arranged in the lower stage of the recording cutting unit 30 with the frame 480 extracted. As shown in the figure, the cutting unit 40 includes a discharge tray 410 mounted on the rear side of the frame 480, while the front surface of the frame 480 is open to the lift tray 360 described above. Therefore, the medium 180 can be taken into the inside from the lift tray 360.

  On the front end side inside the frame 480, a cutting and conveying section 444 including a conveyance driven roller 442 is formed which takes in the medium 180 from the lift tray 360 and further conveys the medium 180 in the conveyance direction indicated by an arrow Y in the drawing. That is, a cutting unit that cuts the medium 180 below a cutting carriage 430, which will be described later, and a cutting discharge unit 394 that is disposed behind the cutting unit and feeds the medium 180 to the discharge tray 410 side are formed. The conveyance roller hidden under the medium 180 is driven to rotate by a motor, and conveys the medium 180 pressed by the conveyance driven roller 442 onto the rear cutting platen 450.

  The cutting platen 450 has a horizontal and substantially flat upper surface, supports the medium 180 placed from below, and determines the vertical position thereof. On the other hand, a cutting carriage 430 is disposed above the cutting platen 450. In addition, a pair of guide rails 420 and 422 penetrating the cutting carriage 430 are disposed above the cutting platen 450. The guide rails 420 and 422 are horizontally disposed in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the medium 180 and are parallel to each other. As a result, the cutting carriage 430 guided by the guide rails 420 and 422 reciprocates on the medium 180. In the figure, the reciprocating direction is indicated by an arrow X.

  The cutting carriage 430 is driven by a driving mechanism (not shown) to reciprocate. A cutter 432 is attached to the lower surface of the cutting carriage 430. The cutter 432 moves up and down relatively with respect to the cutting carriage 430. By lowering the cutter 432 toward the medium 180 located on the cutting platen 450, the lower end of the cutter 432 is penetrated into the medium 180.

  Further, in a state where the cutter 432 is inserted into the medium 180, the medium 180 is moved according to a cutting line having an arbitrary shape by combining the conveyance of the medium 180 and the reciprocating movement of the cutting carriage 430 to relatively move the cutting carriage 430 and the medium 180. 180 is cut with a cutter 432.

  In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it is described that the medium 180 is loaded into the cutting unit 40 from the front side in the drawing and discharged to the discharge tray 410 behind the cutting unit 40. However, in order to cut out the cutting area from the medium 180, the medium 180 is reciprocated at least for the length of the cutting area in the transport direction. Therefore, instead of the above embodiment, the cutting and conveying unit 444 may reciprocate the medium 180 in the direction indicated by the arrow Y in the drawing. In this case, the finally cut medium 180 may be returned to the front lift tray 360 and discharged.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the recording cutting unit 30 including the recording unit 32 and the cutting unit 40 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In the same figure, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 and the redundant description is omitted.

  As shown in the figure, the lift tray 360 is supported by a ball screw 366 inserted through a screw hole formed at the inner end thereof (the ball screw 366 is located inside the internal housing 380 in FIG. 3). is there). A ball screw driving unit 364 is coupled to the lower end of the ball screw 366, and the ball screw 366 is driven to rotate. Thus, the ball screw 366 moves the lift tray 360 up and down as indicated by an arrow E in the drawing by appropriately operating the ball screw driving unit 364.

  In the recording cutting unit 30 having the lift tray 360 as described above, the medium 180 initially loaded in the paper support 310 is sandwiched between the transport roller 340 and the transport driven roller 342 and sent onto the recording platen 350. . Ink is ejected downward from the recording head 334 mounted on the lower surface of the recording carriage 330 to the medium 180, and an image is formed on the upper surface of the medium 180.

  Eventually, the leading end of the medium 180 on which the image is recorded on the upper surface reaches the recording discharge portion 374, is sandwiched between the discharge roller 370 and the discharge driven roller 372, and is discharged onto the lift tray 360 at the raised position. When the medium 180 is completely discharged onto the lift tray 360, the ball screw 366 driven by the ball screw driving unit 364 rotates and the lift tray 360 is lowered.

  When the lowered lift tray 360 is lowered to the height of the cutting and conveying unit 444, the medium 180 is sandwiched between the conveying roller 440 and the conveyance driven roller 442 of the cutting unit 40, and is taken into the cutting unit 40 and placed on the cutting platen 450. Be transported. The medium 180 thus taken into the cutting unit 40 is cut by the cutter 432 as described above, and is discharged onto the discharge tray 410 by the cutting discharge unit 394 including the discharge roller 390 and the discharge driven roller 392.

  In the cutting unit 40, for convenience of description, the lift tray 360 side is described as the cutting conveyance unit 444, and the discharge tray 410 side is described as the cutting discharge unit 394. However, the medium 180 may be reciprocated. In this case, the medium 180 is conveyed toward the front or the rear of the internal housing 380. Further, the medium 180 that has been finally cut may be discharged to the front of the internal housing 380 or discharged to the discharge tray 410 at the rear.

  Alternatively, the medium 180 may be loaded directly into the cutting unit 40 without passing through the recording unit 32 with the lift tray 360 lowered. Thereby, the recording cutting unit 30 can be used as the single-function cutting unit 40.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating some functions of the information processing mechanism 50 in the composite apparatus 10 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5. As shown in the figure, the reading unit 20 and the cutting unit 40 can refer to common information as described above. In this embodiment, both are connected via the cutting line information generation unit 60. Here, the cutting line information generation unit 60 inputs the read image information read from the read medium by the reading unit 20, and extracts the cutting line information from the read image information. The extracted cutting line information is transferred to the cutting unit 40, and is referred to as information that defines the cutting line when the cutting unit 40 performs a cutting operation on the same medium 180.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the medium 180 on which the image 51 including the cutting target image 182 that is handled by the above-described composite apparatus 10 is recorded. As shown in the figure, this image 51 is formed including a cutting target image 182 and a background image 184 mixed on one surface of the medium 180.

  FIG. 8 is a view showing a read image 52 in which a cutting line image 186 is added to the image 51 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the image to be cut by the cutting unit 40 among the plurality of images including the cutting target image 182 and the background image 184 on the medium 180 is the central cutting target image 182. Therefore, the cutting line image 186 is written as an irregular polygon surrounding the cutting target image 182.

  By causing the reading unit 20 of the above-described composite apparatus 10 to read the medium 180 having the cutting line image read image 52 and processing the obtained image information, the cutting line information generation unit 60 performs the cutting line. Only the image 186 is extracted, and cutting line information is extracted based on the extracted image. Note that a known method may be used as a method of extracting the cutting line image 186 from the read image 52. For example, the cutting line information generation unit 60 may extract a line having a predetermined thickness or color from the read image 52 and recognize this as a cutting line image 186.

  As described above, by making the cutting unit 40 refer to the extracted cutting line information, it is possible to reliably provide the cutting unit 40 with cutting line information that defines a cutting line having a complicated shape. Accordingly, the cutting unit 40 cuts the medium 180 along the cutting line. The cutting line image 186 included in the read image 52 can be directly entered by the user using a writing tool on the medium 180 on which the image to be cut is recorded.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another type of read image 53 in which a cutting line image 186 is added to the image 51 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, in this read image 53, a thin cutting object image 182 and a background image 184 are displayed with respect to the original image 51 shown in FIG. On the other hand, the cutting line image 186 is displayed remarkably clearly. From such a read image 53, it is possible to reliably detect the cutting line image 186 and generate cutting line information.

  The read image 53 as described above is created by the following procedure. First, the medium 180 on which the image 51 including the cutting target image 182 is recorded is read by the reading unit 20 of the multi-function apparatus 10, and further, the read image is printed by the recording unit 32. Create media. At this time, it is preferable that the recorded image of the image 51 is thinned as a whole by an image processing method such as reducing the saturation of the output image, narrowing the brightness range, or converting the color image to gray scale.

  A cutting line image 186 is written to the “thin” image created in this way by using a writing tool capable of recording a line with a color, density, etc. that exceeds the range of saturation, brightness, chromaticity, etc. of the image. As a result, a read image 53 including a cutting line image 186 that is clear and easy to detect is obtained. Note that such processing may be implemented as software in the composite apparatus 10, or a similar method may be performed using a general-purpose information processing apparatus. Further, when the reading unit 20 reads the image 51, an optical filter may be inserted between the image 51 and the document table 110.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system 70 used when the above-described cutting method is performed using a general-purpose information processing device 500. As shown in the figure, the system 70 includes a general-purpose information processing device 500 and a display device 510, a scanner device 520, a printer device 530, and a cutting / plotter device 540 connected thereto. Yes. The information processing apparatus 500 includes a keyboard 502 and a mouse 504 as input devices, and a disk drive 506 that can be used for installing software. Furthermore, the information processing apparatus 500 is also connected to a communication line (not shown), and can accept data and programs via the communication line.

  In the system 70 as described above, the processing executed by the cutting line information generation unit 60 in the composite apparatus 10 is implemented by installing in the information processing apparatus 500 software for extracting cutting line information from the read image read by the scanner device 520. Can be executed on the information processing apparatus 500. Furthermore, by controlling the cutting / plotter device 540 while referring to the extracted cutting line information, the cutting line information can be input easily and reliably. Further, since the system 70 also includes the printer device 530, it is possible to output a copy of the read image and to create a copy image with the read image lightened.

  As described above, according to the composite apparatus or the cutting method, cutting line information having a complicated shape can be input to the cutting unit easily and reliably. Therefore, it is possible to easily perform cutting according to a desired cutting line without having to master the drawing apparatus for drawing the cutting line, the drawing software, or the operation of the cutting apparatus.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated using embodiment, the technical scope of this invention is not limited to the range as described in the said embodiment. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or improvements can be added to the above-described embodiment. It is apparent from the scope of the claims that the embodiments added with such changes or improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view of the overall shape of a composite device 10. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an internal structure of a reading unit 20. FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing the structure of a recording cutting unit 30 extracted. It is a perspective view which extracts the cutting part 40 and shows the structure typically. 6 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the recording cutting unit 30. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an information processing mechanism 50 in the composite apparatus 10. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the image 51 containing the cutting object image 182. FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a read image 52 in which a cutting line image 186 is added to the image 51 illustrated in FIG. 7. It is a figure which shows the read image 53 of the other format by which the cutting line image 186 was added to the image 51 shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the system 70 in the case of implementing the cutting method using the general purpose information processing apparatus 500.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Compound apparatus, 20 Reading part, 30 Recording cutting part, 32 Recording part, 40 Cutting part, 50 Information processing mechanism, 51 Image, 52 Reading image, 53 Reading image, 60 Cutting line information generation part, 70 System, 110 Document stand , 120 Document holding part, 112 Glass plate, 130 Operation panel, 150 Guide shaft, 160 Timing belt, 162 Pulley, 166 Motor, 164 Drive train wheel unit, 170 Housing, 180 Medium, 182 Cutting object image, 184 Background image, 186 Cutting line image, 190 line sensor, 310 paper support, 320 guide rail, 322 guide rail, 420 guide rail, 422 guide rail, 330 recording carriage, 332 ink cartridge, 334 recording head, 340 transport roller, 440 transport roller, 342Conveying driven roller, 442 Conveying driven roller, 344 Recording conveying unit, 350 Recording platen, 360 Lift tray, 364 Ball screw driving unit, 366 Ball screw, 370 Discharging roller, 390 Discharging roller, 372 Discharging driven roller, 380 Internal housing, 392 discharge driven roller, 374 recording discharge section, 410 discharge tray, 430 cutting carriage, 432 cutter, 444 cutting transport section, 450 cutting platen, 480 frame, 394 cutting discharge section, 500 information processing apparatus, 502 keyboard, 504 mouse, 506 Disk drive, 510 display device, 520 scanner device, 530 printer device, 540 cutting plotter device

Claims (8)

A reading unit for reading an image recorded on a sheet-like read medium;
A cutting line information generating unit that extracts cutting lines from the read image read by the reading unit and generates cutting line information;
A reading / cutting composite apparatus comprising: a cutting unit that cuts a sheet-like cut medium according to cutting line information acquired from the reading unit.   The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the read image is an image obtained by adding the cutting line to an image originally recorded on the cut medium.   2. The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading medium is a copying medium on which a copy image obtained by copying an image originally recorded on the cutting medium is recorded.   The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the saturation of the copy image is significantly lower than the saturation of the cutting line.   The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the brightness of the copy image is significantly higher than the brightness of the cutting line.   4. The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the copy image is an image obtained by converting the colored image originally recorded on the cut medium into a gray scale.   The reading / cutting composite apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cutting line is included in the read image as a region outside at least one of a saturation range, a brightness range, and a chromaticity range of the entire read image. A reading procedure for reading an image recorded on a sheet-like read medium;
A cutting line generation procedure for generating cutting line information by extracting a cutting line from the read image read in the reading procedure;
A cutting procedure including cutting a medium to be cut according to the cutting line information.

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