JP2017094281A - Coating data generation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coating data generation method which can suppress a data amount handled in producing coating data, and can reduce a work load for generating the coating data on an entire coating area.SOLUTION: A coating data generation method is for coating a substrate 2 by using coating data 1 with coating patterns 20 arranged. Previously-produced coating pattern data 21 is acquired, arrangement information 22 of the coating patterns 20 on a coating area 2a of the substrate 2 is acquired, and the coating patterns 20 are arranged in accordance with the arrangement information 22 to generate the coating data 1 on the entire coating area 2a.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating data generation method, and more particularly to a coating data generation method for performing coating on a substrate using coating data in which coating patterns are arranged.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique called printed electronics for producing an electronic circuit or the like by applying a coating material to a substrate using a printing technique such as an inkjet method is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus for forming a wiring pattern by applying a conductive coating material in a predetermined pattern with an inkjet head to a substrate on which a circuit is formed.

  In addition, for printed electronics, for example, an insulating coating material is coated in a predetermined pattern on a circuit-formed substrate, or a coating material for optical use such as a color filter or a light distribution film is coated on the substrate. Various uses such as application in a pattern have been proposed.

  At the time of printing, application data for instructing the application area on the substrate to the application device is created. The application data is often expressed by, for example, image data in a bitmap format that indicates the presence or absence of application in pixel units.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-234811

  However, the amount of application data has increased due to the increase in the size of the substrate and the reduction in the application pattern, and the amount of work for creating application data over the entire application area of the substrate has been enormous. For this reason, conventionally, there is a problem that the work load required to create dense and large-area coating data is large. In addition, there is a problem that the amount of data handled at the time of creating application data increases, and this also increases the work load and the data processing load.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and one object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of data handled at the time of creating application data and to apply application data over the entire application area. An object of the present invention is to provide a coating data generation method capable of reducing the workload for generating.

  In order to achieve the above object, a coating data generation method according to one aspect of the present invention is a coating data generation method for coating a substrate using coating data in which coating patterns are arranged, which is created in advance. The application pattern data is acquired, the arrangement information of the application pattern for the application area of the substrate is acquired, and the application pattern is arranged according to the arrangement information, thereby generating application data over the entire application area.

  In the application data generation method according to this one aspect, as described above, application data over the entire application region is generated by arranging application patterns according to the arrangement information. As a result, in an electronic circuit board in which a specific coating pattern is often regularly arranged repeatedly, the entire coating region can be obtained simply by preparing the coating pattern to be arranged and the arrangement information of the coating pattern in advance. Application data can be generated. Further, since it is only necessary to handle application pattern data and arrangement information data in order to generate final application data, the amount of data to be handled can be reduced. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the amount of data handled at the time of creating application data and reduce the work load for generating application data over the entire application region.

  In the application data generation method according to the above aspect, it is preferable to obtain application coordinates for each arrangement unit using an individual application pattern or a group of a plurality of application patterns included in the array information as an arrangement unit. With this configuration, for example, when each arrangement unit is assigned to the application data in the bitmap format in pixel units, a fraction is generated as an error when the design position of the arrangement unit cannot be divided by the pixel size. The position of each arrangement unit can be designated by application coordinates (coordinate values) regardless of the pixel size. As a result, it is possible to improve the position accuracy of each arrangement unit in the generated application data.

  In this case, preferably, pattern pitch data representing an arrangement interval of adjacent application patterns in the array information is further acquired, and application coordinates for each arrangement unit are calculated according to the pattern pitch data. With this configuration, it is possible to calculate the application coordinates of each arrangement unit only by giving common pattern pitch data (arrangement interval) without the user individually specifying the application coordinates of each arrangement unit. It becomes. As a result, it is possible to improve the positional accuracy of the application data while reducing the work load for generating the application data.

  In the coating data generation method according to the above aspect, the array information preferably includes a matrix-shaped array of an X-axis direction that is a coating scan direction with respect to a coating region and a Y-axis direction that is a movement direction of the coating scan line. The arrangement unit is a column group of application patterns arranged in the X-axis direction according to the arrangement information, and unit scan data consisting of the application pattern column group is extracted from the arrangement information, and application coordinates are calculated for each unit scan data. . With this configuration, even when the application pattern data is created in pixel units, the application coordinates for each unit scan data can be calculated regardless of the pixel size. Can be approached. In addition, since the application scan row by the application device is used as an arrangement unit, it is not necessary to set application coordinates for each application pattern, so that it is possible to prevent data from becoming complicated (or increasing the amount of data). Furthermore, for example, since the coating apparatus can individually read only unit scan data necessary for each coating scan and perform the coating operation, the amount of data handled by the coating apparatus during the coating operation can be reduced. . As a result, it is possible to generate application data that can be applied with higher accuracy while reducing the amount of data and processing load that are handled during application data creation and application operation.

  In this case, preferably, the number of columns of the application pattern in the Y-axis direction that can be included in one application scan line is further acquired, and the unit scan data corresponds to the number of columns set in the column number data. Includes an array of application patterns. If comprised in this way, unit scan data can be produced | generated by making into the unit the row | line number of the application | coating pattern which can be apply | coated collectively by the coating device side. Further, the coating apparatus can execute the coating operation only by sequentially reading the corresponding unit scan data at the time of the coating scan instead of the entire coating data. As a result, it is possible to easily generate application data that does not reduce the work efficiency during the application operation and that can suppress the processing load.

  In the configuration for obtaining the application coordinates for each arrangement unit, preferably, the application pattern data includes a pixel unit application pattern that indicates an application location in pixel units, and the application area is divided by pixel and individual pixel unit application is performed. The fraction processing is performed on the application coordinates of the pattern to adjust the pixels to which the pixel unit application pattern is assigned. According to this configuration, even when a pixel unit application pattern is assigned to a pixel in the application region, the arrangement position (assignment) of each pixel unit application pattern so as to be closest to the application coordinates of each pixel unit application pattern is performed by rounding. Pixel) can be adjusted. As a result, it is possible to minimize errors that occur at the arrangement positions of the individual pixel unit application patterns due to the allocation to the pixels, and thus it is possible to generate application data that enables more accurate application. It becomes possible.

  In the coating data generation method according to the above aspect, the coating pattern data preferably includes a pixel unit coating pattern that represents a coating location in pixel units, and pixel size data that represents the size of the pixel is expressed in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis. Obtained for each of the directions, the application region is divided by the pixels of the size set in the pixel size data. According to this configuration, unlike the conventional general pixel in which the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction have the same size, the X-axis direction size and the Y-axis direction size of the pixel are independently set according to the application pattern. It becomes possible to do. As a result, even when an application pattern is created in units of pixels, the application pattern can be brought close to the design shape, so that application data capable of more accurate application can be generated.

  According to the present invention, as described above, the amount of data handled when creating application data can be suppressed, and the work load for generating application data over the entire application area can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the coating device which performs application | coating using application | coating data. It is the figure which showed the example of the data used for the production | generation of application | coating data in 1st and 2nd embodiment. It is the figure which showed the example of the pixel unit application pattern contained in application pattern data. It is the figure which showed the example of arrangement | sequence information. It is the figure which showed the example (A) of the unit scan data extracted from arrangement | sequence information, and the unit scan data (B) which excluded the non-application part. It is a flowchart of the application | coating data generation method by 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the application | coating data part contained in the 1st area | region of the unit scan data of FIG. It is the figure which showed the application | coating data part contained in the 2nd area | region of the unit scan data of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the effect in the case of producing | generating application data using movement correction data. It is the figure which showed the example of the coordinate list | wrist contained in application | coating pattern data.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
With reference to FIGS. 1-8, the application | coating data generation method by 1st Embodiment is demonstrated.

(Outline of coating data generation method)
The coating data generation method according to the first embodiment is a coating data generation method for performing coating on the substrate 2 using the coating data 1 in which coating patterns are arranged. Specifically, the application data 1 is data for producing an electronic circuit, an electronic device, an electronic device, and the like by applying an application material to the substrate 2 using a printing technique such as an inkjet method.

  The substrate 2 is not limited to a semiconductor substrate such as silicon or a glass substrate, but may be a substrate or a film made of metal or resin. The substrate 2 may be flat or curved, and may be curved (bent) or stretched.

  As the coating material, a material having a desired function / characteristic is used according to a circuit element to be coated and formed. For example, a conductive ink or an insulating ink as an electrical function, an ink having a predetermined light transmission property, a light distribution property, or a color tone as an optical property is used as a coating material.

  The coating device 10 is an ink jet type coating device, and applies the coating to the substrate 2 by ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle. The coating apparatus 10 includes one or a plurality of heads 11 provided with a plurality of nozzles 12. The head 11 moves relative to the substrate 2 in the horizontal direction, and performs coating at an arbitrary position in the coating region 2 a set on the substrate 2. The coating apparatus 10 includes a control unit 13 that controls movement and ejection of the head 11. The control unit 13 controls the head 11 based on the application data 1 to apply the application material to the substrate 2.

  The head 11 is configured to be movable by a combination of linear motion mechanisms such as a linear stage. That is, the coating apparatus 10 includes an X-axis moving mechanism 14 that moves the head 11 in the X-axis direction, and a Y-axis moving mechanism 15 that moves the head 11 in the Y-axis direction. The moving mechanism of each axis includes an encoder (not shown), and the control unit 13 controls the position of the head 11 based on the output signal (number of output pulses) of the encoder.

  For example, the head 11 scans the application region 2a in the X-axis direction and performs application for one column in the X-axis direction. Thereafter, the head 11 shifts by a predetermined amount in the Y-axis direction, and performs coating for one row in the next X-axis direction. By repeating this operation, the coating apparatus 10 performs a coating operation over the entire coating region 2a. In the case where the coating apparatus 10 includes a plurality of heads 11, a plurality of rows are applied together by a single scan by arranging the plurality of heads 11 in the Y-axis direction and performing a coating scan in the X-axis direction.

  The application data 1 is data that designates the position of the application area in the application area 2a by distinguishing between the application area and the non-application area. As will be described later, the application data 1 is composed of, for example, a combination of bitmap format image data and numerical data indicating application start coordinates.

  The application data generation method according to the first embodiment is performed by computer processing. That is, the application data generation method according to the first embodiment can be implemented by causing a computer to execute a program for executing the application data generation method. Part or all of the arithmetic processing performed by executing the program may be performed by dedicated hardware. The computer may be, for example, the control unit 13 of the coating apparatus 10. In this case, only by providing necessary data to the control unit 13 of the coating apparatus 10, the coating data 1 can be created and the coating operation can be performed. The computer may be a computer 3 provided separately from the coating apparatus 10.

(Details of application data generation method)
As shown in FIG. 2, the application data generation method according to the first embodiment is roughly the step of obtaining application pattern data 21 created in advance, and the application pattern 20 for the application region 2 a of the substrate 2 (see FIG. 3). And the step of generating the application data 1 over the entire application region 2a by arranging the application pattern 20 according to the arrangement information 22.

  The application pattern 20 is an application shape that repeatedly appears in the application data 1 as shown in FIG. For example, as can be seen in the circuit arrangement of an electronic circuit board or a display device, a predetermined structure is regularly arranged on the board 2. The coating pattern 20 is created in a shape corresponding to a structure regularly arranged on the substrate 2. The application pattern data 21 is data representing the shape of the application pattern 20. The application pattern data 21 is an example of “application pattern data” in the claims.

  The application pattern data 21 may be data representing the application shape of the application pattern 20, and image data in bitmap format, or numerical data (text) in which numerical values indicating the presence / absence of application for each pixel are arranged in a matrix. Data), coordinate group data in which the application position constituting the application pattern 20 is given by coordinates. In the first embodiment, the application pattern data 21 includes a pixel unit application pattern 20a that represents an application location in units of pixels GS.

  The pixel unit application pattern 20a can be bitmap image data. The pixel unit application pattern 20a is given information indicating “with application (hatched portion)” or “without application” for each of the pixels GS divided into a matrix. In the example of FIG. 3, the pixel unit application pattern 20a has a pixel area of 17 rows × 15 columns, but the size of the pixel area of the pixel unit application pattern 20a is arbitrary and may be adjusted to the size of the application pattern.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the array information 22 is data indicating the array of the coating pattern 20 in the coating region 2 a of the substrate 2. The array information 22 includes a matrix-like array of the X-axis direction that is the application scan direction with respect to the application region 2a and the Y-axis direction that is the movement direction of the application scan line. The arrangement information 22 can be a matrix-like numerical arrangement as shown in FIG. 4 or bitmap image data. In the example of FIG. 4, the array information 22 includes numerical values arranged in a matrix of “0 (no application pattern)”, “1 (with application pattern)”, and “2 (with application pattern, reference pattern)”. The arrangement of the coating pattern 20 is defined by these arrangements.

  The reference pattern is a mark, structure, shape, or the like formed on the substrate 2 and serves as a reference for alignment between the application region 2 a of the substrate 2 and the application data 1. The application data 1 is provided with a reference position coordinate S0 of the reference pattern. The position of each coating pattern 20 is determined by the relative position of the reference pattern from the reference position coordinate S0. Although FIG. 4 shows an example in which the application pattern is included in the reference pattern, the application pattern may not be included in the reference pattern. When the reference pattern includes an application pattern, the reference position coordinate S0 can be used as the application coordinate of the application pattern.

  The application pattern data 21 and the array information 22 can be acquired by, for example, reading from a storage device or a recording medium, receiving data from a server computer, and the like by being created and recorded in advance by a data creator. By arranging the obtained application pattern data 21 according to the arrangement information 22, application data 1 over the entire application region 2a is generated. That is, by arranging the application pattern (pixel unit application pattern 20a) at a position to which “1” or “2” is assigned in the array information 22, and not applying the application pattern at a position to which “0” is assigned. Application data 1 is generated.

  Here, in the application data generation method according to the first embodiment, preferably, the application coordinates for each arrangement unit are acquired with the individual application pattern 20 or the group of the plurality of application patterns 20 included in the array information 22 as an arrangement unit. The method further includes a step.

  When the individual application pattern 20 is used as an arrangement unit, the application coordinates are acquired individually for each application pattern 20. When the arrangement unit is a group of a plurality of application patterns 20, for example, a group of application patterns 20 (unit scan data 30 to be described later) included in an application scan line on which the head 11 applies at a time may be used as the arrangement unit. Alternatively, the array information 22 may be divided into n rows and m columns (n and m are natural numbers) block units, and the divided blocks may be used as arrangement units. When a group of a plurality of application patterns 20 is used as an arrangement unit, the number of application coordinates to be managed (acquired) can be suppressed as compared with a case where each application pattern 20 is used as an arrangement unit.

  The application coordinates for each arrangement unit may be individually specified for each arrangement unit by a preset coordinate value, or calculated based on the interval between adjacent application patterns 20 (pattern pitch data 23 described later). Also good. The application coordinates are obtained (calculated) regardless of the size (pixel size) of the pixel GS.

  In the first embodiment, the application data 1 can be generated by using various data shown in FIG. 2 (except for the movement correction data 26 in the first embodiment). That is, the application data generation method according to the first embodiment preferably obtains pattern pitch data 23 representing the arrangement interval of adjacent application patterns 20 in the arrangement information 22, and each arrangement unit according to the pattern pitch data 23. And a step of calculating application coordinates.

  The pattern pitch data 23 includes a pattern pitch Px in the X-axis direction and a pattern pitch Py (see FIG. 4) in the Y-axis direction. These pattern pitches can be set regardless of the size of the pixel GS constituting the pixel unit application pattern 20a. That is, the application coordinates are calculated based on the number of application patterns 20 from the reference position coordinates S0 and the pattern pitch data 23.

  In the example shown in FIG. 5, the arrangement unit is a column group of the application pattern 20 arranged in the X-axis direction according to the arrangement information 22. The application data generation method according to the first embodiment preferably includes a step of extracting unit scan data 30 consisting of a column group of the application pattern 20 from the array information 22 and calculating application start coordinates Si for each unit scan data 30. . The unit scan data 30 corresponds to a part of the application data 1 divided for each unit column applied by one application scan (scan) of the head 11. Therefore, the application data 1 is composed of a plurality of unit scan data 30. The application start coordinate Si is an example of the “application coordinate” in the claims.

  Here, in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to set column number data 24 in the Y-axis direction of the application pattern 20 that can be included in one application scan line. The unit scan data 30 includes an array of pixel unit application patterns 20 a corresponding to the number of columns set in the column number data 24. The column number data 24 can be set to an arbitrary value K (for example, K = 2) with the number of columns of the coating pattern 20 that can be applied simultaneously by one head 11 as an upper limit.

  For example, in the example of the pixel unit application pattern 20 a in FIG. 3, the number of pixel columns in the Y-axis direction is fifteen. For example, if there are 31 columns of nozzles 12 corresponding to each pixel GS in the head 11, the upper limit of the number of columns of the coating pattern 20 is two. The unit scan data 30 shown in FIG. 5 is an example in which K = 2 is set in the column number data 24 and an array for two columns of the pixel unit application pattern 20a is included.

  The application start coordinate Si of the unit scan data 30 is a coordinate of a position where the head 11 is first applied by moving the head 11 in the scan direction (X-axis direction) in each unit scan. In the first embodiment, the application start coordinates Si for each unit scan data 30 is excluded from the unit scan data 30 except for the non-application portions 31 at both ends (the portions where the application pattern 20 is not assigned to any column). It is calculated as the position coordinates of the corner of the applied portion 32.

  4 is divided as a plurality of unit scan data 30 extending in the X-axis direction, and application start coordinates Si are individually set for each unit scan data 30. For this reason, unlike the case where the entire application region 2a is divided by the pixels GS and the unit scan data 30 is applied to any pixel row, the application start coordinates Si of each unit scan data 30 are calculated without depending on the pixel size. Is done.

  In the first embodiment, each application region (see FIGS. 7 and 8) divided by the unit scan data 30 is divided by the pixels GS, and each pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned to the corresponding pixel GS. It is done. That is, the position of the unit scan data 30 is specified regardless of the pixel GS by the application start coordinate Si, and the arrangement position of each pixel unit application pattern 20a included in the unit scan data 30 is determined in units of the pixel GS. The application coordinates of each pixel unit application pattern 20a included in the unit scan data 30 are calculated from the application start coordinates Si of the unit scan data 30 and the pattern pitch data 23 (pattern pitches Px, Py).

  In the case where the pattern pitch (Px, Py) is not divisible by the size (dimension) of the pixel GS, in the first embodiment, fraction processing is performed on the application coordinates of each pixel unit application pattern 20a, and the pixels in the unit scan data 30 are processed. The pixel GS to which the unit application pattern 20a is assigned is adjusted. The fraction processing is processing for rounding up, for example, rounding up a half or more of the pixel size and assigning it to the next (adjacent) pixel GS, and rounding down fractions less than half of the pixel size and assigning it to the pixel GS.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the application data generation method according to the first embodiment, it is preferable to acquire pixel size data 25 representing the size of the pixel GS in each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. The application region 2 a is divided by the pixel GS having the size set in the pixel size data 25.

  The pixel size data 25 includes an X size Lx in the X axis direction and a Y size Ly (see FIG. 3) in the Y axis direction. These pixel sizes can be set to different values independently of each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to set the X size Lx = 10 [μm] and the Y size Ly = 20 [μm]. In this case, each pixel GS constituting the pixel unit application pattern 20a is set to have a length Lx = 10 [μm] in the X-axis direction and a length Ly = 20 [μm] in the Y-axis direction. In each figure, pixels are illustrated in a substantially square shape for convenience. Therefore, according to the numerical example of FIG. 2, the pixel unit application pattern 20a of FIG. 3 is applied in a shape that is actually doubled in the Y-axis direction (during application).

(Application data generation process)
Next, the flow of the application data generation process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S1, each of the above data is acquired. That is, application pattern data 21 (pixel unit application pattern 20a), arrangement information 22, reference pattern reference position coordinates S0, pattern pitch data 23, column number data 24, and pixel size data 25 are acquired. Each data is acquired by reading from a storage device or a recording medium, acquiring data from a server computer, direct input via an input device, and the like.

  In step S 2, unit scan data 30 is selected based on the array information 22 and the column number data 24. For example, the first unit scan data 30 in the Y-axis direction is selected as the unit scan data 30 of the variable i = 1 (first).

  In step S3, the selected unit scan data 30 is acquired. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, data columns corresponding to the number of columns K corresponding to the selected i-th unit scan data 30 are extracted from the array information 22.

  In step S4, the application start coordinates Si (xi, yi) of the unit scan data 30 are calculated. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the position coordinates Si of the corner portion of the application portion 32 excluding the non-application portion 31 from the unit scan data 30 are calculated. The application start coordinates Si (xi, yi) are obtained from the reference position coordinates S0 (x0, y0) of the reference pattern, the array information 22 and the pattern pitch data 23.

The X axis coordinate xi is obtained by the following equation (1).
xi = x0 + Ex × Px (1)
Here, Ex is the number of application pattern arrangements (number of rows) in the X-axis direction from the application pattern position where the application start coordinate Si is calculated to the reference pattern. For example, in the example shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, since Ex = 4 (row) and x0 = 600 [mm], xi = 600 + 4 × 0.187 = 0600.748 [mm].

Similarly, the Y-axis coordinate yi is obtained by the following equation (2).
yi = y0 + Ey × Py (2)
Here, Ey is the number of application pattern arrangements (number of columns) in the Y-axis direction from the application pattern position where the application start coordinate Si is calculated to the reference pattern. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, Ex = −2 (−2 columns) and y0 = 500 [mm], so yi = 500 + (− 2) × 0.315 = 499.370 [ mm]. Thereby, the application start coordinates Si (xi, yi) of the unit scan data 30 are acquired.

  Next, in step S <b> 5, the application pattern 20 of the application pattern data 21 is arranged in the selected i-th unit scan data 30. That is, the application region corresponding to the unit scan data 30 is divided according to the pixel size data 25, and the pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned to the divided pixels GS.

In principle, the application coordinates of each application pattern 20 included in the unit scan data 30 are based on the application start coordinates Si and the position where the application pattern 20 is arranged (the row in the X-axis direction in FIG. 5B). Number and the number of columns in the Y-axis direction) are multiplied by the pattern pitches Px and Py, respectively. That is, the application coordinates of the application pattern 20 are
X-axis direction position coordinate = xi + (number of pattern lines in X-axis direction−1) × Px,
Y-axis direction position coordinate = yi + (number of pattern columns in Y-axis direction−1) × Py,
Is calculated as 0 data (data with a value of 0) is input to the pixel GS to which the pixel unit application pattern 20a is not assigned. At this time, fraction processing is performed on the application coordinates of the pixel unit application pattern 20a according to the pattern pitch data 23, and the pixel GS to which the pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned is adjusted. That is, since the fraction is obtained depending on the relationship between the pattern pitch value (Px, Py) and the pixel size (Lx, Ly), the fraction processing is performed by rounding off, and the allocated pixel GS is adjusted.

  FIG. 7 is an example of application data in the vicinity of the application start coordinate Si of the unit scan data 30 (see region A1 up to 2 rows and 2 columns, FIG. 5B). In the above example, Si (600.748, 499.370 [mm]) is used. However, for ease of explanation, the coordinate axis is described with the application start coordinate Si as the origin (0, 0).

  In the area A1 of FIG. 5, in the Y-axis direction, there is no application pattern in the first column and there is an application pattern in the second column. As shown in FIG. 7, the coating pattern in the second column has a pattern pitch Py in the Y-axis direction of 315 [μm], but the Y size of the pixel GS is 20 [μm]. ) Rounded up and assigned to a pixel GS (16th pixel) of 320 [μm]. In addition, the coating pattern in the second row has a pattern pitch Px in the X-axis direction of 187 [μm], but the X size of the pixel GS is 10 [μm], so the fraction is rounded up by rounding (rounding off), It is assigned to a pixel GS (19th pixel) of 190 [μm].

  FIG. 8 shows an example of application data in the area A2 near the seventh row of the unit scan data 30 shown in FIG. Since the application pattern 20 in the seventh row is (7-1) × Px = 1122 [μm], the fraction is rounded down by rounding (rounding off), and is assigned to the pixel GS of 1120 [μm]. On the other hand, since the coating pattern 20 in the eighth row is (8-1) × Px = 1309 [μm], the fraction is rounded up by rounding (rounding off), and is assigned to the pixel GS of 1310 [μm]. .

  As a result of adjusting the arrangement positions of the individual application patterns 20 (pixel unit application patterns 20a) by such fraction processing, the interval D between the application patterns 20 becomes 2 pixels (20 μm) or 3 pixels (30 μm). The application positions are adjusted so as to be appropriate. FIGS. 7 and 8 are excerpts within a range of about 1 mm for explanation, but even when this is an array of a wide range of 1000 mm or more, the rounding process increases the error due to the fraction of the pattern pitch. It is suppressed.

  In this way, application data corresponding to the i-th unit scan data 30 is generated. Next, in step S6 of FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not the application data of all the unit scan data 30 has been generated. If there is another unit scan data 30 to be generated, the value of i is incremented in step S7, and application data of the next unit scan data 30 is generated in steps S3 to S5. That is, in the example of FIG. 4, the application data of the next unit scan data 30 shifted in the Y-axis direction by the number of columns K is generated.

  Depending on the coating apparatus 10, the first scan (i = 1) may be performed in the forward path (X-axis positive direction), and the second scan (i = 2) may be performed in the backward path (X-axis negative direction). For the scan line for coating in the return path, the coating start coordinate Si is set at the X axis positive direction side end (upper end in FIG. 4) of the unit scan data 30.

  When the coating apparatus 10 includes a plurality of heads 11, unit scan data 30 for the first scan (i = 1) is assigned to the first head 11, and unit scan data 30 for the second scan (i = 2). Is assigned to the second head 11. In this case, the application start coordinate Si may be the X-axis negative direction side end (lower end in FIG. 4). When all the unit scan data 30 are generated, the application data generation process is completed. The application data 1 is generated as a set of individual unit scan data 30 and application start coordinates Si.

(Effect of 1st Embodiment)
Next, effects of the first embodiment will be described.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the application data 20 over the entire application region 2a is generated by arranging the application pattern 20 according to the arrangement information 22. Thereby, in an electronic circuit board in which a specific coating pattern 20 is often repeatedly arranged regularly, the coating area 20 can be simply created in advance by arranging the coating pattern 20 to be arranged and the arrangement information 22 of the coating pattern 20. Application data 1 over the entire 2a can be generated. Further, since it is only necessary to handle the application pattern data 21 and the data of the array information 22 in order to generate the final application data 1, the amount of data to be handled can be suppressed. As a result, according to the coating data generation method of the first embodiment, the amount of data handled when creating the coating data 1 is suppressed, and the work load for generating the coating data 1 over the entire coating region 2a is reduced. can do.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the application start coordinate Si for each arrangement unit is acquired using the group (unit scan data 30) of the plurality of application patterns 20 included in the array information 22 as the arrangement unit. As a result, for example, when each arrangement unit is assigned to the application data in the bitmap format in units of pixels, a fraction is generated as an error when the design position of the arrangement unit cannot be divided by the pixel size, whereas individual arrangements are generated. The unit position can be designated by the application start coordinate Si (coordinate value) regardless of the pixel size. As a result, in the generated application data 1, the position accuracy of each arrangement unit can be improved.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the pattern pitch data 23 representing the arrangement interval of the adjacent coating patterns 20 in the arrangement information 22 is further acquired, and the arrangement unit (unit scan data 30) is obtained according to the pattern pitch data 23. The application start coordinate Si is calculated for each. Thereby, it is possible to calculate the application start coordinates Si of each arrangement unit only by giving the common pattern pitch data 23 without individually specifying the application start coordinates Si of each arrangement unit. As a result, it is possible to improve the positional accuracy of the application data 1 while reducing the work load for generating the application data 1.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the unit scan data composed of the column group of the application pattern 20 from the arrangement information 22 is set as the arrangement unit of the column group of the application pattern 20 arranged in the X-axis direction according to the arrangement information 22. 30 is extracted, and the application start coordinate Si is calculated for each unit scan data 30. As a result, even when the application pattern data 21 is created in units of pixels, the application start coordinates Si for each unit scan data 30 are set regardless of the pixel size, so that the position of each application scan line is set to the design value. It can be as close as possible. In addition, since the application scan column by the application apparatus 10 is used as an arrangement unit, it is not necessary to set the application start coordinate Si for each application pattern 20, and the data becomes complicated (or the data amount increases). Can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the coating apparatus 10 can individually read only the unit scan data 30 necessary for each coating scan and perform the coating operation, the amount of data handled by the coating apparatus 10 during the coating operation can be reduced. You can also. As a result, it is possible to generate the application data 1 that can be applied with higher accuracy while reducing the amount of data and the processing load that are handled when the application data 1 is created and during the application operation.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the column number data 24 of the application pattern 20 in the Y-axis direction that can be included in one application scan line is acquired. Then, the unit scan data 30 includes an array of coating patterns 20 for the number K of columns set in the column number data 24. Thereby, the unit scan data 30 can be generated in units of the number of columns of the coating pattern 20 that can be applied collectively on the coating apparatus 10 side. Further, the coating apparatus 10 can execute the coating operation only by sequentially reading the corresponding unit scan data 30 instead of the entire coating data 1 during the coating scan. As a result, it is possible to easily generate the application data 1 that does not reduce the work efficiency during the application operation and can suppress the processing load.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the application pattern data 21 is configured by the pixel unit application pattern 20a that represents the application location in the unit of the pixel GS, and the application region 2a is divided by the pixel GS, and the individual pixels. A fraction process is performed on the application coordinates of the unit application pattern 20a to adjust the pixel GS to which the pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned. Thereby, even when assigning the pixel unit application pattern 20a to the pixel GS of the application region 2a, the arrangement position of the individual pixel unit application pattern 20a so as to be closest to the application coordinates of the individual pixel unit application pattern 20a by the fraction processing ( Allocation pixels) can be adjusted. As a result, an error occurring at the arrangement position of the individual pixel unit application pattern 20a due to the assignment to the pixel GS can be suppressed to the minimum, so that application data 1 capable of more accurate application is generated. It becomes possible to do.

  In the first embodiment, as described above, the pixel size data 25 representing the size of the pixel GS is acquired for each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the pixel having the size set in the pixel size data 25 is acquired. The application region 2a is divided by GS. Thereby, unlike the conventional general pixel in which the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction have the same dimensions, the X-axis direction dimension (X size Lx) and the Y-axis direction dimension (Y Size Ly) can be set independently. As a result, even when the application pattern 20 is created in units of pixels, the application pattern 20 can be brought close to the design shape, so that it is possible to generate application data 1 that can be applied with higher accuracy.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a coating data generation method according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4 to 6, 8, and 9. In the second embodiment, in addition to the first embodiment, an example in which the coating data 1 is generated using the movement correction data 26 (see FIG. 2) of the head 11 of the coating apparatus 10 will be described. Note that the description of the points in the second embodiment that are common to the first embodiment will be omitted.

  In the coating apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1, when the head 11 is moved to the position coordinate in each axial direction, an error in the feed amount occurs. Therefore, in the application data generation method according to the second embodiment, movement correction data 26 for correcting an error accompanying the movement of the head 11 is acquired, and the application data 1 is created using the movement correction data 26.

  The movement correction data 26 is data of a movement error when the head 11 is moved to each position coordinate. As shown in FIG. 2, X correction data Cx in the X axis direction and Y correction data Cy in the Y axis direction are obtained. Including. Since the error amount differs for each position coordinate of the head 11, the X correction data Cx and the Y correction data Cy are created in advance for each position coordinate of the head 11. That is, the X correction data Cx and the Y correction data Cy are a plurality of matrix-like numerical data groups provided for each position coordinate.

  The correction data will be described. For example, when moving to 1122 [μm] corresponding to the application start position in the X-axis direction of the application pattern of the unit scan data 30 shown in FIG. 8 (application pattern on the seventh line in FIG. 5B) (fraction processing) None). In this case, for example, when the head 11 is moved to the position 1122 [μm] based on the encoder output, the head 11 actually moves only to the position 1119 [μm] due to an error in the feed amount. In this case, the feed amount error is 3 μm. Therefore, in the second embodiment, −3 [μm] is set as the X correction data Cx. When the X correction data Cx is considered and the encoder output is controlled to move to the position of 1125 [μm], the head 11 can be moved to the position of 1122 [μm]. The same applies to the Y correction data Cy. The movement error of the head 11 is cumulative, and the error tends to increase as the feed amount increases. Therefore, the X correction data Cx and the Y correction data Cy are set for each position coordinate of the coating apparatus 10.

In the second embodiment, the arrangement position of the application pattern 20 is calculated based on the movement correction data 26. More specifically, based on the array information 22 and the movement correction data 26, the application coordinates of the pixel unit application pattern 20a arranged in the application region 2a are calculated. That is, the application coordinates of the pixel unit application pattern 20a are:
X-axis direction position coordinate = xi + {(number of pattern lines in X-axis direction−1) × Px} −Cx,
Y-axis direction position coordinate = yi + {(number of pattern columns in Y-axis direction−1) × Py} −Cy,
Is calculated as

  In the second embodiment, fraction processing is performed on the calculated application coordinates, and the pixel GS to which the pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned in the application region 2a divided for each pixel GS is adjusted. The calculation of the arrangement position of the application pattern 20 based on the movement correction data 26 and the adjustment of the assigned pixel can be performed in step S5 of the flowchart shown in FIG.

  Taking the coating pattern 20 of FIG. 8 as an example, the position in the X-axis direction is 1122 [μm], and the X correction data Cx in this case is −3 [μm]. In this case, xi (assumed to be 0 here) +1122 − (− 3) = 1125 [μm]. As a result of rounding up the fraction by rounding (rounding off), the application pattern on the seventh line is 1130 [ μm] pixel GS. Thus, the coating pattern 20 assigned to the pixel GS of 1120 [μm] in the first embodiment that does not use the movement correction data 26 is 1130 [μm] by adding the movement correction data 26 in the second embodiment. ] Pixel GS.

  In the second embodiment, when the individual application patterns 20 included in the unit scan data 30 are arranged, the application coordinates of the application pattern 20 are calculated based on the corresponding movement correction data 26, and fraction processing is performed.

  In addition, the other structure of 2nd Embodiment is the same as that of the said 1st Embodiment.

(Effect of 2nd Embodiment)
Next, effects of the second embodiment will be described.

  Also in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the application data 1 over the entire application region 2a can be generated simply by creating the application pattern 20 and the array information 22 in advance. The workload for generating the application data 1 over the entire area 2a can be reduced. Further, since it is only necessary to handle the application pattern data 21 and the data of the array information 22 in order to generate the final application data 1, the amount of data to be handled can be suppressed.

  In the second embodiment, the arrangement position of the application pattern 20 is calculated based on the movement correction data 26 as described above. As a result, the coating pattern 20 can be arranged in consideration of the movement error of the coating apparatus 10, so that the positional deviation due to the movement error on the side of the coating apparatus 10 during the actual coating operation can be reduced and more accurate coating is possible. Application data 1 can be generated.

  In the second embodiment, the arrangement position of the pixel unit application pattern 20a arranged in the application area 2a is calculated based on the arrangement information 22 and the movement correction data 26, and the fraction processing is performed on the calculated arrangement position. The pixel GS to which the pixel unit application pattern 20a is assigned is adjusted in the application region 2a divided for each pixel GS. If comprised in this way, it will become possible to reduce a movement error easily by adjusting the movement error of the coating device 10 per pixel GS.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 9, an example will be described in which the effect of adjusting the allocation position (allocation pixel) of the pixel unit application pattern 20a using the movement correction data 26 is shown more simply.

  As described above, since the movement error of the head 11 is cumulative, an error that hardly occurs in the range of about 1 mm in the vicinity of the coating start coordinate Si as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is about 1000 mm. In the case of the feed amount, for example, an error amount of about ± 20 μm may appear.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, when the application coordinate in the X-axis direction of a certain application pattern 20 is X1 [μm] and the X correction data Cx is −20 [μm], the X correction data Cx is considered. If the fraction processing is performed, the application pattern 20 is assigned to the N1x [μm] pixel GS. However, the X correction data Cx is taken into consideration, and the application pattern 20 is applied to the N2x [μm] pixel GS. Will be assigned. When the size of the X correction data Cx is larger than the adjustment amount by rounding (in this case, ± 5 μm), a difference of several pixels occurs between N1x and N2x.

  As described above, the adjustment of the allocation position (allocation pixel) of the pixel unit application pattern 20a using the movement correction data 26 is particularly effective when the size of the substrate 2 (application area 2a) is large and the movement error tends to increase. It is.

  The remaining effects of the second embodiment are similar to those of the aforementioned first embodiment.

[Modification]
The embodiments and examples disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description of the embodiments and examples but by the scope of claims for patent, and includes all modifications (modifications) within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of claims for patent.

  For example, in the first and second embodiments, the example in which the pixel unit application pattern 20a representing the application location in the pixel GS unit is used as the application pattern data 21, but the present invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, as the application pattern data, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, a coordinate list 20b that represents application locations by coordinate values may be used. A coordinate list 20b shown in FIG. 10 includes application coordinate data in the X-axis direction and numbers (nozzle numbers) of the nozzles 12 arranged in the Y-axis direction in the head 11. Information indicating “with application (1)” or “without application (0)” is given for each application coordinate in the X-axis direction and for each nozzle 12. FIG. 10 is an example in which an application pattern similar to the example of the pixel unit application pattern 20a shown in FIG. 3 is represented by a coordinate list 20b. The coordinate list may be specified by coordinate values instead of specifying the Y-axis direction position by the nozzle number.

  When the coordinate list 20b is used, the application region 2a does not need to be divided by the pixel GS, and may be defined by a combination of coordinate values and nozzle numbers. The application coordinates of each application pattern 20 included in the application data 1 or the unit scan data 30 may be defined by coordinates instead of the corresponding pixels GS. In this case, the application data 1 may be generated by further using data designating the interval between the nozzles 12 in the Y-axis direction. The interval in the Y-axis direction of the nozzles 12 can be adjusted by inclining the head 11 with respect to the Y-axis direction in the XY plane by a rotation mechanism (not shown).

  Moreover, although the example which produces | generates the application | coating data 1 using the pattern pitch data 23 was shown in the said 1st and 2nd embodiment, this invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, the pattern pitch data 23 need not be acquired. For example, the pattern pitch may be a fixed value set in advance. Alternatively, it is assumed that the application patterns 20 adjacent in the array information 22 are applied without a gap, and the pattern pitch is adjusted according to the size of the margins (14 columns, 15 columns, and 17 rows in FIG. 3) of the pixel unit application pattern 20a. You may make it do.

  In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the application start coordinate Si is obtained for each arrangement unit (unit scan data 30) composed of a group of a plurality of application patterns 20 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. I can't. In the present invention, it is not necessary to acquire the application start coordinate Si for each arrangement unit. For example, the position of the arrangement unit may be determined by dividing the entire application region 2a by the pixel GS and assigning the arrangement unit to any of the divided pixels GS. In addition, when each application pattern 20 is used as an arrangement unit, the position of the arrangement unit may be determined by assigning each application pattern 20 to one of the divided pixels GS.

  In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the application data 1 is generated using the column number data 24 of the application pattern 20 that can be included in one application scan line has been described. It is not limited to this. In the present invention, the column number data 24 need not be acquired. For example, the unit scan data 30 may be generated with the number K of columns as a fixed value of only one column. Alternatively, the number K of rows may be an upper limit value of the number of rows of the coating pattern 20 that can be applied simultaneously by one head 11. In this case, the number of columns of unit scan data can be determined from the number of pixels in the Y-axis direction that can be applied by the head 11, the size (number of pixels) of the pixel unit application pattern 20a, and the pattern pitch.

  In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the application data 1 is generated using the pixel size data 25 representing the size of the pixel GS in each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction has been described. The invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, the pixel size data 25 need not be set. For example, the pixel size may be a fixed value unique to the coating apparatus 10. Further, instead of setting each of the pixel GS in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, a common value may be set in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. In this case, the pixel size is specified only for the square pixels.

  In the first and second embodiments, the application data 1 is generated using one type of application pattern data 21 (pixel unit application pattern 20a). However, the present invention is not limited to this. A plurality of types of application pattern data 21 may be set. In this case, the array information 22 is set with a number of variables corresponding to the type of the application pattern 20, such as “0: no application pattern, 1: application pattern A, 2: application pattern B,. That's fine. However, when the application pattern 20 is different, separate application data 1 may be created for each application pattern data 21.

  Further, in the first and second embodiments, the unit scan data 30 including the column group of the application pattern 20 arranged in the X-axis direction according to the arrangement information 22 is created, and the application data 1 is generated by the plurality of unit scan data 30. Although the example which comprised was shown, this invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, the application data 1 over the entire application region 2 a may be directly generated based on the application pattern data 21 and the array information 22 without generating the unit scan data 30. In this case, the application start coordinate Si for each unit scan data 30 is not required, and the application data 1 is generated by generating bitmap image data or a coordinate list as shown in FIG. 10 over the entire application region 2a. do it.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Application | coating data 2 Substrate 2a Application | coating area | region 20 Application | coating pattern 20a Pixel unit application pattern 21 Application | coating pattern data (application pattern data)
22 Array information 23 Pattern pitch data 24 Number of columns data 25 Pixel size data 30 Unit scan data GS pixel

Claims (7)

A coating data generation method for performing coating on a substrate using coating data in which coating patterns are arranged,
Acquire the coating pattern data created in advance,
Obtaining the arrangement information of the application pattern for the application area of the substrate,
An application data generation method for generating application data over the entire application area by arranging the application patterns according to the arrangement information.   The application data generation method according to claim 1, wherein application coordinates for each arrangement unit are acquired using an individual application pattern or a group of a plurality of application patterns included in the arrangement information as an arrangement unit. Further obtaining pattern pitch data representing the arrangement interval of the application patterns adjacent in the arrangement information,
The application data generation method according to claim 2, wherein application coordinates for each of the arrangement units are calculated according to the pattern pitch data. The array information includes a matrix-like array of an X-axis direction that is a coating scan direction with respect to the coating region and a Y-axis direction that is a movement direction of the coating scan line,
The arrangement unit is a column group of the application pattern arranged in the X-axis direction according to the arrangement information,
The application data generation method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein unit scan data including column groups of the application pattern is extracted from the arrangement information, and application coordinates are calculated for each unit scan data. Further obtaining column number data in the Y-axis direction of the application pattern that can be included in one application scan line,
The application data generation method according to claim 4, wherein the unit scan data includes an array of the application patterns corresponding to the number of columns set in the column number data. The application pattern data includes a pixel unit application pattern representing an application location in pixel units,
The said application | coating area | region is divided with the said pixel, A fraction process is performed to the application | coating coordinate of each said pixel unit application pattern, The said pixel which allocates the said pixel unit application pattern is adjusted. The application | coating data generation method of description. The application pattern data includes a pixel unit application pattern representing an application location in pixel units,
Obtaining pixel size data representing the size of the pixel in each of the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction;
The application data generation method according to claim 1, wherein the application area is divided by the pixels having a size set in the pixel size data.

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