JP2022136299A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve recognition accuracy for an imaging target.

SOLUTION: A printing device 1 includes: a print head 41; an imaging camera 511 for imaging a printing target of the print head 41; and an illumination unit 52 for illuminating an imaging target of the imaging camera 511. The illumination unit 52 includes an LED53 and a translucent plate 55 for diffusing light from the LED53 and illuminates the imaging target with light diffused by the translucent plate 55.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

COPYRIGHT: (C)2022,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to printing devices.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a printing apparatus that prints a desired design on a fingernail or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In this type of printing apparatus, an object to be printed, such as a nail inserted into a housing, is photographed while being illuminated, and an area to be printed (for example, an area of the nail) is recognized based on the obtained image.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2017-521225

However, when the light of the illumination is simply applied directly to the object to be printed, the high-intensity light reflected by the surface of the object to be printed and its surrounding members enters the photographing camera. As a result, overexposure may occur, and the range to be printed may not be recognized accurately.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to improve the accuracy of recognizing an object to be photographed.

The printing device of the present invention is
printing means;
a photographing means for photographing an object to be printed by the printing means;
and lighting means for illuminating an object to be photographed by the photographing means,
The illumination means is
a light source;
a diffusing portion that diffuses the light from the light source,
The light diffused by the diffusing section illuminates the object to be photographed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of recognizing an object to be photographed.

1 is a perspective view showing an external configuration of main parts of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment; FIG. FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the periphery of the finger fixing part, and FIG. 4B is a side view of the finger fixing part with a finger placed thereon. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment, taken along a plane perpendicular to the front-rear direction; It is the perspective view which looked at the support member which concerns on embodiment from the downward direction. 4 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the lighting unit in FIG. 3; FIG. 2 is a control block diagram showing a schematic control configuration of a printing device and a terminal device according to the embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows the modification of the lighting unit which concerns on embodiment.

An embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG.
Although various technically desirable limitations are attached to the embodiments described below for carrying out the present invention, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and illustrated examples.
Further, in the following embodiments, the case where the printing apparatus is a nail printing apparatus for printing on fingernails as an object to be printed will be described as an example. For example, toe nails may be printed. Also, objects other than nails, such as nail tips and surfaces of various accessories, may be printed.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external configuration of the main parts of the printing apparatus 1, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a finger fixing portion 6, which will be described later.
In the following embodiments, up and down, left and right, and front and back refer to directions shown in FIG. Also, the X direction is the left-right direction, and the Y direction is the front-rear direction.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printing device 1 has a housing 2 formed in a substantially box shape.
The housing 2 has an opening 21 formed in the lower portion of the front side (the front side of the printing apparatus 1) over substantially the entire surface in the left-right direction (the horizontal direction of the printing apparatus 1, the X direction). there is Further, a notch portion 22 is formed continuously on the upper side of the opening portion 21 in a substantially central portion of the housing 2 in the left-right direction. The notch 22 functions as an entrance and exit when a print head 41, which will be described later, is attached to and detached from the apparatus.
An operation unit 13 is provided on the upper surface (top plate) of the housing 2 . The operation unit 13 is, for example, an operation button (power switch button) for turning on/off the power of the printing apparatus 1 .

An apparatus main body 10 is housed inside the housing 2 .
The apparatus main body 10 includes a base 11, a finger fixing section 6 attached thereto, a printing section 40, an imaging section 50, and the like.

The printing unit 40 is printing means for printing on a nail to be printed.
The printing unit 40 includes a print head 41 that performs a printing operation, an X-direction movement motor 46 and a Y-direction movement motor 48 (see FIG. 6) for moving the print head 41, and the like.

The print head 41 of this embodiment has an ink ejection surface (none of which is shown) provided with a plurality of nozzle openings for ejecting ink on the lower surface facing the nail surface. This is an inkjet head that prints by spraying ink directly onto the surface of the nail from the ejection surface. The configuration of the print head 41 is not particularly limited, but in this embodiment, it is a cartridge-integrated head in which an ejection mechanism such as an ink ejection surface and an ink cartridge are integrated.
The print head 41 can eject, for example, cyan (C; CYAN), magenta (M; MAGENTA), and yellow (Y; YELLOW) inks.

The X-direction movement motor 46 moves the print head 41 in the left-right direction (X-direction) of the apparatus, and the Y-direction movement motor 48 moves the print head 41 in the front-rear direction (Y-direction) of the apparatus. be.

The finger fixing portion 6 is arranged in the center of the front side of the device on the base 11 in the left-right direction (X direction), and holds a finger having a nail (printing finger) to be printed within an area suitable for printing. fixed.
The finger fixing part 6 has an opening 61 on the front side of the device. A finger fixing member 62 is provided inside the finger fixing portion 6 . The finger fixing member 62 pushes up and supports the finger inserted from the opening 61 from below, and is made of, for example, flexible resin.
A window portion 63 is formed on the upper surface of the finger fixing portion 6 to expose the nail portion of the finger inserted through the opening 61 and held by the finger fixing member 62 .

As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b), at the rear portion of the finger fixing portion 6, there is provided a claw engaging portion 65 against which the tip of the printing finger U abuts and the center of the tip of the claw T is hooked. It is The top surface of the nail locking portion 65 is substantially flush with the nail T when the nail T of the printing finger U is locked.
The surface of the claw engaging portion 65 is textured for diffusing the light from the lighting unit 52, which will be described later. Note that this processing is not limited to texturing, and any surface processing that diffuses light may be used. At least a portion of the finger fixing portion 6 that contacts the printing finger U may be subjected to the surface treatment. More specifically, as will be described later, this surface treatment is for suppressing overexposure when photographing with the photographing camera 511. Therefore, the portion that abuts on the printing finger, which is the subject of photographing, at approximately the same height. It is good to have it on.

3 is a cross-sectional view of the essential parts of the printing apparatus 1 taken along a plane perpendicular to the front-rear direction, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a support member 12, which will be described later, viewed from below, and FIG. It is the figure which expanded the below-mentioned lighting unit 52 periphery.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the photographing unit 50 is arranged above the window 63 of the finger fixing unit 6, and photographs the printing finger exposed through the window 63 to acquire the image.
The photographing section 50 includes a photographing unit 51 and two illumination units 52 .
The photographing unit 51 is attached to a support member 12 erected on the base 11 . The support member 12 has a top plate 121 and leg portions 122 at both left and right ends thereof. A space in which the print head 41 moves is interposed between the top plate 121 of the support member 12 and the base 11 . The photographing unit 51 is arranged in the center of the top plate 121 of the support member 12 in the left-right direction.
The photographing unit 51 includes a downward-facing photographing camera 511 arranged above the window 63 of the finger fixing portion 6 . The imaging camera 511 is, for example, a compact camera including a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) type or CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) type solid-state imaging device having two million or more pixels, a lens, and the like.

The two lighting units 52 are arranged on the left and right sides of the photographing unit 51 on the top plate 121 of the support member 12, and illuminate the photographing target (printing target, which is the printing target) of the photographing unit 51 (photographing camera 511).
Each lighting unit 52 includes an LED 53, a reflective case 54, and a translucent plate 55, as shown in FIG.
The LED 53 is a white LED that is the light source of the lighting unit 52 and is arranged upward at the center of the upper surface of the translucent plate 55 . However, the light source of the lighting unit 52 is not limited to the LED as long as it can illuminate the object to be photographed by the photographing camera 511 .

The reflective case 54 is an example of a reflective part according to the present invention, and is a case that reflects the light from the LED 53 . The reflective case 54 is formed in a rectangular box shape that opens downward, and is arranged so as to cover the upper side of the LED 53 positioned in the center of the reflective case 54 in plan view.
The inner surface of the reflective case 54 (that is, the top surface 54a and the front, rear, left, and right inner surfaces 54b) is a surface that reflects the light from the LED 53 (white surface in this embodiment). Further, the inner surface of the reflective case 54 is textured so as to diffuse the light from the LEDs 53 . However, this processing is not limited to texturing, and any surface processing that diffuses light may be used.
As for the inner surface of the reflection case 54, at least the top surface 54a facing the LED 53 may be configured to reflect the light from the LED 53, and may be a mirror surface, for example.

The light-transmitting plate 55 is an example of a diffusing portion according to the present invention, and diffuses the light reflected by the reflective case 54 . The light-transmitting plate 55 is formed in a flat plate shape, and supports the LEDs 53 on the upper surface while closing the opening of the reflection case 54 .
The translucent plate 55 is a milky-white translucent plate in this embodiment, and diffuses and transmits the light reflected by the reflective case 54 . At least one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the light-transmitting plate 55 may be subjected to surface processing for diffusing light.

In the illumination unit 52 having the above configuration, the light emitted upward from the LED 53 is diffused and reflected (diffused reflection) by the top surface 54 a of the reflective case 54 . This light is transmitted through the transparent plate 55 while being diffused, and illuminates downward.
At this time, the irradiation range of light on the translucent plate 55 (for example, the irradiation range of light having a certain luminosity or more from the LEDs 53) is directly transmitted through the LEDs 53 provided on the top surface 54a, as indicated by the dashed arrows in the figure. It spreads approximately four times (approximately twice in the X direction and approximately twice in the Y direction) as compared to the case of directing it toward the light plate 55 . Further, the light is diffused when it is reflected on the inner surface of the reflective case 54 or when it is transmitted through the transparent plate 55 .
As a result, the illumination unit 52 irradiates a wide and uniform light as compared with the case where the light from the LED 53 is simply directly radiated.
Note that the lighting unit 52 may include at least the LED 53 and the translucent plate 55 .

FIG. 6 is a control block diagram showing a schematic control configuration of the printer 1 and a terminal device 9 which will be described later.
As shown in this figure, the printing apparatus 1 includes a communication section 14 and a control device 80 in addition to the printing section 40 and the photographing section 50 described above.

The communication unit 14 is configured to be capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from a terminal device 9 (to be described later) that operates in cooperation with the printing device 1 .
Communication between the printing device 1 and the terminal device 9 is performed by, for example, a wireless LAN. The communication between the printing device 1 and the terminal device 9 is not limited to this, and any method may be used. For example, it may use a network line such as the Internet, or may perform wireless communication based on a short-range wireless communication standard such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Wi-Fi. Also, this communication is not limited to wireless, and a configuration in which various data can be transmitted and received between the two through a wired connection may be employed. The communication unit 14 includes an antenna chip and the like compatible with the communication method of the terminal device 9 .

The control device 80 includes a control unit 81 configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown), and a storage unit 82 including a ROM (Read Only Memory) 821, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 822, and the like. It is a computer with

The storage unit 82 stores various programs and data for operating the printing apparatus 1 .
Specifically, the ROM 821 of the storage unit 82 stores various programs such as a print program for performing print processing. Each part is centrally controlled.

The control unit 81 includes functional units such as an imaging control unit 811, a print control unit 813, a communication control unit 814, and the like. The functions of these functional units are realized by cooperation between the CPU of the control unit 81 and the programs stored in the ROM 821 of the storage unit 82 .

The photographing control unit 811 controls the photographing camera 511 and the LED 53 of the photographing unit 50, and causes the photographing camera 511 to photograph a finger image (nail image) including the nail image of the printing finger fixed to the finger fixing unit 6. .
Image data of the nail image acquired by the photographing unit 50 is transmitted to the terminal device 9 described later via the communication unit 14 . Note that the image data may be stored in the storage unit 82 .

The print control unit 813 outputs a control signal to the print unit 40 based on the print data transmitted from the terminal device 9, which will be described later, and instructs the print unit 40 to print on the nail according to the print data. , the X-direction movement motor 46, the Y-direction movement motor 48, the print head 41, and the like.

The communication control section 814 controls the operation of the communication section 14 . In this embodiment, the communication control unit 814 controls communication with the terminal device 9 described below, and receives print data and the like when they are transmitted from the terminal device 9 .

Further, the printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to communicate with the terminal device 9, and executes printing operations and the like based on operation commands from the terminal device 9. FIG.

The terminal device 9 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smart phone or a tablet. However, the terminal device 9 is not particularly limited as long as it can communicate with the printing device 1, and may be, for example, a notebook or stationary personal computer, a game terminal device, or the like.
Specifically, the terminal device 9 includes an operation unit 91, a display unit 92, a communication unit 94, a control device 95, and the like.

The operation unit 91 performs various inputs and settings according to user's operations. When the operation unit 91 is operated, an input signal corresponding to the operation is transmitted to the control device 95 . In this embodiment, a touch panel is integrally provided on the surface of the display unit 92, and the user can also perform various operations such as input and setting by touching the touch panel. In this embodiment, the user can select a nail design to be printed on the nail by operating the operation unit 91 .

The touch panel configured in the display unit 92 displays various display screens under the control of the control unit 96, which will be described later. In the present embodiment, the display unit 92 displays nail designs input/selected by the user from the operation unit 91, images transmitted from the printing apparatus 1, and the like.

The communication unit 94 includes a wireless communication module or the like capable of communicating with the communication unit 14 of the printing apparatus 1 , and transmits/receives various data such as nail images and printing data to/from the printing apparatus 1 .
Note that the communication unit 94 may be any unit that can communicate with the printing apparatus 1, and one that conforms to the communication standard of the communication unit 14 of the printing apparatus 1 is applied.

The control device 95 is a computer comprising a control unit 96 configured by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) (not shown) and a storage unit 97 configured by a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory) not shown. is.

The storage unit 97 stores various programs, various data, and the like for operating each unit of the terminal device 9 .
Specifically, in the ROM or the like of the present embodiment, various programs such as a nail print application program for performing nail printing using the printing apparatus 1 in addition to an operation program for centrally controlling each part of the terminal device 9 are stored. are stored, and the terminal device 9 is controlled by the control device 95 developing these programs in, for example, a work area of the RAM and executing them.
Further, the storage unit 97 of the present embodiment stores nail design data, nail image and nail shape information, and the like.

The control unit 96 comprehensively controls the operation of each unit of the terminal device 9 . The control unit 96 cooperates with the programs stored in the storage unit 97 to realize various functions for printing on nails.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 1 when executing print processing will be described.
When the user sets a printing finger coated with a white base paint in advance on the finger fixing portion 6 and performs a predetermined execution operation on the operating portion 91 of the terminal device 9 , the photographing portion 50 moves the printing finger on the finger fixing portion 6 . be filmed.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the photographing control unit 811 of the control unit 81 first turns on the LEDs 53 of the two lighting units 52 to illuminate the printing finger exposed through the window 63 of the finger fixing unit 6. . Then, the photographing control unit 811 photographs the illuminated printing finger with the photographing camera 511 and acquires the nail image.
At this time, each lighting unit 52 illuminates the printed finger to be photographed with widely uniform light by irradiating the light obtained by reflecting and diffusing the light from the LED 53 as described above. Therefore, compared to the case where the printing finger is directly illuminated with the light from the LED 53, occurrence of blown-out highlights is suppressed.
Further, at this time, since the nail locking portion 65 which is substantially flush with the nail to be printed is textured, the light illuminating the nail locking portion 65 is diffused. Therefore, overexposure occurring between the nail and the nail locking portion 65 is suppressed.
As a result, the nail range (nail area) of the printing finger can be recognized with higher accuracy.

Next, the print control unit 312 of the control unit 81 acquires the nail region based on the data of the nail image and generates print data. Then, the print control unit 312 controls the print unit 40 to eject ink while moving the print head 41 to print the nail of the printing finger of the finger fixing unit 6 .
Thus, printing on the printing finger is completed.

Note that when the nail region is obtained from the nail image, whether or not the nail region is correct may be determined based on the data of the nail image.
For example, for the nail engaging portion 65, which is likely to be misidentified as part of the nail region, the brightness value of the nail engaging portion 65 when illuminated by the lighting unit 52 is acquired in advance, and the brightness value of the nail engaging portion 65 and the printing finger is detected. A brightness value near the boundary is set as a threshold. Then, when acquiring the nail region, the control unit 81 may determine whether or not the nail engaging portion 65 is included in the acquired nail region based on the threshold value of the brightness value.
If it is determined that the nail region is correct (the nail engaging portion 65 is not included in the nail region), printing may be executed as it is. If it is determined that the nail region is not correct (the nail locking portion 65 is included in the nail region), the LED 53 or the photographing camera 511 may be used to adjust the luminance and the like and photograph again. It may also be possible to manually adjust the nail area.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the lighting unit 52 that illuminates the object to be photographed by the photographing camera 511 has the LED 53 and the light-transmitting plate 55 that diffuses the light from the LED 53. The light-transmitting plate 55 Illuminate the subject with diffused light.
As a result, the lighting unit 52 irradiates wide and uniform light compared to the case where the light from the LED 53 is simply directly radiated, so it is possible to suppress the occurrence of blown-out highlights.
Therefore, it is possible to improve the recognition accuracy of the object to be photographed.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the lighting unit 52 has the reflective case 54 that reflects the light from the LED 53 , and the translucent plate 55 diffuses the light reflected by the reflective case 54 .
As a result, since the lighting unit 52 irradiates a wider and more uniform light, it is possible to more reliably suppress the occurrence of blown-out highlights, thereby further improving the recognition accuracy of the object to be photographed.
Moreover, by using the reflected light in this way, even when a light source with a narrow light distribution angle is used as the LED 53, it is possible to illuminate a wide range. Since a light source with a narrow light distribution angle is generally small and inexpensive, the size and cost of the lighting unit 52 can be reduced.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the reflective case 54 is subjected to surface processing for diffusing light, and reflects and diffuses the light from the LED 53 .
As a result, more uniform light is emitted from the lighting unit 52, so that the occurrence of blown-out highlights can be suppressed more reliably, and the recognition accuracy of the object to be photographed can be further improved.

Further, according to the present embodiment, of the finger fixing portion 6 for fixing the printing finger, the pawl engaging portion 65 that comes into contact with the printing finger is surface-treated to diffuse light.
As a result, the light that illuminates the pawl engaging portion 65 is diffused, so that overexposure occurring between the pawl and the pawl engaging portion 65 can be suppressed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the illumination unit 52 is not limited to the configuration of this embodiment, and may be of an edge light type as shown in FIG. 7, for example.
The illumination unit 52A in this case includes a light guide plate 56 arranged with one main surface 56a directed downward (toward the object to be photographed). The LED 53A is arranged to face the side surface 56c of the light guide plate 56. As shown in FIG. In the light guide plate 56 , both main surfaces 56 a and 56 b internally reflect (total reflect) the light incident on the light guide plate 56 from the side surface 56 c , and the lower main surface 56 a reflects the light from inside the light guide plate 56 . is emitted while diffusing. Alternatively, a diffusion material may be attached to the lower principal surface 56a, or a reflective sheet may be attached to the upper principal surface 56b. Such an illumination unit 52A can also illuminate an object to be photographed in the same manner as the illumination unit 52 of the present embodiment. Moreover, since a light source with a relatively narrow light distribution angle can be used as the LED 53A, it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the illumination unit 52A.

Moreover, the position, number, etc. of the illumination unit 52 (including 52A) are not particularly limited.
However, the position of the lighting unit 52 is preferably closer to the imaging camera 511 (closer to the center in the left-right direction) because it is easier to secure the amount of light to the imaging camera 511 .
Also, the illumination unit 52 is arranged so that the lower surface of the translucent plate 55 faces straight toward the object to be photographed (that is, the vertical line of the lower surface faces the object to be photographed) in order to improve the illuminance of the object to be photographed. more preferred.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the print head 41 is of the inkjet type, but the configuration (printing method) of the print head 41 is not limited to this. There may be.

Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalent ranges thereof. .
The invention described in the scope of claims originally attached to the application form of this application is additionally described below. The claim numbers in the appendix are as in the claims originally attached to the filing of this application.
[Appendix]
<Claim 1>
printing means;
a photographing means for photographing an object to be printed by the printing means;
and lighting means for illuminating an object to be photographed by the photographing means,
The illumination means is
a light source;
a diffusing portion that diffuses the light from the light source,
illuminating the object to be photographed with the light diffused by the diffusion unit;
A printing device characterized by:
<Claim 2>
The lighting means has a reflecting portion that reflects the light from the light source,
The diffusion section diffuses the light reflected by the reflection section.
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
<Claim 3>
The reflective portion is subjected to a surface treatment that diffuses light, and reflects and diffuses the light from the light source.
3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:
<Claim 4>
The light source is arranged in a direction opposite to the imaging target side,
The reflecting part is provided so as to cover the opposite side of the light source and open to the imaging target side,
The diffusion section is arranged on the imaging target side of the light source while blocking the opening of the reflection section.
4. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that:
<Claim 5>
The illumination means includes a light guide plate with one main surface facing the imaging target side,
The light source is arranged to face a side surface of the light guide plate,
The light guide plate is
Both main surfaces internally reflect light incident on the light guide plate from the side surface as the reflecting portion,
The one main surface serves as the diffusion portion to diffuse and emit light from within the light guide plate,
5. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that:
<Claim 6>
The diffusing portion is a translucent member that has undergone a surface treatment that diffuses light,
6. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that:
<Claim 7>
A fixing unit for fixing the imaging target,
At least part of a portion of the fixing portion that contacts the object to be photographed is subjected to a surface treatment that diffuses light.
7. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that:

1 printing device 6 finger fixing part (fixing part)
63 Window portion 65 Claw engaging portion 12 Supporting member 41 Print head (printing means)
50 imaging section 51 imaging unit 511 imaging camera (imaging means)
52, 52A lighting unit (lighting means)
53 LEDs (light source)
54 reflective case (reflective part)
54a Top surface 54b Inner surface 55 Translucent plate (diffusion part)
56 light guide plates 56a, 56b main surface 56c side surface 81 control unit 811 photographing control unit T nail U printing finger (imaging target)

The printing device of the present invention is
printing means;
a photographing means for photographing an object to be printed by the printing means;
illuminating means for illuminating an object to be photographed by the photographing means;
a locking portion that locks the object to be printed;
with
The lighting means illuminates the object to be photographed with the light diffused by the diffusion section,
At least a portion of the locking portion is subjected to a surface treatment that diffuses light,
It is characterized by

Claims (7)

printing means;
a photographing means for photographing an object to be printed by the printing means;
and lighting means for illuminating an object to be photographed by the photographing means,
The illumination means is
a light source;
a diffusing portion that diffuses the light from the light source,
illuminating the object to be photographed with the light diffused by the diffusion unit;
A printing device characterized by: The lighting means has a reflecting portion that reflects the light from the light source,
The diffusion section diffuses the light reflected by the reflection section.
2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: The reflective portion is subjected to a surface treatment that diffuses light, and reflects and diffuses the light from the light source.
3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: The light source is arranged in a direction opposite to the imaging target side,
The reflecting part is provided so as to cover the opposite side of the light source and open to the imaging target side,
The diffusion section is arranged on the imaging target side of the light source while blocking the opening of the reflection section.
4. The printing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The illumination means includes a light guide plate with one main surface facing the imaging target side,
The light source is arranged to face a side surface of the light guide plate,
The light guide plate is
Both main surfaces internally reflect light incident on the light guide plate from the side surface as the reflecting portion,
The one main surface serves as the diffusion portion to diffuse and emit light from within the light guide plate,
5. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The diffusing portion is a translucent member that has undergone a surface treatment that diffuses light.
6. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: A fixing part for fixing the imaging target,
At least part of a portion of the fixing portion that contacts the object to be photographed is subjected to a surface treatment that diffuses light.
7. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by:

Images