JP2623888B2 - Equipment for automatic adjustment of equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic device adjustment apparatus for automatically performing adjustment necessary for optimally operating a device when the device is manufactured or used. .

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a color monitor (equipment) for a television receiver or an OA device, there is a work to properly adjust a plurality of adjustment points having a correlation with each other. Performed by an operator.

As this kind of adjustment work, for example, a white balance adjustment work for adjusting the color balance of a screen at the time of manufacturing the color monitor, or a thermal fusion transfer printer (equipment)
Transfer quality adjustment work.

Conventional white balance adjustment work has been performed as follows.

First, a test pattern generator projects a steer case pattern, which gradually changes from black to white, as shown in FIG. 3 on a cathode ray tube (display tube), and a skilled operator displays the steer case pattern using six variable resistors (volume resistors). ) Is adjusted so that each gradation pattern is white and has appropriate brightness.

Next, a conventional transfer quality adjusting operation of the printer will be described.

FIG. 7 schematically shows a configuration of a main part of a conventional thermal fusion transfer printer. In this printer, the transfer paper 85 is wound from a roller 81 to a roller 84 via rollers 82 and 83, while an ink sheet 86 is wound from a roller 87 to a roller 91 via rollers 88 and 89. The winding speed of the transfer paper 85 is set to be the same as the winding speed of the ink sheet 86. Then, the head 92 in the middle melts the ink on the ink sheet 86 by heat and transfers the ink to the transfer paper 85, so that printing is performed.

In this printer, adjustment work of the transfer quality is performed as follows.

The strength (pressure) at which a stir case pattern as shown in FIG. 3 is printed by a hot-melt transfer printer and a skilled worker presses the head 92 against the fixing plate 91 while observing the printing result.
Thus, the winding speed of the transfer paper 85 and the value of the voltage applied to the head 92 are adjusted so that an appropriate print is made.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the white balance adjustment work and the transfer quality adjustment work of the color monitor are a difficult work because there are a plurality of adjustment locations that are correlated with each other. In many cases, the relationship between the adjustment and the change in the adjustment state is non-linear, and the manual operation must rely on the intuition and experience of a skilled worker. Also, the degree of adjustment varies from device to device, and is not an easy task for a skilled worker.

As described above, the conventional white balance adjustment work and transfer quality adjustment work require labor and labor and require skill, and therefore, improvement has been strongly desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide an automatic adjustment device for a device that can perform an adjustment operation efficiently without requiring manual labor or skill.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has a shift detecting unit that detects a shift between an actual state of an adjustment target item in an apparatus and a reference state, and adjustment of the apparatus. An adjustment amount calculating unit that calculates a random (random number) adjustment amount within a range possible as an amount and outputs the adjustment amount as an instruction signal; an adjustment amount output unit that receives the instruction signal and outputs the adjustment signal to the device; If the deviation before the adjustment is smaller than the deviation before the adjustment, the adjustment is made by the adjustment amount.If the deviation after the adjustment is not smaller than the deviation before the adjustment, the adjustment amount calculating means calculates the adjustment amount so that the immediately preceding adjustment is canceled. And a discrimination control means for controlling the adjustment amount output means and the adjustment amount calculation means.

Operation The present invention, with the above configuration, while the state changing means changes the adjustment state of the device, the deviation detecting means examines the deviation between the actual state and the reference state, and the discrimination control means evaluates the state after the change, Operate to adopt the appropriate change state. Therefore, difficult work such as white balance adjustment can be automatically and efficiently performed without requiring a skilled worker. Furthermore, by using a random number signal (random signal) for the adjustment amount, it is possible to easily generate the adjustment amount without having to set complicated generation amount rules and conditions for the adjustment amount.

Embodiment Hereinafter, a device for automatically adjusting a device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an automatic adjustment device for white balance adjustment in a color monitor according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a shift detecting means 1 receives, as an input, a steer case pattern image 5 projected on a cathode ray tube of a color monitor to be adjusted, calculates a shift between an adjustment state and a reference state, and determines a shift signal 6. 4 is output.

On the other hand, this device is provided with a state changing unit including an adjustment amount calculating unit 2 and an adjustment amount output unit 3. The adjustment amount calculation means 2 outputs an instruction signal 9 for instructing the adjustment amount to the color monitor to the adjustment amount output means 3 according to the control signal 7 from the discrimination control means 4. The instruction signal 9 is randomly generated within an adjustable range. The adjustment amount output means 3 receives the control signal 8 from the discrimination control means 2 and adjusts the adjustment semi-fixed resistor (not shown) in response to the instruction signal 9.
Occurs.

The discrimination control unit 4 stores the deviation signal before the change, and causes the adjustment amount calculation unit 2 to output a new instruction signal to the adjustment amount output unit 3 and at the same time, causes the adjustment amount output unit 3 to generate mechanical torque. Control is performed to drive the semi-fixed resistor to change the state. Deviation detection means 1
Immediately obtains the deviation signal in the state after the change and outputs it to the discrimination control means 4. The discrimination control means 4 compares the stored shift signal in the state before the change with the newly input shift signal after the change, and if the stored shift signal is smaller (when the change does not improve the state), The state change unit is controlled so that the change is canceled and returned to the original state, and then the next change is performed. Conversely, if the stored shift signal is larger (when the change improves the state), the discrimination control means 4 rewrites the previously stored shift signal with the shifted signal in the changed state, and performs the next change. Do.

By repeating the above operation, a change that improves the state is adopted, and the adjustment proceeds.

The operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be described more specifically with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the apparatus according to the first embodiment.

The displacement detecting means 1 includes a video camera 13, an AD converter 14, a frame memory 15, a displacement amount calculator 16, and a memory 17.

Upon receiving the pattern signal from the test pattern generator 11, the test pattern shown in FIG.

The test pattern is imaged by the video camera 13, the RGB analog signal 24 is converted into an RGB digital signal 25 by the A / D converter 14, and then temporarily stored in the frame memory 15 for one screen. On the other hand, in the memory 17, an RGB digital signal 31 of a test pattern (FIG. 3) in a state where the steer white balance is appropriately adjusted (reference state) is stored in advance. Then, the shift amount calculator 16 calculates a shift between the actual signal and the reference signal based on the RGB digital signals 25 and 31, and outputs a shift signal 6 to the discrimination control means 4.

The discrimination control means 4 includes a microcomputer 34 and a memory 35.

The microcomputer 34 of the discrimination control means 4 puts and outputs the input shift signal into and out of the memory 35 and outputs control signals 7 and 8. That is, the memory 35 is a storage unit for the shift signal.

The adjustment amount calculation means 2 includes a random number generator 18, a memory 19, and a sign inverter 32.

The random number generator 18 of the adjustment amount calculation means 2 generates an adjustment amount instruction random number signal 33 which is within a range possible as the adjustment amount according to the control signal, and the memory 19 stores it. In this case, the adjustment amount is the adjustment semi-fixed resistor of the color monitor 12.
This is a six-dimensional vector quantity of the same dimension as the number of 23. The sign inverter 32 outputs the instruction signal 9 to the adjustment amount output means 3 based on the received control signal 7 and the adjustment amount instruction random number signal 33.

The adjustment amount output means 3 includes a pulse generator 20 and pulse motors 21.

The pulse generator 20 of the adjustment amount output means 3 receives the instruction signal 9 and outputs to the pulse motor 21 a number of pulse signals 30 proportional to each component of the six-dimensional adjustment amount. Each pulse motor 21
Turns the six white balance adjusting semi-fixed resistors 23 by an angle proportional to the number of input pulses to change the state.

 Subsequently, an automatic adjustment operation by the above-described device will be described.

First, as preparation, it is necessary to store the RGB digital signal 31 of the reference steer case pattern in the memory 17. Therefore, using a color monitor separately from the object to be adjusted, the test pattern generator 11 generates the same pattern as in the automatic adjustment (FIG. 3), and the operator operates the semi-fixed resistor.
Adjust 23 to an appropriate state while watching CRT 22. The adjusted pattern is captured by the video camera 13 and the A / D converter 1
4-frame memory 15-shift amount calculator 16, memory 1
7 is stored as a reference RGB digital signal 31.

Before the adjustment of the color monitor 12 to be adjusted, the unshifted shift signal is stored in the memory 35, and the memory 19 is set to the 0 vector state indicating that nothing is performed.

After such preparation, an automatic adjustment operation is started for the color monitor to be adjusted.

The test pattern on the cathode ray tube is imaged by the video camera 13, and one frame of the RGB digital signal 25 is stored in the frame memory 15.
On the basis of the GB digital signal 31, the shift amount between the actual white balance and the reference state is obtained by the shift amount calculator 16, and a shift signal is obtained.

The shift signal is, for example, [shift signal] =〕
It is easily calculated using the formula i [(Ri-ri) ² + (Gi + gi) ² + (Bi-bi) ² ]. Here, Ri, Gi, and Bi are the RGB digital signals 31 for each pixel i stored in the memory 17.
R, gi, and bi are the frame memory 15
RGB for each RGB digital signal 25 for each pixel i stored in
It is a luminance value.

The microcomputer 34 receives a shift signal received from the shift amount calculator 16.
Comparing the deviation signal S ₀ which has been stored as S _1.

(A) When the deviation signal S ₁ > the deviation signal S ₀ (the larger the deviation, the larger the signal value), the following control is performed.

The microcomputer 34 sends the control signal 7 to the sign inverter 32, inverts the sign of the random number signal 33 stored in the memory 19, outputs the inverted signal to the pulse generator 20 as the instruction signal 9, and makes the pulse motor 21 match the instruction signal 9. The semi-fixed resistor 23 is rotated. In this case, since the sign of the immediately preceding instruction signal is inverted, the adjustment made immediately before is canceled and the state returns to the original state.

After returning to the original state, make a new change. That is,
Subsequently, the microcomputer 34 causes the random number generator 18 to generate a six-dimensional new random number signal, write it into the memory 19, and issue a new instruction signal corresponding to the new random number signal without inverting the sign.
Further, the control signal 8 is sent to the pulse generator 20, and adjustment according to the new instruction signal is performed on the semi-fixed resistor 23. Thereafter, a deviation signal in this state is obtained, and the process proceeds to the determination.

(B) When the displacement signal S ₁ ≦ the displacement signal S ₀ , the following control is performed.

First, the microcomputer 34 rewrites the shift signal previously stored in the memory 35 to a shift signal in a state after the change that is input later, and then causes the next change. In this case, the change is preferably smaller than the previous change amount. That is,
The random number generator 18 generates a new six-dimensional random number signal in a smaller range than the previous random number signal, writes it in the memory 19, and outputs a new instruction signal corresponding to the new random number signal without inverting the sign. Control signal 8 is applied to pulse generator 20
And adjusts the semi-fixed resistor 23 in accordance with the new instruction signal. Thereafter, a deviation signal in this state is obtained, and the process proceeds to the determination.

That is, in the case of (A), the state before the change is first returned and then the change to the next state is performed, whereas in the case of (B), the state after the change is left unchanged and the state is changed to the next state. Make the change. In this case, the shift signal S ₁ = the shift signal S ₀
(B) was inserted in (B), but may be inserted in (A).

Then, the discrimination control means 4 ends the adjustment when the input displacement signal becomes equal to or less than a preset value. Also, the adjustment operation may be terminated when the comparison result in which the deviation in the state after the change does not become smaller than the deviation in the state before the change is repeated a predetermined number of times.

As described above, the first embodiment is performed until the displacement signal input from the displacement amount calculator 16 becomes equal to or less than the preset value.
By repeating the adjustment of the adjustment semi-fixed resistor 23 by the device, the white balance adjustment in the color monitor 12 is automatically performed.

 Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of an automatic adjustment device for adjusting transfer quality incorporated in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, a deviation detecting means 41, a discrimination control means 43,
The adjustment amount calculation means 42 and the adjustment amount output means 44 are basic components.

The displacement detection 41 includes a light source 45, a photoelectric converter 47, an AD converter 48,
It comprises a shift amount calculator 49 and a memory 50.

The light source 45 irradiates the ink sheet 46 evenly and uniformly.
The photoelectric converter 47 measures the brightness at four position points of the light from the light source 45 transmitted through the ink sheet 46, and outputs an analog signal 61
Is output to the A / D converter 48. The A / D converter 48 digitizes the analog signal 61 and outputs a digital signal 62 to the displacement calculator 49. The brightness of the four position points in the reference state is stored in the memory 50 as a reference digital signal 63 in advance. Then, the shift amount calculator 49 outputs both digital signals 62,
Based on 63, a deviation between the actual state and the reference state is determined, and a deviation signal 64 is output.

The discrimination control means 43 includes a microcomputer 54 and a memory 55.

The microcomputer 54 receives the shift signal 64 from the shift amount calculator 49, reads and writes the shift signal 64 in the memory 55,
The control signal 65 is output to the random number generator 51 and the sign inverter 53, and the control signal 70 is output to the pulse generator 56.
71 is output to the amplifier 57, and the control signal 72 is output to the actuator 58. The memory 55 is a shift signal storage means controlled by the microcomputer 54 to read and write.

The adjustment amount calculating means 42 includes a random number generator 51, a memory 52, and a sign inverter 53.

In response to the control signal 65, the random number generator 51 sends the adjustment amount instruction random number signals 76, 77 and 78 to the memory 52, and then outputs the same random number signal.
The signals 76, 77, and 78 are output as a pulse generator instruction signal 67, an amplifier instruction signal 68, and an actuator instruction signal 69 through the sign inverter 53. It goes without saying that the adjustment random number signal has a size within an appropriate adjustment range of each adjustment item.

Pulse generator 56 receiving control signal 70 and instruction signal 67
Changes the frequency according to the instruction signal 67. Control signal
The amplifier 57 receiving the instruction signal 71 and the instruction signal 68
The amplification factor of the applied voltage 75 of the head 60 with respect to 74 is changed and output to the head 60. The actuator 58 that has received the control signal 72 and the instruction signal 69 changes the pressing force of the head 60 pressing plate 110 according to the instruction signal 69.

Next, a thermal transfer printer that performs adjustment by this apparatus will be described.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a thermal transfer printer portion combined with the apparatus of the second embodiment.

In the printer, transfer paper 101 is transferred from roller 102 to roller 10
The ink sheet 46 is taken up from the roller 106 via the rollers 107 and 108,
It is wound up. The rollers 105 and 109 are gear mechanisms 111
Are synchronously driven by a pulse motor 59 so that the transfer summary 101 and the ink sheet 46 are wound at the same speed.
The actuator 58 receives the instruction signal 69 and the control signal 72 and changes the pressure for pressing the plate 110 against the head 60 according to the instruction signal 69. Further, the head 60 melts the ink on the ink sheet 46 according to the applied voltage 75, and
Transfer to 101. Furthermore, the photoelectric converter 47 is connected to the ink sheet 4
This is to measure the brightness at four position points among the light of the light source 45 transmitted through 6.

In the automatic adjustment according to the present embodiment, a test pattern shown in FIG. 3 is used. In this case, on the ink sheet 46,
As shown in FIG. 6, there occurs a pattern whose brightness is inverted in the pattern of FIG. On the other hand, the photoelectric converter 47
The brightness of four points of straight lines 150 to 153 in FIG. 6 is measured. The adjustment items for the transfer quality include the rotation speed of the pulse motor 59, the applied voltage 75 applied to the head 60, and
The three are the head pressing force of the plate 110.

 Next, the adjusting operation of the above configuration will be described.

The reference digital signal is stored in the memory 50 as follows.
63 is stored in advance.

The pattern shown in FIG. 3 is printed by a hot-melt transfer printer, and the operator manually adjusts the applied voltage, the pressure between the plate and the head, and the speed of the paper feed to an appropriate state while checking the transfer quality. At this time, the transmitted light from the light source 45 at four positions of the straight lines 150 to 153 in the reverse pattern (FIG. 6) formed on the ink sheet 46 is measured by the photoelectric converter 47, and the A / D converter 4
From 8, the reference digital signal 63 is stored in the memory 50 via the shift amount calculator 49. In addition, at the start of each automatic adjustment, while the deviation signal at the time of non-adjustment is stored in the memory 55,
In the memory 52, 0 indicating that nothing is to be performed is stored in each random number signal 76.
It is stored as ~ 78.

After such preparation, the automatic adjustment operation is started.

In this case, the printer prints the pattern shown in FIG. 3 so that the pattern shown in FIG. However, the printed pattern is blurred or uneven due to unadjustment.

On the other hand, the transfer quality is obtained by the shift amount calculator 49 based on the output of the photoelectric converter 47, and a shift signal is obtained.

The shift signal is, for example, [shift signal] =
[(A ₁ −a ₁ ) ² + (A ₂ −a ₂ ) ² + (A ₃ −a ₃ ) ² + (A ₄ −
a ₄ ) It is easily calculated using the formula ² ). Here: digital signals A _{1 to} A ₄ corresponding to four positions of each straight line 150 to 153, and corresponding reference digital signals a _{1 to} a ₄ .

A shift signal input from the shift amount calculator 49 to the microcomputer 54
Comparing the deviation signal S ₀ which has been stored as S _1.

(A) In the case where the displacement signal S ₁ > the displacement signal S ₀ (the larger the displacement signal, the lower the evaluation) The microcomputer 54 outputs the control signal 65 to the sign inverter 53 and the random number signals 76 to 78 stored in the memory 52. Are sent to the pulse generator 56, the amplifier 57, and the actuator 58 as instruction signals 67 to 69. The pulse generator 56, the amplifier 57, and the actuator 58 change according to the received instruction signal as described above. In this case, since the sign of the immediately preceding instruction signal is inverted, the immediately preceding change is canceled, and the pulse generator 56, the amplifier 57, and the actuator 58 are returned to the original state.

Thereafter, the discrimination control means 43 makes the following change. That is, the microcomputer 54 generates a three-dimensional new random number signal from the random number generator 51 and writes it into the memory 52, and also sends a control signal 53 to the sign inverter 53 to respond to the new random number signal without sign inversion. Send a new instruction signal. Then, the pulse generator 56, the amplifier 57, the actuator 58
Completes the next change in response to the received new indication signal. After the change, the process proceeds to printing to discrimination again.

(B) When the shift signal S ₁ ≦ shift signal S ₀ First, the microcomputer 54 rewrites the shift signal stored in the memory 52 to the shift signal output by the shift amount calculator 49,
Make the next change while keeping the state after the change. That is, a new random number signal is generated by the random number generator 51, written into the memory 52, and a new instruction signal corresponding to the new random number signal is output without inverting the sign. Then, the pulse generator 5
6. The amplifier 57 and the actuator 58 complete the next change according to the received new instruction signal. After the change,
Again, the process proceeds from printing to discrimination.

That is, in the case of (a), the immediately preceding change is canceled and the next change is performed, whereas in the case of (b), the change is left as it is and the next change is performed. When the shift signal S _{1 is} equal to the shift signal S ₀ , this is included in (b), but may be included in (a).

Then, the discrimination control means 43 ends the adjustment when the input displacement signal becomes equal to or less than a preset value. That is,
Until then, the change of the rotation speed of the pulse motor 59, the applied voltage of the head 60, and the pressing force of the plate 110 are continuously changed so that the transfer quality of the printer is automatically adjusted. .

As described in the second embodiment, the automatic adjustment device for the device of the present invention is integrated with the device to be adjusted by the automatic adjustment device for the device, and partially shares the configuration with the device to be adjusted (adjustment driving means). 44) You may take the form that you do.

Further, in the embodiment, the relationship between the actual state and the reference state has been described as a deviation amount, but the deviation amount may be an adjustment evaluation value for obtaining a one-dimensional scale from a plurality of detection values.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example,
The device may be an analyzer in addition to a color monitor and a printer.

Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, while the state changing unit changes the adjustment state of the device, the deviation detecting unit checks the deviation between the actual state and the reference state, and the discrimination control unit changes the state after the change. Evaluating and automatically adopting an appropriate change state enables difficult work such as white balance adjustment to be performed automatically and efficiently without requiring a skilled worker. Furthermore, by using a random number signal (random signal) for the adjustment amount, it is possible to easily generate the adjustment amount without having to set complicated generation amount rules and conditions for the adjustment amount.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an automatic adjusting device for equipment according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the automatic adjusting device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a test pattern used for adjustment by the automatic adjustment device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a configuration of a main part of the automatic adjustment device for equipment according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the printer unit of the automatic adjustment device according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the adjustment of equipment in the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a test pattern showing a test pattern appearing on an ink sheet, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a main part of a conventional hot-melt transfer printer. 1, 41... Deviation detecting means, 2, 42... Adjustment amount calculating means (part of the state changing means), 3, 44... Adjustment amount output means (part of the state changing means), 4, 43. Discrimination control means.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takehiko Shida 3-10-1, Higashi-Mita, Tama-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Matsushita Giken Co., Ltd. Matsushita Giken Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor ▲ Yoshi ▼ Kunio 3-10-1, Higashi Mita, Tama-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Matsushita Giken Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A 55-16514 (JP, A) JP-A-64-1001 (JP, A) JP-A-57-85103 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A shift detecting means for detecting a shift between an actual state and a reference state of an item to be adjusted in a device, and an instruction signal by calculating a random adjustment amount within a range possible as an adjustment amount of the device. Adjustment amount calculating means for outputting the adjustment signal, and adjusting amount output means for receiving the instruction signal and outputting the adjustment signal to the device. If the deviation after the adjustment is smaller than the deviation before the adjustment, the adjustment is performed using the adjustment amount, and the deviation after the adjustment is performed. If the deviation does not become smaller than the deviation before the adjustment, the adjustment amount calculation means controls the adjustment amount output means and the adjustment amount calculation means so as to calculate an adjustment amount which immediately cancels the adjustment made immediately before. Automatic adjustment device for equipment comprising means.