JP6528864B2 - Seal surface processing apparatus and seal surface processing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing a seal surface of a porous material, and a method for processing a seal surface in a seal processing apparatus.

  In order to produce a porous printing, the printing surface processing apparatus causes the thermal head to be in contact with the processing object which is a porous material, and drives the heat generating elements of the thermal head selectively while moving them relatively. It is an apparatus which performs the heat processing process which forms a desired seal | sticker surface in a porous material (for example, refer patent document 1). The porous material, the seal surface of which is processed by the seal surface processing apparatus, is attached to the ink-impregnated body attached to the holder, whereby the porous seal having the seal surface pattern ordered by the customer is assembled. In recent years, there have been demands for a printing surface processing apparatus that is versatile such that various types of printing surface patterns, sizes of seals, label sheets, and the like can be processed according to customer orders, and that everyone can perform processing operations at a storefront. Therefore, a porous material is installed in a dedicated attachment adapted to the processing size of the porous stamp, and the attachment is loaded into a seal surface processing apparatus to perform seal surface processing.

  The basic operation of the seal surface processing by the seal surface processing apparatus is to form a non-marked portion in which the porosity is lost by solidifying the surface of the porous material with a thermal head. Therefore, basically, the heating element of the non-printing portion (non-marking portion) in contact with the thermal head is driven, and the heating element of the printing portion (marking portion) is not driven to perform on / off control. It is possible to process However, such simple on / off control has a problem that the heat from the heating element located at the edge of the non-marked area conducts to the area of the adjacent sealed area. As a result, the porosity (ink permeability) of the outline portion of the print may be partially lost, and the outline of the print may be deformed with respect to the original image data. As one method of preventing such printing deformation, a processing control method is proposed in which the on / off heating processing of one line by a thermal head is divided into a plurality of times (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP, 2014-43092, A JP, 2009-208294, A

  However, according to the conventional processing control method in which the on / off heat treatment of one line described above is divided into a plurality of times, if the number of gradations is increased in order to improve the processing accuracy of the seal surface, more heat treatments are required. There has been a problem that the machining time of the entire seal face becomes long.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and is a seal surface processing apparatus for driving a heat generating head to form a seal surface on a porous material, which can form, for example, the contour of a print portion with high accuracy. It is an object of the present invention to provide a seal surface processing apparatus such as

  In order to solve the problems described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a line, and a transfer means for relatively moving the thermal head and the porous material in a state of being in contact with each other. And a control means for performing control processing to form a seal face by selectively heating and driving each of the heating elements one line at a time while moving the relative movement to form a seal face. A tone data creation means for creating tone image data having a tone value based on monochrome image data representing a given printing surface pattern; and each of the control means based on the tone image data. And heat generation drive control means for performing PWM control of a pulse time width for heat generation drive of the heat generation element, wherein the heat generation drive control means has a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal forming the printing surface of one line. A stamp surface processing apparatus characterized by PWM controlling the driving amount of each of the heating elements in the pulse-duty ratio of the duration to the period of the tone-based signals.

According to the printing surface processing apparatus of this configuration, it is possible to accurately form a printing surface having the same gradation as the gradation image data. In addition, if the processing accuracy is the same, the processing time can be shortened compared to the prior art.
In addition, the drive amount of each heating element is PWM-controlled at the duty ratio of the pulse time width to the cycle of the modulation base signal having a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal that forms the printing surface of one line. The drive amount to each heating element becomes equal. This can be expected to reduce the heat remaining in the thermal head and reduce the effect of the heat conducted to the adjacent porous material. In that case, it is preferable that the period of the modulation base signal is set shorter than the period of the processing periodic signal that forms the printing surface of the one line.

  In the printing surface processing apparatus, it is preferable that the gradation data generation unit generates gradation image data corrected so that pixel values monotonously change stepwise in a boundary area where the value of the monochrome image data is inverted. .

  According to the printing surface processing apparatus of this configuration, it is possible to accurately form a printing surface as monochrome image data in which gradation correction is performed on the contour of the printing portion.

  Further, according to the present invention, a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged in a line, and the respective heating elements are selectively moved while relatively moving the thermal head and the porous material in a state where the thermal head is in contact with the porous material. Printing surface processing method in a printing surface processing apparatus comprising: control means for performing control processing to drive the heat generation to form the printing surface on the porous material, wherein the printing surface processing by the control means represents a given printing surface pattern The method includes the steps of: creating tone image data having a tone value based on the image data; and PWM controlling a pulse time width for driving each of the heating elements to heat based on the tone image data. In the step of performing PWM control, the control means controls the pulse with respect to the period of the modulation base signal having a period different from that of the machining period signal forming the impression surface of one line Wherein at a duty ratio between the width a stamp surface processing method characterized by PWM controlling the drive amount of the heating elements.

  Further, according to the present invention, a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged in a line, and the respective heating elements are selectively moved while relatively moving the thermal head and the porous material in a state where the thermal head is in contact with the porous material. A method of manufacturing a porous seal using a seal surface processing apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the formation of the seal surface on the porous material driven by heat generation, wherein the seal surface processing by the control means is a given. Creating gradation image data having a gradation value based on monochrome image data representing a printing surface pattern; and performing PWM control of pulse time width for driving each of the heating elements to heat based on the gradation image data And, in the step of performing PWM control, the control means is configured to generate a modulation base signal having a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal forming the impression surface of one line. Wherein the PWM control of the driving amount of each of the heating elements at a duty ratio of the pulse duration, a method for producing a porous stamp assembly.

  According to the seal surface processing apparatus and the seal surface processing method of the present invention, the seal surface according to the image data can be formed with high accuracy. For example, it is possible to form a highly accurate printing surface in which gradation correction is performed on the outline of the printing portion. In addition, if the processing accuracy is the same, the processing time can be shortened compared to the prior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is an external view which shows the structure of the whole stamp surface processing system containing a stamp surface processing apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of a seal impression processing apparatus. It is a two-sided view showing the head side of a thermal head, and its side. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the porous seal | sticker installed in an attachment. It is sectional drawing which shows the porous seal | sticker installed in an attachment. It is a sectional view of a porous stamper at the time of heat processing. It is a figure which illustrates printing plate data, gradation image data, driving amount data, and a porous material cross section. It is a simplified block diagram of a control device containing a heat generation drive control means. It is a time chart which illustrates the modulation base signal by a 1st embodiment, and the waveform of a drive current pulse. It is a time chart which illustrates a modulation base signal by a 2nd embodiment, and a waveform of a drive current pulse. It is a front view of the attachment for porous stamp bodies. It is a figure which illustrates the dot pattern predetermined corresponding to the type of processing object. It is a figure which shows embodiment of a reading means. It is a figure which shows embodiment which a reading means test | inspects the installation state of a process target object. It is a figure for demonstrating the method to assemble a porous stamp from the porous seal body by which the stamp face was processed. It is a flowchart which shows the seal surface processing process in a seal surface processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the seal surface processing operation in a seal surface processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating further the seal surface processing operation in a seal surface processing apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the seal surface processing operation by other embodiment.

(Description of the overall configuration of the seal surface processing system)
Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the seal impression processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view showing the entire configuration of a seal surface processing system including a seal surface processing apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 1, a terminal device 90 as an input operation means for a user (including an operator and a customer) to operate is communicably connected to the seal surface processing apparatus 10. An example of a personal computer (PC) as the terminal device 90 is illustrated in FIG. However, there is no particular limitation as long as it is capable of communicating with the seal surface processing apparatus 10 and has a means by which the user can perform input operation in addition to the PC. For example, portable terminal devices such as a tablet PC and a smartphone can be used is there. Further, instead of the terminal device, for example, a system in which a touch panel computer is integrally connected to the impression surface processing apparatus 10 may be used.

  The seal face pattern of the stamp ordered by the customer is created by, for example, editor software operating on the terminal device 90, and the created seal face pattern data (underprint data, monochrome image data) is transferred to the seal face processing apparatus 10. Alternatively, image data read by a scanner, a camera or the like may be taken into the terminal device 90, and seal surface pattern data may be created using dedicated software. Alternatively, the customer may upload the seal surface pattern data to the host server on the website in advance, and the processor may download the seal surface pattern data and perform processing by the seal surface processing apparatus 10.

  The seal face pattern of the stamp ordered by the customer is created by, for example, editor software operating on the terminal device 90, and the created seal face pattern data (underprint data, monochrome image data) is transferred to the seal face processing apparatus 10. Alternatively, image data read by a scanner, a camera or the like may be taken into the terminal device 90, and seal surface pattern data may be created using dedicated software. Alternatively, the customer may upload the seal surface pattern data to the host server on the website in advance, and the processor may download the seal surface pattern data to the terminal device 90 and perform processing by the seal surface processing apparatus 10.

(Description of seal surface processing device)
Next, the main body of the seal surface processing apparatus 10 will be described by taking the porous seal body 101, which is a stamp, as the type of the processing object as an example. The printing surface processing apparatus 10 selectively heats and drives each heating element 12 a of the thermal head 12 while relatively moving the thermal head 12 and the porous impression die 101 in a state of being in contact with each other. It is an apparatus which forms a seal face one line at a time by solidifying it. Here, “contact” means that the height position of the thermal head 12 and the height position of the surface of the object to be processed (the porous impression die 101) coincide with each other. As long as the porous material is heated and melted by the radiant heat from the thermal head 12, a state in which the thermal head 12 and the porous material face each other with a micro gap is also included in the “contact”. In addition, a state in which the heat from the thermal head 12 is conducted to the porous material by interposing a resin film or the like is conceptually included in the “contact”. In the "relative movement", the position of the thermal head 12 may be fixed to move the porous seal 101, or the position of the porous seal 101 may be fixed to move the thermal head 12. . In the present specification, an embodiment of the former structure in which the position of the thermal head 12 is fixed to move the porous impression die 101 is described.

  The impression surface processing apparatus 10 is provided with a tray 15 which is a means for conveying the attachment 50. The tray 15 is reciprocally transported between a discharge position to which the attachment 50 can be attached and removed and a storage position in the printing surface processing device 10 by a transport mechanism 16 (see FIG. 2) provided inside the printing surface processing device 10. In the front part of the seal surface processing device 10, the operation status of the device (ready, attachment loading, data reading, print processing, attachment ejection, error etc.) and the type (type and size) of the processing object are displayed as characters. The display unit 18 to be operated, operation switches for various operations, and the like are provided. Further, although not shown, a communication connector such as USB, D-SUB or Ethernet (registered trademark), a power supply connector, and the like for communication connection with the terminal device 90 are provided on the back surface portion of the seal surface processing apparatus 10. It is provided.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the seal surface processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment. The seal impression processing apparatus 10 includes a thermal head 12 having a plurality of heating elements 12a, 12a, ..., an attachment 50 for installing the porous impression die 101, a porous impression die 101 installed on the attachment 50, and the thermal head The heat generating elements 12a, 12a,... Of the thermal head 12 are driven to generate heat while controlling the movement by the conveyance mechanism 16 and the conveyance mechanism 16 in which the conveyance mechanism 16 relatively moves these in a state of being in contact with 12 And a controller 11 for performing a thermal processing control process for forming a seal surface on the surface of the body 101.

  FIG. 3 is a two-sided view showing the head surface of the thermal head 12 and the side surface thereof. As shown in the figure, a plurality of heating elements 12a, 12a,... It is arranged. The arrangement interval of the heating elements 12a, 12a, in other words, the size of one heating element 12a, corresponds to the theoretical minimum processing pixel size of the seal surface processing. The dot density of the heat generating element 12a in the thermal head 12 can be, for example, about 300 dpi (dot / inch). The thermal head 12 is porous by causing the heat driving means 13 to selectively flow a current to each heating element 12a, 12a,... Within the processing cycle time of one line under the control of the control device 11. A seal surface of one line is formed on the seal stamp 101. Further, the thermal head 12 is controlled to move to a position approaching and separating from the object to be processed by the lift mechanism 14 under the control of the control device 11.

  Here, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the porous impression die 101 installed on the attachment 50, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view thereof. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the porous impression die 101 is formed by including a frame 103 in the shape of a quadrilateral, and a porous film 102 stretched so as to close the front opening of the frame 103. Be done. Here, "front" or "front" refers to the side on which the seal is formed, and "rear" or "back" refers to the opposite side on which the seal is formed. The rear surface opening of the frame body 103 is formed wider than the front surface opening, and a recessed step portion 106 is formed in the frame body 103 as shown in FIG. The frame body 103 having such a shape is molded by, for example, a thermoplastic resin having a small thermal deformation.

  The material of the porous membrane 102 is not particularly limited as long as it is a porous material which can heat and melt and solidify the surface by the thermal head 12. As a raw material of this porous material, for example, thermoplastic elastomers of styrene type, vinyl chloride type, olefin type, polyester type, polyamide type and urethane type can be used. In order to obtain porosity, fillers such as starch, sodium chloride, sodium nitrate and calcium carbonate are kneaded with a raw material resin by a heat / pressure kneader, a heating roll, etc. to form a sheet, and after cooling, water or diluted acid Elute the filler with water. The melting temperature of the porous material produced by this method is the same as that of the raw material resin. In addition, the melting temperature of the porous material can be adjusted by adding additives such as pigments, dyes, and inorganic substances to the resin. The melting temperature of the porous material according to the present embodiment is 70 ° C to 120 ° C.

  The porosity and pore size of the porous membrane 102 can be adjusted by the particle size of the dissolved material to be kneaded and the content thereof. The porosity of the porous membrane 102 according to the present embodiment is 50% to 80%, and the pore size is 1 μm to 20 μm. The porous membrane 102 may have a two-layer structure, and the porosity of the lower layer (rear surface side) may be 50 μm to 100 μm. The porous seal body 101, which is an object of seal surface processing, is formed by heat-sealing the porous film 102 to the peripheral edge portion (front end surface) of the front opening of the frame body 103.

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the porous impression die 101 at the time of heat processing. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the porous impression die 101 is installed on the attachment 50 by fitting the concave step portion 106 to the convex step portion 52 of the pedestal 51 from the rear surface side of the frame 103. . When the porous impression die 101 is installed on the pedestal 51 of the attachment 50, the horizontal position of the back surface of the porous membrane 102 and the surface of the convex step 52 coincide with each other, preferably in contact. That is, the frame body 103 of the porous impression die body 101 is held by the pedestal 51, and the back surface of the porous film 102 is received by the surface of the convex step portion 52. The thermal head 12 is brought into contact with the surface of the porous impression die 101 installed on the pedestal 51, and the porous impression die 101 is moved in the direction orthogonal to the line of the thermal head 12 Processing is performed.

  Also, when the thermal head 12 is brought into direct contact with the surface of the porous impression die 101 and the heat generating element 12a is driven, the heat-melted porous material is welded to the thermal head 12, causing an increase in frictional force and a platemaking defect. There is a disadvantage. In order to solve these problems, a resin film (not shown) may be interposed between the porous impression die 101 and the thermal head 12. Such a resin film is required to have heat resistance higher in melting point than the porous material used for the porous impression die 101, and low friction and smoothness not to cause wrinkles on the seal surface. Be done. As this resin film, for example, poly films such as cellophane, acetate, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, polytetrafluoroethylene, polyimide and the like can be used. By interposing such a resin film, the influence of residual heat remaining on the thermal head 12 can be reduced in addition to the prevention of wrinkles generated in the porous material.

The calorific value Q when one heating element 12a of the thermal head 12 is driven is expressed by the following equation (1).
Q = k × I × t (1)
Here, k is a heat conversion efficiency coefficient, I is a drive current, and t is a drive time. According to equation (1), the heat generation amount Q of the heat generating element is proportional to the drive amount Dq (Dq = I × t) which is the product of the drive current and the drive time.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the version down data representing the printing surface pattern stored in the memory of the terminal device 90 is stored in a binary (monochrome) bitmap format. For example, a so-called "black" pixel value corresponding to a printed portion (stamped portion) of a stamp is "1", and a so-called "white" pixel value corresponding to a non-printed portion (unmarked portion) is "0. ". This binary underprint data representing a seal surface pattern to be processed is called "monochrome image data". The basic operation of the seal surface processing in the seal surface processing apparatus 10 is to heat the heating element 12a of the thermal head 12 to heat and melt and solidify the surface of the porous impression die 101 in contact with the thermal head 12, It is to form a non-marked portion in which the porosity is lost on the surface of the porous seal body 101. Therefore, basically, the control device 11 does not drive (Dq = 0) the heating element of the printed portion (marked portion) according to the monochrome image data, and drives the heating element of the non-printed portion (non-marked portion) (Dq = Dqmax), so to speak, it is possible to process the seal face by performing on / off control.

  However, in simple on / off control according to such binary monochrome image data, the residual heat stored in the thermal head 12 at the position of the edge of the non-marked area is conducted to the area of the adjacent sealed area. There is a problem of As a result, the porosity (permeability of the ink) of the outline portion of the print is partially lost, and there may be a disadvantage such as the outline of the print becoming narrower or deformed than the original image data. In order to prevent such print deformation, in the terminal device 90 of the present embodiment, gradation data for creating gradation image data having gradation of, for example, 8 bits (256 gradations) based on monochrome image data Means of preparation are provided.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the gradation data generation means provided in the terminal device 90 inverts the black-and-white value of the boundary area between the print portion (marked portion) and the non-printed portion (non-marked portion) of monochrome image data. The gradation image data corrected so that the pixel value monotonously changes stepwise in a region) is created. The term "monotonous change" as used herein also includes the case where gradation image data is corrected non-linearly based on monochrome image data. Then, the drive amount conversion means included in the control device 11 converts the created gradation image data into data of the drive amount of each heating element 12 a of the thermal head 12. When calculating the driving amount Dq of the heating element 12a, the driving amount conversion means can take into consideration the correlation characteristic between the driving amount of the heating element 12a and the porosity (permeability of ink).

  Here, the penetration ratio of the ink, which is an indicator quantitatively indicating the porosity, is set to 1 (100%) and the porosity of the porous material in the initial stage before heat processing, and heat is generated at the maximum driving amount (Dq = Dqmax) It can be defined as a ratio in the case where the porosity of the porous material after driving and thermally processing the element is standardized as 0 (0%). The porous material shrinks slightly as it heats and melts, and its thermal conductivity and the like change, so the driving amount of the heat generating element and the ink penetration ratio are not necessarily proportional. Therefore, non-linear correlation characteristic data between the drive amount of the heat generating element and the ink penetration ratio measured in advance by experiment or the like is stored in the memory (for example, the ROM 19 b or the like) of the terminal device 90 or the control device 11.

  Note that the gradation data generation unit generates gradation image data corrected in consideration of the above-mentioned non-linear correlation characteristic (the relationship between the driving amount of the heat generating element and the ink penetration ratio) based on the monochrome image data. It is also good. In this case, by creating gradation image data having a relationship in which the gradation value of the gradation image data and the driving amount of the heating element 12a are in proportion, the driving amount conversion means of the control device 11 Drive amount data can be obtained directly (without specifically performing non-linear correction processing etc.).

  The heat generation drive control means 24 provided in the control device 11 controls the heat drive means 13 by PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the heat generation drive amount Dq according to the drive amount data for each heating element 12 a of the thermal head 12. The printing surface is formed on the porous impression die 101 one line at a time. Here, the PWM control is a method of controlling the drive amount Dq to the heat generating element 12 a by making constant the amplitude of the drive current supplied to the heat generating element 12 a and controlling the pulse time width (or duty ratio) thereof. The heat generation driving amount Dq may be controlled by PWM control while keeping the voltage amplitude applied to the heating element 12a constant.

  Here, FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of the control device 11 including the heat generation drive control means 24. As shown in FIG. The oscillator 21 shown in FIG. 8 outputs a basic clock signal of a predetermined cycle. The oscillator 21 may be a system clock signal source that operates the CPU of the control device 11. The basic clock signal output from the oscillator 21 is divided by the divider 25. Then, the divided secondary clock signal is supplied to the line periodic signal generator 22. The line periodic signal generator 22 generates a line periodic signal based on the secondary clock signal. Here, the “line cycle signal” is a signal synchronized with the processing cycle of one line. While the printing surface processing apparatus 10 is processing, the transport control means 23 controls the transport mechanism 16 in synchronization with the line cycle signal to move the porous impression die 101 line by line.

  Another secondary clock signal is supplied from the frequency divider 25 to the base signal counter 27 of the heat generation drive control means 24. The secondary clock signal supplied to the base signal counter 27 and the line periodic signal may have the same or different frequencies. The base signal counter 27 counts this secondary clock signal to generate, for example, a triangular modulation base signal as shown in FIG. The base signal counter 27 is an analog output counter that outputs the count value of the clock signal as a voltage value. When the line periodic signal is input from the line periodic signal generator 22, the base signal counter 27 resets the count value and restarts counting from zero. The period of the clock signal supplied to the base signal counter 27 and the maximum count number of the base signal counter 27 determine the base time width of PMW control which is the period of the modulation base signal.

  The heat generation drive control means 24 determines the duty ratio corresponding to the drive amount data for each heating element 12a, and supplies a PWM gate signal having a pulse time width of the duty ratio to the corresponding transistor of the heat drive means 13. Here, FIG. 9 is a time chart illustrating the waveforms of the modulation base signal by PWM control of the first embodiment and the drive current pulse Ip which heats and drives the heating element 12a. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the line periodic signal, which is a processing periodic signal of one line, and the modulation base signal are synchronized in the same cycle (the same frequency). Therefore, the drive amount Dq (the current amplitude of the drive current pulse Ip × pulse time width) to each heating element 12 a is determined by the duty ratio of the pulse time width to the cycle time of the line periodic signal. The heat generation drive control means 24 PWM controls and drives each heating element 12a at this duty ratio corresponding to the drive amount data.

  Further explaining with the example of FIG. 9, for example, in the drive amount data stored in the RAM 19a, when the drive amount data to a certain heating element 12a is 40/256 of the maximum drive amount Dqmax, heat generation drive control is performed. The means 24 sets the duty ratio DT1 to 40/256 to generate the PWM gate signal of the duty ratio DT1. More specifically, the DA converter 28 inputs, to the comparator 29, a threshold signal Th1 of a voltage value corresponding to the value 40/256 of the drive amount data. The comparator 29 compares the modulation base signal, which is a periodic signal of the triangular wave, with the threshold signal Th1, and corresponds to the thermal drive means 13 a gate signal that turns on only when the voltage of the threshold signal Th1 is higher than the voltage of the modulation base signal. Supply to the transistor. The thermal drive means 13 supplies the drive current pulse Ip1 amplified to a constant current amplitude to the corresponding heating element 12a only during the time when the gate signal is turned on. As a result, the heating element 12a is PWM-controlled at the duty ratio DT1 corresponding to the drive amount data.

  As described above, the heat generation drive control unit 24 controls the pulse time width to heat and drive each heating element 12 a of the thermal head 12 according to the drive amount data created based on the gradation image data. As a result, it is possible to accurately form a seal portion as given image data in which gradation correction is performed on the outline of the print portion. In addition, if the processing accuracy is the same, the processing time can be shortened compared to the prior art.

  Further, FIG. 10 is a time chart illustrating the waveforms of the modulation base signal by PWM control of the second embodiment and the drive current pulse Ip which heats and drives the heating element 12a. In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the line periodic signal, which is a processing periodic signal of one line, and the modulation base signal are synchronized at different periods (different frequencies). In this case, the drive amount Dq to each heating element 12a is determined by the duty ratio of the drive current pulse time width to the cycle time of the modulation base signal. The heat generation drive control means 24 PWM controls and drives each heating element 12a at this duty ratio corresponding to the drive amount data.

  In the embodiment of FIG. 10, the period of the modulation base signal is set to be shorter than the processing period for forming the seal surface of one line. By shortening the cycle of the modulation base signal, the drive current pulse Ip supplied to each heating element 12 a of the thermal head 12 becomes uniform during the processing period of one line. As a result, the heat accumulation remaining in the thermal head 12 can be reduced, and the influence of heat conducted to the adjacent porous material can be reduced. The same effect can be expected even if the modulation base signal of PWM control is not necessarily synchronized with the line periodic signal.

  Moreover, according to the seal surface processing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the contour of the seal portion, the logo mark, etc. are applied to decorate the print by applying the above-mentioned gradation data creation unit, drive amount conversion unit and heat generation drive control unit. It is also possible to make a seal face with a gradation. In this case, pattern data (print under data) of a seal surface on which a decoration such as gradation is applied may have gradation values in advance.

  Next, the attachment 50 loaded on the impression surface processing apparatus 10 will be described. The attachment 50 is provided with an object to be processed by the impression surface processing apparatus 10, such as the porous impression die 101. FIG. 11 is a front view of the attachment 50 for the porous impression die 101. A pedestal 51 fitted on the back surface side of the porous impression die 101 is formed on the upper surface of the main body of the attachment 50. In addition, holes 53, 53, ... of a dot pattern predetermined in advance according to the type of processing object to be installed are formed in a row in a part of the attachment 50 main body through the attachment 50 main body There is. Further, a notch groove 55 cut out in a U-shape from the end of the attachment 50 to a part of the pedestal 51 is formed.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of a dot pattern predetermined in correspondence to the type of processing object. The dot pattern for identifying the type of the object to be processed and / or the type of the attachment 50 is an array pattern consisting of a combination of the holes 53, 53, ... with the blanks 54, 54, .... Here, "blank" means a region of the dot pattern in which no hole is formed in the attachment 50 main body. As can be seen with reference to FIG. 12, for example, since the dot patterns of the holes 53, 53,... Shown in FIG. 11 are '01011' in binary notation, the type of the processing object is , Attachment type "4" for processing size "15 x 30 mm" can be identified.

  The impression surface processing apparatus 10 is provided with a reading means for reading the dot pattern of the holes 53, 53,... At the position where the attachment 50 is loaded. The “loading position” of the attachment 50 refers to either the position where the attachment 50 is placed on the discharged tray 15 or the position (first loading position) where the attachment 50 is slightly carried into the seal surface processing apparatus 10. Good. As shown in FIG. 13, this reading means can be composed of, for example, a photodiode 17S that emits light from below the attachment 50, and a photodetector 17D that is disposed above the attachment 50 and is opposed to the photodiode 17S ( Transmission type optical sensor). The photodiode 17S may be provided above the attachment 50, and the photodetector 17D may be provided below the attachment 50. For example, if the number of dots in the hole pattern is five, an optical sensor including five pairs of photodiodes 17S and photodetectors 17D corresponding to the positions of the holes 53 and the blank 54 is provided. According to the configuration of the reading means of the transmission type optical sensor, the light emitted by the photodiode 17S and having passed through the hole 53 is detected by the photodetector 17D. On the other hand, when the light emitted by the photodiode 17S is blocked by the blank 54, the light is not detected by the photodetector 17D.

  Although not shown, as another embodiment of the reading means, a reflective optical sensor for reading the pattern of the blanks 54, 54, ... may be provided. Further, as another embodiment of the reading means, a mechanical switch may be provided which reads the patterns of the holes 53, 53, ... and the blanks 54, 54, ....

  According to the transmissive or reflective optical sensors 17S and 17D, the dot patterns 53 and 54 can be read without contact. Therefore, positional deviation of the attachment 50 due to unnecessary contact for reading the dot patterns 53 and 54 does not occur, and the accuracy of the relative positional relationship between the object to be processed and the thermal head 12 can be maintained.

  The optical sensors 17S and 17D, which are the above-mentioned reading means included in the seal surface processing apparatus 10, also have a function of inspecting the installation state of the object to be processed on the attachment 50 at the position where the attachment 50 starts processing or the storage position. ing. That is, the main body of the attachment 50 is formed with the notch groove 55 which is cut out to a part of the pedestal 51, and is porous when the porous seal body 101 to be processed is installed on the pedestal 51 The notch groove 55 is interrupted by a part of the stamp body 101. As shown in FIG. 14, the optical sensors 17S and 17D read the state of the notch groove 55, and the installation state of the porous impression die 101 to the attachment 50 is inspected. That is, if the light emitted from the photodiode 17S to the notch groove 55 is blocked by a part of the porous impression die 101 and is not detected by the photodetector 17D, it is determined that the object to be processed is properly installed on the attachment 50. it can.

  According to this configuration, the reading means (optical sensors 17S, 17D) for reading the dot patterns 53, 54 of the attachment 50 can also inspect the installation state of the object to be processed on the attachment 50. Therefore, the processing start can be prevented even when the attachment 50 is loaded in the seal surface processing apparatus 10 without setting the processing target, or when the loading target is not installed correctly in the attachment 50. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing operation error etc. in advance and to improve the convenience of the user. In addition, the reading means (light sensors 17S and 17D) have the dual functions of reading the dot patterns 53 and 54 of the attachment 50 and inspecting the installation state of the processing object, so the overall structure of the printing surface processing apparatus 10 is simplified. Can also be

(Description of seal surface processing method)
Next, a seal impression processing method using the seal impression processing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment will be described by taking the manufacture of the porous seal 100 as an example.
1. Operation Performed by User First, the user (including the customer) inputs data of the seal face pattern of the stamp to be created (monochrome under-print data) through the terminal device 90. The seal pattern data may be created by a dedicated editor software operating on the terminal device 90. Also, text data created in advance by the user may be input to the terminal device 90. Alternatively, image data read by a scanner, a camera or the like may be taken into the terminal device 90. Then, in accordance with an instruction of dedicated human interface software operating on the terminal device 90, type information such as the type (stamp or label sheet) of the processing object and the processing size is input. The monochrome image data of the input seal surface pattern and the type information of the object to be processed are stored in the memory in the terminal device 90.

  Next, the user places the porous impression die 101 on the pedestal 51 of the attachment 50 and places the attachment 50 on the tray 15 discharged from the apparatus 10. Then, when the loading operation of the attachment 50 is performed, the tray 15 is carried into the impression surface processing apparatus 10, and the attachment 50 is accommodated. Then, after predetermined initial processing is performed in the seal surface processing apparatus 10, seal surface processing of the porous impression die 101 is automatically performed.

  When the seal surface processing is completed, the tray 15 is automatically discharged. The user can take out the attachment 50 from the tray 15 to obtain the porous impression die 101 on which the seal face is formed. As shown in FIG. 15, by mounting the ink-impregnated body 110 and the holder 112 on the porous impression die 101 on which the impression face is formed, the porous impression plate 100 having a unique impression face pattern according to the order can be obtained. .

2. Next, with reference to FIG. 16, FIG. 17A and FIG. 17B, the processing operation in the seal surface processing apparatus 10 will be described. The seal surface processing process in the seal surface processing apparatus 10 mainly shown in the flowchart of FIG. 16 is realized by arithmetic processing executed by a CPU provided in the control device 11 in accordance with a program stored in storage means such as the ROM 19b.

  First, when the discharge operation of the tray 15 is received (step S10: YES), the transfer control means provided in the control device 11 controls the transfer mechanism 16 to transfer the tray 15 to the discharge position in the next step S11. . Then, the attachment 50 is loaded on the tray 15 by the user (FIG. 17A (a)). The transport control means carries the tray 15 to the first loading position according to the loading operation of the tray 15 (FIG. 17A (b)), and the holes 53 and 53 formed in the attachment 50 by the optical sensors 17S and 17D. ,... (Step S12). The dot pattern of the holes 53, 53,... Is read at a position where the attachment 50 is placed on the tray 15 (ejecting position) or at a position where the attachment 50 is further accommodated inside (for example, an origin position described later). May be

  In the subsequent step S13, the control device 11 specifies the type of attachment 50 loaded and the type (type and processing size) of the processing object installed in the attachment 50 based on the read dot pattern. The type information of the specified processing target may be displayed on the display unit 18 of the seal surface processing apparatus 10. In step S14, consistency between the type information of the processing object input to the terminal device 90 and the type information of the type of attachment 50 and / or the processing object specified from the dot pattern of the attachment 50 is determined. Ru. If the information is not consistent (step S14: NO), an error can be displayed on the display unit 18 in step S15, and accommodation of the attachment 50 can be rejected. As described above, when the attachment 50 is loaded before the start of processing, the reading unit (optical sensors 17S and 17D) can read the dot pattern and specify the type of the processing target. For this reason, processing operation errors can be prevented in advance.

  If it is determined that the type information is consistent (step S14: YES), the conveyance control means of the control device 11 controls the conveyance mechanism 16 in step S16 so that the tray 15 and the attachment 50 are inside the impression surface processing device 10. Further, it is carried in to a second carry-in position, which is a carry-in position halfway along. Even if the process of specifying the type of processing object based on the dot pattern in step S13 and the process of determining the consistency of the type information in step S14 are performed at the origin position described later or at a position accommodated in the vicinity thereof. Good. In this case, if the type information is not consistent, the tray 15 may be returned to the discharge position. This can prompt the user to perform the operation again.

  In step S17, the tray 15 and the attachment 50 are in the seal surface processing apparatus 10, and the installation state of the porous seal body 101 as the processing object to the attachment 50 is inspected by the photo detector 17D as the reading unit (FIG. c)). If the porous seal body 101 is not installed on the attachment 50 or is not installed correctly (step S17: NO), an error is displayed on the display unit 18 in step S18, and the tray 15 is returned to the discharge position. Thereby, the user can be urged to install the object to be processed on the attachment 50.

If it is determined that the porous seal body 101 is properly installed on the attachment 50 (step S17: YES), the gradation data generation means provided in the terminal device 90 is determined from the monochrome image data in the next step S21. Create tone image data. For example, the gradation data generation unit generates gradation image data corrected so that pixel values monotonously change stepwise in a boundary area where the value of monochrome image data is reversed in black and white. Then, in step S22, the drive amount conversion means of the control device 11 converts the gradation image data to create drive amount data of each heating element 12a.
In step S21, the gradation data generation unit may generate gradation image data from monochrome image data in consideration of the non-linear correlation between the drive amount of the heat generating element and the penetration ratio of the ink measured in advance. . Alternatively, in step S22, the drive amount conversion means may create the drive amount data from the gradation image data in consideration of the non-linear correlation.

  In the next step S23, the tray 15 and the attachment 50 are at the deepest position (third loading position; origin position), and the origin sensor 30 is turned on at this position, whereby the origin of conveyance is set. (FIG. 17A (d)). The origin sensor 30 can use an optical sensor that senses blocking of light by contact with the tray 15 or the attachment 50. The position (discharge position) at which the tray 15 and the attachment 50 shown in FIG. 17A (a) are discharged to the outside may be used as the origin. Then, in the next step S24, the control device 11 determines the processing start position based on the information of the type and processing size of the processing object specified from the dot pattern of the hole 53. Then, at step S25, the transport control means controls the transport mechanism 16 to move the porous impression die 101 to the determined processing start position.

  After the porous impression die 101, which is the object to be processed, moves to the processing start position, the thermal head 12 is selected based on the information on the type of the object to be processed specified from the dot pattern of the holes 53 in step S26. Determine the heating height position of. Here, the “heating height position” corresponds to a height position at which the thermal head 12 abuts on the porous impression die 101. Then, in step S27, the control device 11 controls the lift mechanism 14 to lower the thermal head 12 to the determined heating height position. At this stage, the thermal head 12 abuts on the porous impression die 101 located at the processing start position (FIG. 17B (e)).

  In step S28, the heat generation drive control means of the control device 11 performs PWM control of the heat drive means 13 according to the drive amount data of one line to selectively heat the heat generating elements 12a of the thermal head 12 to heat. As a result, the porous impression die 101 is thermally processed by one line. Then, in the next step S29, the transport control means of the control device 11 controls the transport mechanism 16 to move the porous impression die 101 by one line width in the unloading direction. The control device 11 processes the seal surface of the porous impression die 101 one line at a time by repeating the processes of step S28 and step S29 (FIG. 17B (f)). Then, when the processing of the final line is finished in the determination of step S30 (FIG. 17B (g)), the tray 15 is transported to the discharge position in step S31. Thereby, the user can acquire the porous seal body 101 in which the seal surface pattern is formed.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 18, you may perform seal | sticker surface processing, moving the porous impression die body 101 in a carrying-in direction. That is, the control device 11 determines the processing start position (right end in FIG. 18) after setting the origin, and moves the porous impression die 101 to the processing start position determined by controlling the transport mechanism 16 (FIG. 18 (a )). Then, the control device 11 controls the conveyance mechanism 16 to move the porous impression die 101 one line at a time in the loading direction, and drives the heat generating element 12a of the thermal head 12 to generate heat by PWM control (FIG. 18 (b)) . Finishing of the final line (left end in FIG. 18) of the porous impression die 101 completes seal face processing (FIG. 18 (c)).

  According to the seal surface processing apparatus 10 for porous material and the seal surface processing method of the present embodiment, the seal surface as the image data can be formed with high accuracy. In particular, it is possible to accurately form a printing surface as given monochrome image data in which gradation correction is performed on the outline of the printing portion. In addition, if the processing accuracy is the same, the processing time can be shortened compared to the prior art. In addition, since the drive amount to each heating element 12a becomes uniform during the processing period of one line by PWM control, the heat remaining in the thermal head 12 is reduced and the influence of the heat conducted to the adjacent porous material is reduced. Can.

  The preferred embodiments of the seal processing device and the seal processing method according to the present invention have been described above, but the technical idea of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein. Those skilled in the art can appropriately modify or improve this embodiment without departing from the scope or technical concept of the present invention. The seal surface processing apparatus and the related peripheral technology accompanied by such changes or improvements should be understood as being included in the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 printing surface processing apparatus 11 control apparatus 12 thermal head 12a heating element 13 thermal drive means 14 raising / lowering mechanism 15 tray 16 conveyance mechanism 17S, 17D reading means (light sensor)
Reference Signs List 21 oscillator 22 line periodic signal generator 23 transport control means 24 heat generation drive control means 25 divider 27 base signal counter 28 DA converter 29 comparator 30 origin sensor 50 attachment 51 pedestal 90 terminal device 100 porous seal 101 porous seal 102 Porous membrane 103 Frame 112 Holder 110 Ink impregnated body

Claims (4)

A thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a line, a conveying means for relatively moving the thermal head and the porous material in a state where the thermal head and the porous material are in contact with one another And a control means for performing control processing to form a seal surface by selectively heating and driving a heat generating element to melt and solidify the porous material,
The control means
Gradation data creation means for creating gradation image data having gradation values based on monochrome image data representing a given seal surface pattern,
And heat generation drive control means for PWM controlling a pulse time width for heat generation drive of each of the heat generation elements based on the gradation image data.
The heat generation drive control means performs PWM control of the drive amount of each heat generation element with the duty ratio of the pulse time width to the cycle of the modulation base signal having a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal forming the printing surface of one line .
The apparatus according to the present invention, wherein the gradation data generation unit generates gradation image data corrected so that pixel values monotonously change stepwise in a boundary area where the value of the monochrome image data is inverted .   The seal surface processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cycle of the modulation base signal is set to be shorter than a cycle of a processing cycle signal forming the seal surface of the one line. A thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a line, a thermal head and a porous material in contact with each other while being moved relative to one another while selectively moving the heat generating elements to generate heat A seal surface processing method in a seal surface processing apparatus comprising: control means for performing control processing for forming a seal surface on a porous material, wherein the seal surface processing by the control means is:
Creating gradation image data having gradation values based on monochrome image data representing a given impression surface pattern;
PWM controlling a pulse time width for driving heat generation of each heating element based on the gradation image data.
In the PWM control step, the control means PWMs the driving amount of each heating element at a duty ratio of the pulse time width to a cycle of a modulation base signal having a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal forming the impression surface of one line. control and,
In the step of creating the gradation image data, the control means creates gradation image data corrected so that the pixel value changes monotonously stepwise in the boundary area where the value of the monochrome image data is inverted. Processing method. A thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements arranged in a line, a thermal head and a porous material in contact with each other while being moved relative to one another while selectively moving the heat generating elements to generate heat A method for producing a porous seal using a seal processing apparatus, comprising: control means for performing control processing to form a seal surface on a porous material;
The seal face processing by the control means is
Creating gradation image data having gradation values based on monochrome image data representing a given impression surface pattern;
PWM controlling a pulse time width for driving heat generation of each heating element based on the gradation image data.
In the PWM control step, the control means PWMs the driving amount of each heating element at a duty ratio of the pulse time width to a cycle of a modulation base signal having a cycle different from that of the machining cycle signal forming the impression surface of one line. control and,
In the step of creating the tone image data, the control means creates tone image data corrected so that pixel values monotonously change stepwise in a boundary area where the value of the monochrome image data is reversed. Production method of stamp.

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